Haven''t been able to photograph much lately but here are few new shots. Over the course of a few days I observed a blackberry shoot with a very robust aphid "infestation". Very quickly the aphid predators arrived on the scene. I've seen syrphid fly, lady bug and lacewing larvae devour aphids on many occasions, but it is usually pretty "messy". Here are a couple of quite old shots:
http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=7685
http://www.photomacrography1.net/forum/ ... php?t=5187
But what was fascinating to me about this carnage was how there were so many aphids that were essentially intact, in place with their stylets still in the plant stem, but their bodies had been sucked "dry". (They reminded me of those flexible juice bags the kids stick a straw into, and they collapse as they drink them. ) The first two stereo shots show this.
After a few days there were also quite a few parasitised aphids, as seen in the form of a brown "aphid mummy" in shots 3 and 4. Carefully peeling one open revealed the wasp pupa inside.
Aphid massacre
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Wonderful pictures and very interesting!!
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
Visit my Flickr albums
Visit my Flickr albums
Interesting! The stereos are informative.
Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Best regards
Jörgen Hellberg
Jörgen Hellberg, my webbsite www.hellberg.photo