the insect and arachnid world goes beyond our comprehension of horror.
When we zoom out, our human (sized) world becomes rational. Insects do not lay their eggs in our human bodies only for their larva to break through these vulnerable bodies in the process of hatching. In other words, we are not in a world like the movies Aliens and Predators. But the insect world, is probably the main inspiration for these movies and not "real aliens", this is a daily occurrence.
I remember a couple of years ago while gardening, I saw the larvae of wasps breaking through the body of a moth worm (moth larvae). My curiosity got the better of me; I hunched down and looked closely. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie. The wasp larvae literally burst and ate through the body of the worm. I think the worm was luckily dead, but I would not have been dead as these larvae ate through its body.
While gardening recently, I stumbled upon a less horrific scene, but still horrific in its essence. I thought it was a rare moment, one that does not happen often. But in photographing this moment, it happened two other times as well! This series of photographs is the result of these "rare moments".
I hunched down, and I saw the bee first.
But I knew something was wrong; the bee was dead and the wrong side around - its wings toward the flower.
Then I saw the legs of the spider!
And then I realised: It was a spider that was eating the poor bee. I have never seen this in my life. I have never seen a spider catch a bee. I have seen spiders eating insects, flies, bugs, but never a bee! And then it happened two other times as well. In the first series of photographs, I could not really see the spider; it hid almost inside the flower. But in the last two series of photographs, the yellow spider and the white one, you can clearly see the spiders.
Unlike my recent posts, I will only write something short at the end. I will allow the photographs to speak for themselves. I think they are quite powerful and striking, as it just shows how brutal the insect and macro world really is. Imagine being caught by a spider the same size as you...
Without further ado, please enjoy these photographs.
Spiders Catching Bees:
The Horrors of the Micro World
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Postscriptum, or There are still living bees!
Before showing the relatively happy ending, here is a short video of the last incident:
It is not all doom and gloom. There is still life! Elsewhere in the garden, it did not take me long to find some live and living bees buzzing around the blooms and flowers of, in this case, rosemary. Life is abundant as soon as you look, if you listen, and if you see.
But where there is life, especially insect life, there is also death; the most beautiful bee will be the lunch of the spider. The was will lay its eggs in anything moving, and death becomes the very thing that sustains life; without it, we will not have the beauty we find around us.
We can be lucky that the insect life is not mimicked in life. Imagine if human-sized wasps lay their eggs in your body. Imagine if these eggs break through your body like those classic scenes in Alien the Movie.
Lucky for us, we only see this from afar.
For now, happy photographing and keep well!
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by my morbidly curious mind and fear of insect life. The photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens or 50mm Nikkor lens.
Great Post with beautiful macro shots
Thank you so much! I was lucky that the spiders sat still long enough.
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The pictures you showed are very beautiful, I like them.
Thank you so much, my friend!
You are welcome, friend.