I found this female Fulvous Forest Skimmer (Neurothemis fulvia) dragonfly perched on a dry twig in our kitchen garden. It was a harsh August afternoon dappled sunlight falling over the dragonfly. Instead of using a macro lens I tried using a different strategy to capture dragonfly. Since many dragonflies are wary of approach by humans, … Read more
I found this Cactus Fly belonging to Telostylus species. This single fly was a tough one to capture as it used to disappear behind leaves as soon as its big eyes spotted my camera. I had to wait for it to reappear and disappear again. We both were playing hide and seek in the process. … Read more
Who would consider ants farmers? Farmer is not a vocation naturally assigned to these tiny insects. The fact is that they herd and care for aphids to keep a much-loved food in constant supply. Aphids and ants on plants are as interdependent as Idli & sambar. I saw this Camponotus Ant on the underside of … Read more
I found these major workers of Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) hunting a nymph of a cockroach. As these nymphs grow they are compelled to moult their cuticle, a process known as Ecdysis. After moulting, an arthropod is described as teneral, a callow; it is fresh, pale and soft-bodied. They are pretty vulnerable to attack by … Read more
Spiders are a far cry from the monsters people make them out to be. Spiders as a group consume more bugs than birds do. In our house, we enlist help from spiders, specifically Huntsman spiders (Heteropoda cf. venatoria) to keep our house as cockroach-free as possible. The male huntsman you see here was hunting a … Read more
I found a bunch of Blue Mud Dauber wasps in my garden sleeping on a dry vine. These Blue Mud Daubers, Chalybion bengalense are pretty common blue household wasps we encounter at home. Even though these are solitary wasps, males have a habit of sleeping in a group together. I was using my Canon EOS … Read more