Macro Trip to Coorg Rainforest - India - 2018 - Part III

anvancy · Post by **anvancy** » Thu May 23, 2019 9:12 am

Part I - https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=39025

Part II - https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... hp?t=39202

This is the final part of my photo set.

All these photos except the last one are taken right outside my jungle room within a span of minutes. The diversity that we get in the forests is unprecedented. One moment there is nothing to photograph and the next its like the time is running out.

First here are some photos of an Earwig. I got to photograph an earwig upclose for the very first time. And its said they are awesome origami masters which can fold their wings in multi-folds.

These are some unknown moth eggs.

This is an ant of Polyrhachis genus and part of the Formicidae family

Notice the hooks?

A Piranthus Sp. Saltacidae.

And finally, one of my favorite photos from the trip, a A Malaxis Versicolor (Lindl.) orchid. Rare and beautiful to witness, I was lucky an ant walked over it. That gave a perspective of the size of the orchid.

Thanks for watching.

Anvay

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu May 23, 2019 10:30 am

Excellent images!

The flowers of those orchids remind me ever so much of the front end of certain praying mantises. Of course I guess the mantises are hoping it's the other way around.

Yes, earwigs are masters of folding big wings into small spaces. Google search on earwig wing folding will get you lots of information. The National Geographic video is well worth watching.

--Rik

MarkSturtevant · Post by **MarkSturtevant** » Thu May 23, 2019 9:15 pm

Wow! Those are marvelous, and beautifully photographed! It is unusual to me to seen an earwig with markings on their wings. The hind wings are indeed artfully folded under the forewings. I just now looked for an image of this and found this marvelous movie clip. The species seems much like your species:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4NiF3w101Q

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu May 23, 2019 9:43 pm

About the earwig wings... See also https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... php?t=8140 and http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=8187 , where NikonUser shows us some details of the anatomy.

--Rik

Harald · Post by **Harald** » Fri May 24, 2019 5:38 am

Hi Anvay,
Great set of images

Thanks for sharing

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Fri May 24, 2019 5:47 am

Anvay, wonderful orchid image with the ant!

anvancy · Post by **anvancy** » Sat May 25, 2019 2:09 am

Thank you Rik for the links. I am still astounded by that Nat Geo video. I read somewhere that earwigs do approx 40 folds to their wings? Like in the video, unfolding is one thing. Keeping it rigid and ready for flight is all together different story. NikonUser's posts are remarkable.

And I get the mantis reference. You are saying those who have a hood at the thorax area? as if they are wearing a hoodie?

Thanks Mark. It is my wish to take videos like those too. haha. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Harald, Glad you liked it.

Thanks Lou. They are indeed my favorite.

A backstory to that photo:
We were on our evening trail and as usual it was raining though not heavily. The light was dim and we were on our way back to the resort. A narrow path, mud wall to the right and a small valley to the left. Out of nowhere our guide said to stop and observe if we can spot anything on the mudwall. When none could find what it was, he pointed down below on the ground. There it was. Minute but fully functional orchid. Totally blown away.

Anvay

Lou Jost · Post by **Lou Jost** » Sat May 25, 2019 6:00 am

You had an excellent guide! Most guides miss specialized things like that.