Both Ends of 2 Dragonflies

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 5:40 pm

Epithica spinigera and Epithica canis showing the differences in the markings on the top of the frons and lateral views of the terminal appendages that the males use to grasp the female's head during mating.

Leica MZ16 stereomicroscope w/extended depth of field imaging system

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:12 pm

"So Many Insects...So Little Time" Steve, I don`t know what to say. They are spectacular.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 8:51 pm

Very nice Steve! Perhaps you mentioned it somewhere already, but what is the magnification range of the Leica scope you are using?

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:45 am

Excellent photos Steve and so much more interesting the way you've presented equivalent images of the two species for easy comparison.

Bruce

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 8:10 am

Thanks for your comments, guys.

Charles, the MZ16 has a range from 4.5x to 115x. I could double that with a 2.0x objective, but the working distance is so tight that creative lighting would be almost impossible. I have 2 objectives, a 0.63x and a 1.0x, both are APOs. When we added our new camera there was a 1.6x magnification boost in the images, because it has more pixels on a smaller sensor. These images were shot with the old camera (1600x1200). The new camera is 2560x 1920.