I found this female Oriental Spiny Orb-Weaver spider Gastercantha cf geminata on a leaf at Kadri Park, Mangalore. Spiny orb-weavers is a common name for Gasteracantha, a genus of spiders. They are also commonly called Spiny-backed orb-weavers, due to the prominent spines on their abdomen. Spiny Orb-Weaver spiders can reach sizes of up to 30mm … Read more
I found this female white Lynx spider Oxyopes cf shweta on a leaf at Kadri Park, Mangalore. Oxyopes cf shweta, commonly known as White Lynx Spider, belongs to the genus Oxyopes, in the family Oxyopidae. I was using Canon EOS 6D Mark II with Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM lens with Godox Ving … Read more
Across the various beaches of Karnataka coast, the waves at night are showing a strange glow, due to bioluminescence. For many of us, the only awareness of bioluminescence—the emission of light by living organisms—is the sight of fireflies. For others, the magic moment is a “phosphorescent sea,” where myriads of microscopic sources emit flashes of … Read more
I saw this leaf beetle in my backyard feeding on the leaves of the Cheilocostus speciosus (Crepe Ginger). It has 4 tiny dark spots on their hard wing cases (elytra), two on each elytron. This corresponds to the description by Martin Jacoby back in 1908 The Fauna of British India V1: Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, this beetle … Read more
Returning from our trip to Montserrat, which I had covered in my last blog we reached Plaça d’Espanya. Plaça d’Espanya is one of Barcelona’s most important squares, built on the occasion of the 1929 International Exhibition, held at the foot of Montjuïc, in the Sants-Montjuïc district. One of the city’s biggest squares, it is the … Read more
The Flash Duration for any flash is technically is the length of time that the flash tube emits light for a single burst. Unfortunately, the flash manufacturers don’t tell you how long the actual flash duration lasts. Instead most manufacturers confuse you in their literature as the t0.5 or the t0.1 flash duration specification. The … Read more