Common Rustic: Cryptic?
e6filmuser
Registered Users Posts: 3,379 Major grins
There were not many insects to photograph in my garden so I decided to check what was living under the chunks of Silver Birch bar, which I leave on the ground under our native deciduous trees. This habitat provides me with subjects, especially in the colder months, when there is little else.
The first chunk I came to was a surprise. Somehow this hand-sized concave piece has its shallowly concave, former inner, surface facing down over a lump of similar size with its concave surface uppermost. Thus, there was a biconcave cavity, ideal for insects to shelter in.
As I turned it over in my hand, I saw the moth depicted here. It never moved during all that followed, including when I replaced its home. The moth had been resting during the daytime and was not there the next day.
I dispaired of identifying it from its muddled markings but it offered potential for images.It seems that the Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis and the Lesser Common Rustic Mesapamea didyma are both very variable and difficult to separate.
I placed the piece of bark on top of a nearby log to maximise the choice lighting and shooting angles, both remaining a bit limited.
What I find interesting is that the closer you get, the more camouflaged the moth seems to be.
EM-1 (manual mode) Kiron 105 at f16, twin TTL flash, hand-held.
The stereo is crosseye.
Harold
The first chunk I came to was a surprise. Somehow this hand-sized concave piece has its shallowly concave, former inner, surface facing down over a lump of similar size with its concave surface uppermost. Thus, there was a biconcave cavity, ideal for insects to shelter in.
As I turned it over in my hand, I saw the moth depicted here. It never moved during all that followed, including when I replaced its home. The moth had been resting during the daytime and was not there the next day.
I dispaired of identifying it from its muddled markings but it offered potential for images.It seems that the Common Rustic Mesapamea secalis and the Lesser Common Rustic Mesapamea didyma are both very variable and difficult to separate.
I placed the piece of bark on top of a nearby log to maximise the choice lighting and shooting angles, both remaining a bit limited.
What I find interesting is that the closer you get, the more camouflaged the moth seems to be.
EM-1 (manual mode) Kiron 105 at f16, twin TTL flash, hand-held.
The stereo is crosseye.
Harold
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