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A fly with leg warmers

I like to think some of my photographs succeed for the technical skill and artistry I put into them. Others, it almost doesn’t matter what I do.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


I like to think some of my photographs succeed for the technical skill and artistry I put into them. Others, it almost doesn't matter what I do. The subject itself is so compelling I just need to point the camera in the right direction and shoot. Such is the case with this Brazilian crane fly:

I can only speculate as to the function of the fly's leg-warmers. The structures might serve to signal to potential mates, or perhaps to confuse aerial predators. I rather doubt they were intended to attract naturalists and photographers, but they certainly work well in that capacity.



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photo details:

Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 7D

ISO 200, f/13, 1/250 sec

diffuse off-camera twin flash

Alex Wild is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studies the evolutionary history of ants. In 2003 he founded a photography business as an aesthetic complement to his scientific work, and his natural history photographs appear in numerous museums, books and media outlets.

More by Alex Wild