{"id":439,"date":"2007-04-26T21:39:32","date_gmt":"2007-04-26T12:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-04-26\/439"},"modified":"2007-04-26T21:39:32","modified_gmt":"2007-04-26T12:39:32","slug":"feasting-assassin-bug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-04-26\/439","title":{"rendered":"Feasting Assassin Bug"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 + 12mm extension tube — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>80 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>Assassin Bug (Orange) Finishing Lunch (Black)<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Walking back from photographing the hyper-fluffy cherry\nblossoms<\/a> earlier this week, I noticed<\/span> a striking<\/span> red\/orange bug on a\ntree.<\/span> I hate bugs<\/span> — they give me the creeps — but I had<\/span> my\nextension tubes, so I thought<\/span> to try some pseudo-macro photography by using\none with my Sigma 30mm.<\/p>\n\n

The quality of the shot isn't that great, but it's my best non-blossom\nmacro shot ever (but only on a technicality,<\/span> because it's my only<\/i>\nnon-blossom macro shot). A good photographer<\/span> would be able to make a\nstunning<\/span> photograph (see some in this macro\nshots of the week<\/a> thread at Digital Photography Review), but I was<\/span>\ndoing this handheld, bridging one hand between the camera and the tree,\ninches from a tree<\/span> full of bugs (the photo below was taken just inches from\nthe one above), all the while hoping that they'd not all jump onto me and\nbore under my skin in pre-planned human-hating unison.<\/p>\n\n

I did a bit of poking around on the web and it seems that the red insect\nis some species or other of an assassin bug<\/a> (with\nmany such species also called “wheel bugs”). They apparently are a\ngardener's<\/span> friend because they prey on harmful bugs by sucking out their\nguts. If you look<\/span> at the large version of the one above, you can see that\nthe black bug (looks like it might have been a spider<\/span>) is not much more\nthan what used to be the lower chassis, so to speak.<\/p>\n\n

It also seems that assassin bugs, due to their piercing\/sucking mouth\nparts, can give a human<\/span> a nasty<\/span> bite, so it turns out that my gut wrenching\nwhite-knuckled fear was not misplaced.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>Nikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 + 12mm extension tube — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>Bunches of Some Kinda' Bug<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Right next to the feasting assassin bug were hordes of black bugs with\nred markings. After having looked at the many varieties of assassin bugs\nduring my research, I suspect<\/span> that these are also assassin bugs of some\nkind or another. Yuck. I don't<\/span> like bugs.<\/p>\n\n

The other day at a park with Anthony, a big<\/i> ladybug (the size of\na bean,<\/span> not one the size of a pinhead<\/span> like I grew<\/span> up with) landed on my\narm. It's a ladybug<\/span>, but still a bug,<\/span> so the impulse to crawl at least\nslightly out of my own skin was pungent. However, the parent in me won, and\nnot wishing to instill into Anthony any such squeamishness, instead of\nsaying “Arrrrrrgh!” I said<\/span> “Hey, Anthony, look, a cute<\/span> ladybug. Come and\nsee...”<\/p>\n\n

It can be hard being a parent sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walking back from photographing the hyper-fluffy cherry blossoms earlier this week, I noticed a striking red\/orange bug on a tree. I hate bugs -- they give me the creeps -- but I had my extension tubes, so I thought to try some pseudo-macro photography by using one with my Sigma 30mm.<\/p>

The quality of the shot isn't that great, but it's my best non-blossom macro shot ever (but only on a technicality, because it's my only non-blossom macro shot). A good photographer would be able to make a stunning photograph (see some in this macro shots of the week thread [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}