Mega-cool bugs

Right up in the grill of a clamp-tipped emerald dragonfly. I've been off in the wilds of Adams County doing field work, much of it with the incomparable David Wagner, and I've managed to wrangle scads of interesting images. I'll share some later, when there's more time. The emerald was captured with my new Canon Rebel T3i, which is proving to be an awesome camera.

A black maple, Acer nigrum, with its telltale foliage. Look closely...

That bit of dying maple tissue on the leaf in the previous photo morphs into a spectacular caterpillar upon inspection. It is a checker-fringe prominent, Schizura ipomoeae; an extraordinary mimic of necrotic leaf tissue. Note how the caterpillar essentially assumes the outline of the leaf margin as it eats its way into the leaf. Remarkable; probably far more spectacular than the rather drab moth that this caterpillar will become - if nothing gets it.

More to follow...