Waves in bronze

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:37 pm

A puzzle piece... What is it?

Frame width a little under 2 mm.

--Rik

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:10 am

The first thing that sprung to mind: an autumn leaf, but at this scale...?

Eric F · Post by **Eric F** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:29 am

Wing veins of an insect; not sure which...possibly a leafhopper of some sort?

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:29 am

I am going to say wing. Not sure what kind either. I would expect it to be transparent.

BugEZ · Post by **BugEZ** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 6:18 pm

I went to my bone yard and looked over various wings. My first thought was that it was a mantis wing. Nope... my praying mantis wing is about the right color but too transparent. Second thought is that it is a grasshopper wing. It is the closest texture and transparency. So I am guessing it is a grasshopper wing.

Keith

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Back of a "true bug" like Pentatomidae (Stink Bugs)?

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:44 pm

Due to the nature of this forum, everyone is looking at insects or insectwings
Could it be a non-insect, non animal?

We need some more clues, Rik. Are we at the right track?

Planapo · Post by **Planapo** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:53 pm

Part of an insect's sound producing organ, perhaps that of a true bug?

-Betty

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 10:57 pm

We need some more clues, Rik. Are we at the right track?

Gosh, I was feeling bad about giving away "Frame width a little under 2 mm"!

It's a wing, but only roughly any of the wings mentioned so far.

--Rik

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Tue Sep 20, 2011 11:22 pm

Haltere.

Craig Gerard · Post by **Craig Gerard** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 12:54 am

Frame width a little under 2mm

Assuming the width has not been cropped.... a frame width of 2mm would indicate approximately 10X magnification?

Bronze..........coin.......with a bird engraving?

Craig

NikonUser · Post by **NikonUser** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:04 am

Membrane of the hemelytron of a Leptoglossus occidentalis that mistakenly wandered into the Littlefield home in search of a hibernating site.

EDIT: As this bug appears to be associated with the Yellow-shafted Flicker feather I now believe this bug did not wander into the Littlefield home in WA.
The feather is eastern, so bug collected while Rik was on vacation away from home; somewhat casual camera setup is also suggestive.

I'm really out on a limb here

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:52 am

NU, your analysis is worthy of Sherlock Holmes!

Stepping out, here are more images...

A looser crop:

Full frame, Canon T1i with MP-E 65 at 4X:

The whole bug:

All images except the last are from the same stack -- MP-E 65 at 4X, f/4, focus step 0.037 mm, flash through a paper towel cylinder. The last one is a single frame at f/16 using Canon 100 mm macro lens, cloudy daylight.

Location is Stillwater, Minnesota.

Charles Krebs' guess was close enough that I had to hedge my response: "but only roughly any of the wings mentioned so far".

It is certainly a true bug, not Pentatomidae but sometimes called a "stink bug" nonetheless. Ah, what a tangled web we weave...

Many thanks to everyone for contributing to this round of What Is That Thing, Anyway?

--Rik

eurythyrea · Post by **eurythyrea** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:45 pm

What a coincidence! Just found one of these beasts here in Hungary. It's pity I couldn't tell the solution

This species is introduced to Europe in the 2000's, since then is expanding dinamically.

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:47 pm

Aaarrrgghhh! That's exactly the insect I was thinking about. I actually photographed that exact "pattern" not too long ago, but never posted the image!

Waves in bronze

Waves in bronze

Grasshopper wing?