It’s cold enough in North Carolina that there have been very few insects out and about.  So, I’ve set up a little aquatic insect photo studio in my guest room so that I still have something to photograph.  I’m going to share several aquatic insects with you over the next few weeks, but here’s a little preview:

Disintegrated diving beetle, Agabus disintegratus

That’s the belly of a really spectacular beetle, the disintegrated diving beetle, Agabus disintegratus.  I’ll show you the other side soon, but I kinda love the undersides of predaceous diving beetles.  You can see all the cool adaptations they’ve got going on their legs (you can just barely make out the suction cups on his forelegs) and you can admire the amazing structure of beetles. Plus, in this image, you can also see the air bubble this beetle uses to breathe. This particular beetle is super skittish and buries itself in the rocks at the bottom of my photo tank, so he’s been hard photograph.  I was happy he sat still long enough for me to get this shot of him!  An instant later, he was back under the rocks.

More cool aquatic insects are coming soon!

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