Miniture Beetle and Microscopic Passenger

Was taking a photo of a wet , rain-speckled dandelion seed head when I spotted this teeny tiny beetle clambering through the white feathers.

To give you an idea of size, look at your keyboard and the beetle was not much larger than the full stop icon on your keypad.

I took the photo and realised it was trapped at the moment I took the shot in a droplet of water - though it had been moving a little more freely a few seconds beforehand. t meant I was able to get reasonable focus on the beetle as at this juncture, it wasn't gong anywhere though it was struggling to escape the droplet.

However, upon loading the image up for processing and cropping in quite a lot (cos it was really small to see) I then spotted that it was carrying a couple of passengers, the largest of which is clearly visible walking across the droplet presumably having broken free of the moisture bubble, and the (burnt out by the flash) smaller one behind is on the feathered seed head. I'm pretty certain that these to mites were passengers of the beetle, and not on the dandelion, because I know (and you probably do too) that many insects carry parasites as a routine habitat.

3 tubes, Sigma 105, big crop, ringflash.


Exif:

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 105mm
Image Date: 2011-06-26 19:05:58 +0000
Focal Length: 105mm
Aperture: f/11.0
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
ISO equiv: 400
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Photographer: Paul Iddon
Copyright: A View of the UK - Paul Iddon Photography





Paul.

Title:	Miniture Beetle and Microscopic Passenger
Username:	Paul_Iddon
Uploaded:	28 Jun 2011 - 7:11 AM
Camera:	Canon EOS 550D
Lens:	105mm
Recording media:	JPEG (digital)
Tags:	Beetle, Canon eos 550d, Close-up / macro, Dandelion, Macro, Mite, Parasite, Passenger, Paul Iddon
Votes:	8