Bug close-up, beautiful spider photos by Shahan

This is among the most incredible macro photography of bug close-up we have ever seen. The awesome photos, and breathtaking, amazing macro bug portraiture of Thomas Shahan. He has given us permission to publish outstanding bug close-up of spiders and other inspirational insects. All enquiries and more photos can be found at ThomasShahan.com [28 Pictures]

Hint: Click on the inspirational insect photo to see larger a original version. Use "J" and "K" keys to navigate from bug close-up picture to bug close-up picture. Marvel at the architect of these creepy crawlers.

1

Spider close-up: Anterior Median and Anterior Lateral Eyes of a Phidippus princeps Jumping Spider
Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

2

Bug close-up: "Hanging-Thief" Diogmites Robber Fly
I spotted this one hanging (from one leg) off a large blade of the tall grass I was walking in. As I slowly moved closer to take a photograph, I noticed a jumping spider watching the scene from about a foot and a half away. So I had to decide between the two, and as usual, I went for the jumping spider. I took several photographs of the spider, got all the shots I wanted, and carefully turned to see if this robber was still hanging there.

To my surprise, it was still there. As I moved in closer, I noticed it had captured a bee, and there was a few tiny flies hanging out around the robber. I was afraid I would scare it away if I tried to change lenses so I used the setup I was using for the spider photos (50mm reversed on extension tubes) to take a few photos of the robber.

This photo isn't the best focused of the bunch, but it was the only photo were that little fly (seen in the bottom right of the frame) wasn't sitting on the robber's eyes. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

3

Spider close-up: Adult Female Cardinal Jumper (Phidippus cardinalis)
Here's a beautiful and fairly large (~15mm) female Phidippus cardinalis I found a while back while wandering one of my favorite haunts.

She proved to be quite skittish and somewhat agressive - frantically darting around, waving her palps, and even baring her fangs at me a couple times. I ended up rolling up a leaf to make a little tunnel for her to relax in. In the image above you can make out the curl of her shelter reflected in her eyes. The blue of the background was yesterday's cloudless afternoon sky. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

4

Bug close-up: Crane Fly - (Tipula)
Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

5

Spider close-up: Adult Male Hentzia palmarum Jumping Spider
This guy spent some time cleaning his fangs with his palps, giving me a chance to try a high magnification shot. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

6

Eyes of a Holcocephala fusca Robber Fly
Man, was this one difficult! These little robbers are incredibly skittish - an absolute pain (literally!) to shoot. They will hold onto their perch (usually the outer tip of leaves) no matter how hard the wind may blow - but as soon as you get anywhere near them, touch the leaf they are on (no matter how gently) they will fly right away. So I have found that the only way to photograph them is to just stand there and shoot away without any means of stability.

Somehow I found one little guy that would let me get close enough to focus, and 66 shots later, over a period of about 10 minutes of standing bent over with sweat pooling in my eyes, the leaf blowing in the wind, and my hands shaking from fatigue – I just gave up and checked to see if I got anything at all. Out of all those shots – about 30 missed the fly entirely, 33 were completely out of focus, and 3 were good enough to focus stack. I was ecstatic! 3 good photos taken completely handheld in windy conditions at 5:1 magnification at f/8 is no small feat! And even better – the background wasn’t black! Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

7

Spider close-up: Adult Male Jumping Spider Hiding in Leaves - (Habronattus coecatus)
What a beautiful day today was! Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

8

Bug close-up: Colorful Broad-headed Sharpshooter Leafhopper - (Oncometopia orbona?)
I've been trying to photograph one of these beautiful leafhoppers for a few days now.

They like hanging out on the stems of some tall sunflowers in my backyard, and as you walk around the plant, they swiftly move to the opposite side - making them very difficult to spot.

This guy proved a bit more friendly than the others, and crawled up on my finger and let me re-locate him an a big leaf which I held up to the sky and photographed him on. (So the blue background you see is actually a cloudless sky). Once I was done, I put him back right where I found him - on the sunflower. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

9

Spider close-up: Phidippus audax Jumping Spider
I decided to stop by a nearby RC plane runway on the way back, and as I approached I spotted what I thought was bird shit on the aluminum bleachers next to the runway. Once I was about 15 feet from it I knew instantly is was an adult male Phidippus. A nice find for me, as it has been over a year now since I photographed an adult male Phidippus audax.

This species (or genus if you like) has without a doubt the greatest chelicerae, with a wide range of colors. This is the deepest blue I have encountered, and was beautiful in person. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

10

Bug close-up: Red Velvet Mite - Trombidiidae (Allothrombium?)
I realize this photo may not be a huge hit with you guys, and it's definitely not my usual fare. A fascinating animal regardless of the quality of the photo. I've read that they can be quite ferocious little predators, feeding on several different arthropods - including other velvet mites - though cannibalism doesn't appear to be too uncommon in the arachnid world. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

11

Spider close-up: Adult Male Tutelina elegans Jumping Spider Eating a Red Mite
He eventually wandered to the top of a round sandly colored rock and I got down low to get some blue sky in the background. Not long after I started shooting from this angle, he lunged forward and then popped back into frame with a tiny red mite secured in his fangs which was already busting juices from its abdomen. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

12

Bug close-up: Bizarre Fly Head (Hoplitimyia constans)
Note the stripes going through the compound eyes. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

13

Spider close-up: Male Hentzia palmarum Jumping Spider
This species has extremely long, metallic chelicerae and huge fangs with white hair along the edges of the chelicerae.The white hair underneath the eyes and the orange through the eyes is excellent. A really nice looking species. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

14

Bug close-up: Male Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola)
Take a look at the larger size, it's really a beautiful fly. Through the viewfinder I watched him make several bizarre movements with his front legs, totally different than any other fly I have seen. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

15

Spider close-up: Adult Female Jumping Spider - (Phidippus mystaceus)
Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

16

Spider close-up: The "Apache Jumper " (Phidippus apacheanus)
I debated how to go about photographing this little guy as my usual "portrait" angles would deny his most prominent feature - the beautiful reddish-orange markings atop his cephalothorax and abdomen. I've never seen such vivid markings on a salticid before - he was really quite something to see when held up to the sunlight! Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

17

Bug close-up: Damselfly with Prey
Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

18

Bug close-up: Ant Mimic Spider Face
3-4mm. It uses it's front legs to mimic the antennae of ants. Walks just like an ant as well. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

19

Spider close-up: Female Rabid Wolf Spider - (Rabidosa rabida)
She was FAST. Despite missing a leg, she made several (almost successful) escape attempts. On the deck, she cleared a good 10 feet in just a few seconds while trying to get away! Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

20

Bug close-up: Blue-faced Meadowhawk - Sympetrum ambiguum
What a cooperative dragonfly! He found a perch at about eye level and didn't mind me moving in for several photographs. The background color is from a turning leaf I held behind the fly with my left hand while firing away with my right. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

21

Spider close-up: Eye Arrangement of a Hogna Wolf Spider
Lycosid eyes may not be as clear or reflective as salticid eyes, but their arrangement is just as fascinating and wolf spiders supposedly have pretty good vision (although not nearly as applauded as the jumping spiders). A couple of times while photographing the spider seen above, his/her eyes would light up at certain angles just as cat eyes do in the dark - really on odd sight to see a spider with glowing eyes! Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

22

Bug close-up: Face of a Southern Yellowjacket Queen (Vespula squamosa)
Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

23

Bug close-up: Robber Fly with Prey (Holcocephala fusca)
Those beautiful compound eyes are just spellbinding. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

24

Bug close-up: Robber Fly (Triorla interrupta) with Dragonfly (Plathemis lydia)
Witnessing this female Triorla interrupta take this young male Common Whitetail right out of the air was an amazing sight - it simply pulled him right out of the air, and after a minute or so of bouncing and buzzing about in the grass, she was sucking him dry. Dragonflies are certainly vicious predators, but they're are no match for these beautiful robber flies. From what I've read, these Triorla robbers are absolute beasts that regularly take down prey much larger than themselves - grasshoppers, katydids, dragonflies, and of course - other robber flies. Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

25

Spider close-up: Sitticus fasciger Jumping Spider
A nice looking spider, the colorations and patterns of scales are great. The palps have some interesting hairs as well. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

26

Bug close-up: Female Blue Dasher Dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis)
Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

27

Bug close-up: Female Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola)
Bug close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

28

Spider close-up: Adult Male Phidippus putnami Jumping Spider
These adult males have to be some of the wildest and hairiest spiders out there - the markings and tufts of hair are just unparalleled. Spider close-up photo: Thomas Shahan

The US-Mexico Wall, it’s Borderlands, Wildlife, and People

In 2005, the Department of Homeland Security was granted the authority to waive environmental laws to speed the building of a barrier between the U.S. and Mexico.
Under this waiver, more then 500 miles of wall and fence have been constructed through mostly rural and wilderness areas.
In January 2009, the International League of Conservation Photographers sent a team of world-renowned photographers, with writers, filmmakers and scientists to the borderlands of the United States and Mexico to document the wildlife, ecology, and effect of immigration and the border wall on this landscape. [38 Pictures]

1

The 17-member ILCP team spent almost a month traveling the nearly-2000-mile border and captured more than 10,000 images of the region and the impact of the wall. US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

2

O'odham land
The image above was taken on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in Southern Arizona. The international border bisecting the lands claimed by the United States and Mexico is shown above. This border cuts the traditional O'odham territory in half.
The militarization of the border region has significantly restricted the ability of members of the Tohono O'odham tribe to travel to sacred sites and visit relatives on the opposite sides of the border. US-Mexico wall Photo by Jeffrey D. Hendricks/solidarity-project.org

3

The purpose of the project is to raise awareness of the peril that border infrastructure places on the long-term survival of myriad species that live in the borderlands. This area is a shared conservation treasure of international importance that harbors some of the most biodiverse landscapes on the continent. US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

4

They spoke with scientists and naturalists on both sides of the border and documented the effect of the wall on our shared ecosystems. US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

5

"Nobody disagrees on how this is affecting the environment, the only disagreement is how important the environment is in the overall discussion."
Ana Cordova, Ph, D, Institute for Northern Border Studies. US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

6

Wildlife: Bird at borderlands. US-Mexico wall borderlands Photo: ILCP photographer

7

Wildlife: Armadillo drinking from wetlands close to US-Mexico Wall. Wildlife US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

8

"What makes it such a fascinating region is that there are 11 distinct ecosystems. Drive 1,5h and you can be in desert dunes. You can go north and you're in woodland potholes. "Nancy Brown, US Fish and Wildlife Service. US-Mexico wall borderlands Photo: ILCP photographer

9

"You know if you're an Texas tortoise how do you get around 13 miles of fence or if you're and ocelot and you're crossing an farm field and you're being chased by a predator… It's not a question about convenience, it's a matter of survival." Nancy Brown, US Fish and Wildlife Service. US-Mexico wall borderlands Photo: ILCP photographer

10

Wildlife: Hare at the US-Mexico wall borderlands Photo: ILCP photographer

11

Wildlife: Kit foxes at US-Mexico wall borderlands Photo: ILCP photographer>

12

Wildlife: birds at the US-Mexico wall borderlands. Photo: ILCP photographer

13

" The US Mexico border is the largest human construction that has been made to divide two countries since the great wall of china." Rurik List, Ph. D. Institute of Ecology, UNAM. US-Mexico wall arial Photo: ILCP photographer

14

"It's all one thing and if you cut it and divide it, it can't make it. If you're gonna walk around something, for a long period of time, and there's limited amounts of water, you're gonna die. It's that simple." US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

15

US-Mexico wall arial photo in desert ILCP photographer

16

US-Mexico wall borderlands lanscape photo: ILCP photographer

17

Wildlife: Turkeys at the US-Mexico wall borderlands photo: ILCP photographer

18

"Wildlife and the steel US-Mexico wall. Photo: ILCP photographer

19

"There has never been this kind of unity among humanity. You have cattle ranchers, farmers, chambers of commerce, the bishop, the University system, you have everybody opposing this thing. Nobody wants this thing. Everybody thinks this is going to be a disaster. How are farmers going to get their water? How are ranchers going to get their' cattle to the river? Yes, this is a HUGE environmental problem. But what about these people who are making a living? What are they going to do?' Nancy Brown, US Fish and Wildlife Service. US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

20

"The solid metal wall can not be crossed by deer, Jaguar, bears, pumas, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, parie dogs. Any animal that can not fly is not able to cross that wall." Rurik List, Ph. D. Institute of Ecology, UNAM. US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

21

Wildlife: Coyotes at US-Mexico wall borderlands. Photo: ILCP photographer

22

Wildlife around US-Mexico wall. Photo: ILCP photographer

23

"Bighorn sheep are hopefully going to move around freely, It's almost a necessity because of the gene pool. You need that genetic diversity mixing so that you don't' have sinks in your population due to genetics. So there things are very very vital in keeping these corridors open, is the only way for these animals." Bonnie McKinney, CEMEX – El Carmen Project. Wildlife: US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

24

"Somewhere out there is an impenetrable boundary which prohibits movement of Jaguars, Mexican wolves and other imperiled wildlife which depend of their ability to move between the US and Mexico. " Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife. Wildlife: US-Mexico wall Photo: ILCP photographer

25

Wildlife: Bobcat at US-Mexico wall. Photo: ILCP photographer

26

"They're just cutting the mountain where the wall is going to go into, so you have all these machines and bulldozers in designated wilderness areas." US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

27

"It's very clear that the infrastructure, going with the wall, not just the wall itself is doing just as much damage," Krista Schlyer, ILCP Expedition Leader. US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

28

"The wall construction, and operation, just where border patrol has to drive back and forth, creates erosion and that creates silting, There's not a lot of water going through these motorways, so silting does make a big difference. "Ana Cordova, Ph, D, Institute for Northern Border Studies. US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

29

“if you talk to any professional in any field that has to do with natural resources , be it wildlife, ecosystem, water, soil, there is consensus that the wall is affecting the natural resources in a negative way. “Ana Cordova, Ph, D, Institute for Northern Border Studies. US-Mexico wall in desert photo: ILCP photographer

30

“It is the main topic along the border. And the strange thing is it’s very hard to find anyone for it.” Billy Pat McKinney, CEMEX - El Carmen Project. US-Mexico wall in desert photo: ILCP photographer

31

Arial photo of US-Mexico wall in desert. Photo: ILCP photographer

32

Border patrol US-Mexico wall in desert. Photo: ILCP photographer

33

“This huge border, which is 3000 km long, has so many different micro habitats, and micro cosms, that each place is affected differently by the wall and each place has different animal and plant species, different soil system or different hydrology that’s going to be affected. “Ana Cordova, Ph, D, Institute for Northern Border Studies. US-Mexico wall in desert. Photo: ILCP photographer

34

“At first look it appears that wildlife conservation is at direct odds with national security, in that wildlife depend on open corridors and being able to move through the landscape, and national security depends on sealing off our borders. We are not at odds, there are dozens of alternatives that can be employed that strike a balance between securing the problematic areas and respecting the needs of wildlife. “Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife. US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

35

“In addition to the direct barrier that the wall makes, you have the funneling affect where humans are directed into wildlife territories.” Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife US-Mexico wall photo: ILCP photographer

36

“We’ve seen that different ecosystem’s don’t’ stop at border. You step from one side to the next and there’s no difference. And that’s where the wildlife view is and we are really creating barriers where there are none naturally.” Krista Schlyer, ILCP Expedition Leader. US-Mexico wall wildlife photo: ILCP photographer

37

“We’ve seen that different ecosystem’s don’t’ stop at border. You step from one side to the next and there’s no difference. And that’s where the wildlife view is and we are really creating barriers where there are none naturally.” Krista Schlyer, ILCP Expedition Leader. US-Mexico wall wildlife photo: ILCP photographer

38

“I think that the issues going on at the borderland are a complete mystery to the people in the United States.” Krista Schlyer, ILCP Expedition Leader.
“We have these environmental laws there for a reason. We know that we can do major damage, to the environment if we don’t’ act thoughtfully, about what we do.” US-Mexico wall borderlands photo: ILCP photographer