The Ark In Space

Spider Mom

Sunday, 21 March 2021

This is one of the most remarkable pieces of film I have seen for a long time. Sure, we are all used to macro photography these days, showing all aspects of insect and arachnid life close up. Yet while that sort of photography needs time and bags of patience this must have been a labor of love indeed.

Funnily enough labor is quite an appropriate word here. This remarkable piece of film shows a spider laying its eggs. Scientifically speaking I should have said a spider ovispositing its egg sac but now you have that you know what it means in everyday speak!

The detail here is stunning – quite remarkable – you can see the eggs inside the spider before their sack is oviposited. Not only that it shows the care that the spider gives its young before they are born and even takes us to the birth itself.

This outstanding footage was taken by Alvaro Mendoza Productions, otherwise known as Amprods, a Spanish production company specializing in nature documentaries and, more specifically, in filming animal behavior.

Alien Nations: Up Close and Impersonal with Insects and Spiders

Sunday, 10 June 2018

It is little wonder that many movie monster makers look to the alien world of insects for their inspiration. Here, with the aid of some amazing macrophotography, get up close and impersonal with some strange species that might not look too out of place in a sci-fi movie.

Image Creduit Flickr User Charles Lam

There are around ninety species of beetle backed flies – and this is one of them. Native to Asia and Africa they do are small sized insects but with macrophotography they do not look quite so small. The reason for its swollen appearance is not because it is about to lay eggs (or has just ingested something larger than itself which is enough to start off a gag reflex, possibly). Rather it has an enlarged scutellum. This is the triangular plate behind its pronotum, which is one of the three parts that makes up its thorax. Its wings are behind the scutellum.

Lembeh Straits, A Macro Symphony

Monday, 6 April 2015

The red ‘orang-utan’ crab that you can see in the picture on the left is so tiny that its home is a discarded Coca-Cola bottle top. The shrimp that you will see after it is barely 4mm tall.

Such is life in Malaysia’s Lembeh Straits and these two creatures along with all the others in this underwater macro short, filmed by Kay Burn Lim, make for fascinating viewing. To paraphrase a commenter, it makes one aware of the incredible diversity of life in our oceans and the paramount importance of preserving it.

Nightmare Alien

Monday, 20 May 2013

Have you ever wanted to look away but simply couldn’t? I think that’s how I felt (still not sure) watching this footage taken by Friedhelm Fischer. It’s a macro time-lapse of a simple land snail yet as it is so close up it does somewhat resemble the nightmare alien of the title.

What was most fascinating for me was watching the tentacles curl out and retract. The upper set are called ommatophores (just call them eye stalks, it’s easier). The lower set help the snail smell itself along to its next meal. Absolutely fascinating footage!

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