Common scorpionfly (Panorpa communis) female

Common scorpionfly (Panorpa communis) female

Description

Title:
Common scorpionfly (Panorpa communis) female
Caption / Description:

A female Common scorpionfly (Panorpa communis) hangs onto a rush.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panorpa_communis):

Panorpa communis or common scorpionfly is a species of scorpionfly native to Western Europe.

The common scorpionfly has a black and yellow body, with a reddish head and tail. The male has a pair of claspers at the end of its tail (for holding the female during mating), giving it a scorpion-like appearance, although it is not a stinger. The adult insect has a wingspan of about 35mm, with wings that are mostly clear, but have many dark spots or patches. Its head, mounted with large eyes, is drawn into a prominent, upward pointing beak, which opens at the tip of its head.

The larva resembles a caterpillar and grows up to 20.3mm long. it has three pairs of thoracic legs and eight pairs of prolegs. The adult is seen between May and September, and can be usually found in hedgerows and patches of nettle. They eat dead insects (although they sometimes eat live aphids), sometimes stealing them from spider webs.

Although fully winged, the adults rarely fly very far and spend much of their time crawling on vegetation in damp, shaded places near water and along hedgerows. Eggs are laid in soil annually and the larvae both scavenge and pupate there.

Tags / Keywords:
  • Biota
  • Life
  • Vitae
  • Eukaryota
  • Animalia
  • Animals
  • Arthropoda
  • Arthropods
  • Insecta
  • Insects
  • Mecoptera
  • Panorpidae
  • Scorpionflies
  • Panorpa
  • Panorpa communis
  • Common scorpionfly

Admin

Date Original Photo Taken:
Original File Name:
_MG_1398-9.psd
Event:
Rating:
☆☆
Date this image added/last updated on website:
Original File Dimensions:
4171px x 2739px
File Type:
JPEG
Color Mode:
RGB
Original Image Color Profile:
Adobe RGB (1998)

Location

Location Created:
Sublocation:
City:
Market Harborough
Province/State:
Leicestershire
Country:
United Kingdom
World Region:
Europe
Geo-location:
52.474799754417, -0.94870079774444 View on map

Rights

Copyright Status:
Copyrighted
Licensing Status:
Rights Managed
Available for Editorial Use:
Yes
Available for Commercial Use:
Yes
Copyright Notice:
© 2010 Dave Kennard

Camera Data

Date Digital Resource was created:
Shutter speed:
1200 s
Aperture:
f/8
Camera Model:
Canon EOS 450D
ISO:
100
Exposure Compensation:
0
Focal Length:
65mm
Focal Length (35mm equiv.):
Metering Mode:
Multi-segment
Flash:
On, Fired
Exposure Mode:
Manual
White Balance:
Manual
Light Source:
Exposure Program:
Manual

Additional shooting metadata

Lens:
Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x Macro
Filters used:
Additional Optics used:
Setup:
Handheld, 2 shots
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Flash with home-made Concave diffusers

Post Processing

Image Modified:
Software used:
  • Adobe Camera RAW
  • Adobe Photoshop CS5
Post Processing:

-0.15 exposure compensation in ACR
Recovery set to 10 in ACR
+50 Brightness in ACR
Images blended for focus in PS CS5
LCE selectively applied in PS CS5
Curves adjustment to darken background and add contrast in PS CS5