hamishrobertson's Favorites

plugged in

The female had just been observed when the much smaller male flew in and immediately coupled with her, no introductions, no getting to know each other, just wham - bang plugged in. Apart from the size difference the male has far more feeble mouth parts compared with those of his mate, perhaps her vicious jaws explain his approach?

Large, skittish and stinky ... but those mandibles are quite something! They were a chore to photograph because they are so skittish. Very common here. The first and last images are detail crops of 2 other images. I will post on the the alates that emerged also.

Came across this scene on my morning walk. The millipede was still alive but appeared partially paralysed - moved the head and some legs but no more. No trauma to the millipede apparent so I wonder whether the band of stinkys stung it.

Alate males (drones) of Paltothyreus tarsatus ringbum ants. The drones were being pushed out by workers and nudged to fly away - the workers were so skittish though that I couldn't get close to capture this. The last 2 images show a drone I found in the early morning covered in dew. It either survived the night from the day before or was forced to make a very early start.