Beetlemania!

Two unexpected finds whilst out helping with a follow up fungi survey, on Middlewick Ranges, collecting soil samples.

Minotaur Beetle(Typhaeus typhoeus) 43 shot focus stacked image

This was only the second Minotaur beetle I’ve seen and I hadn’t been armed with a macro lens for the first one. It was still incredibly active and I wasn’t sure I'd be able to get any close-up shots at first. Thankfully it would periodically pause for long enough for me to fire off a series of shots for focus stacks. Touching up these stacks proved to be tricky as the head and antenna continued to move around slightly whilst the rest of the beetle was stationary.

I stand by my theory that larger beetles are one of the few invertebrates that don’t follow the rule of looking more intimidating the lower the angle you photograph them from. If anything it's quite the opposite. The lower the angle, the more they start to resemble Beaker from the Muppets. I think it’s because they look pretty formidable from most other angles anyway so they don’t need any extra help. This was my favourite angle as it enabled me to capture the head as well as all of that incredible body armour.

Bronze Ground Beetle (carabus nemoralis) 93 shot focus stacked image

The Bronze ground beetle is perhaps not quite as impressive looking as the Minotaur. I photographed this one after dark so it was much better behaved. It settled in a good spot for a shot and gave me plenty of time to get a deep focus stack. I like the fact that its pose is dynamic enough to make it look as if it's walking towards me, despite being completely still.

A couple of nice finds, particularly for late December