Snout Beetle

[Ken Ramos]

Once again with the stereomicrosocpe, I was prowling around in some moss, a different species from what I usually rip up and bring back inside (don't worry, I replace the divots ). Anyway this time I ran across some Snout Beetles or a weevile of sorts.





Selective focus in both images of course, I do not stack and it is because I have not tried. I downloaded the trial ver. of Helicon Focus and Combine ZM, did not like either, played around with them for a couple of weeks and found them to be to much trouble. I like instant gratification, sorry.

[MacroLuv]

Compared with moss it looks pretty small.

... played around with them for a couple of weeks and found them to be to much trouble...

I found even Photoshop to be to much trouble.

[Ken Ramos]

Yeah they were pretty small there Nikola, there were two of them in there. The leaves of the moss cannot be no more than one to two millimeters in length. Thanks Nikola

[Danny]

Both excellent shots Ken. Well selective focus is what macroholics are more used to and here, its spot on. Amazing what you see under the scope. Very well controlled sir Ken.

Danny.

[Ken Ramos]

Thanks Danny Yes it is amazing what one can find observing nature through a stereomicroscope. Starting out with the typical brightfield scopes and later on moving to the stereomicroscopes, I find them, the stereos, much more versitile in that you can observe quite a bit more with them and with less preparation than what is required for the traditional brightfield microscopes.

[Bruce Williams]

Ken, looking closely at pic2, it seems to be sporting a brownish collar of short, thick "hairs" - couldn't call them bristles cos they look too soft. I'm still very much a neophite when it comes to beetles but I don't recall ever having seen anything quite like it before. Mind you, considering its diminutive size that's probably not surprising

An interesting find.

Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

I noticed those also Bruce, I don't know their function, as I don't know anything about beetles either. The head of the beetle lies flush with the thorax and there is really no defining segmentation unless the beetle moves its head from side to side. This image, though not very detailed, may show you what I mean. Those "brown hairs" are located just behind the eyes encircling the beetles head, where it joins the thorax.

[beetleman]

Super photos Ken...I like the grainy textures on the back of the beetle. I think we have seen some other posts with closeups of the short stubby hairs on these beetles.....maybe Rik did one I think.