Springtail from odd angles

Lord Vetinari

Some shots of a springtail about 1.8mm long taken at 5:1 and focus stacked.

Brian V.

Skippy

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Some shots of a springtail about 1.8mm long taken at 5:1 and focus stacked.

Brian V.

Of all the bugs you have shown us Brian these little Springtails remain my absolute favourite.

They just look like they belong in a Kids Animated Cartoon.
The eyes are quite amazing, they just look like they were added later to the outside of the head.

I would be thrilled to bits to find one myself to photograph.

Thanks for sharing .... Skippy
.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks Skippy
I like these tiny bugs as well. See what you mean about the eyes- look like stick on eye patches
I actually took these shots for a challenge from a springtail expert Frans Janssens on flickr- he wanted to see if I could get a shot of the genital plate and gonopore of a female springtail. As I'm not very good at sexing springtails and didn't know what a gentital plate looked like, I was lucky that the last shot just about resolves it.
The genital plate is the ellipsoid shaped thing adjacent to the 3 lobed bum bit - you can just make out the gonopore as a slit across it - apparently it is a female

Brian V.

tlee

I really like the springtails too. The bum shot is great--but, it's really cool to see the underside ("private parts" ) of an insect as well. I am assuming you "won" the challenge?

Icebear

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Skippy
3 lobed bum bit

Love the "undercarriage" shot. Now I finally understand why they're called springtails! Thanks.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks T and Icebear for looking and commenting

T - yes I think I won the challenge but promised now I know what I'm trying to get I'll have another go. Frans reckons that's the first "published" shot of this in a live specimen - don't think there's too many photogs trying though.

Brian V.

Chrissiebeez_NL

ahh!!! these first two are great!!

awesome V!

canon400d

Chrissiebeez_NL wrote:

ahh!!! these first two are great!!

awesome V! [/quote

Hi Brian
Fantastic and truly amazing - congratulations.
Bob

schmoo

Amazing details! I love the cartoonlike shape of this bug. The colors on this are so quirky, too.

I can never get over the fact that some of these critters are so small you can see inside of them. That's both creepy and cool.

Great shots!

Lord Vetinari

Thanks for the comments these little springtails are kind of cute but have to admit I was almost trying to do anatomical shots with these.
Brian v.