Mating Weevils

I found these mating Weevils on a slender creeper. Not able to identify as there is scanty info about weevils. I took this photo without using flash. You can see the nice green background which is blurred (Bokeh). Since depth of field was shallow I had to go away from extreme closeup to keep the weevils in focus.

Curculionidae, also called snout beetles or curculios (not to be confused with the genus Curculio), is the family of the “true” weevils (or snout beetles). With over 60,000 species described worldwide, it is the largest of the beetle families.

They are recognized by their distinctive long snout and geniculate antennae with small clubs; beyond that, curculionids have considerable diversity of form and size, with adult lengths ranging from 1 mm to 40 mm.

Weevils are almost entirely plant feeders, and most species are associated with a narrow range of hosts, in many cases only living on a single species. With so many species to classify and over 400 genera, the taxonomy of this family is quite complicated, and authors disagree on the number and placement of various subfamilies, tribes, and subtribes.

The word “weevil” has been made famous by the boll weevil, which lays its eggs and eats inside cotton bolls, killing the plant.

Mating Weevils Closeup

For this shot I used my trusty Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash with diffuser. You will notice that I kept a smaller aperture and higher speed. This resulted in the background under exposed and dark. Depth of field is larger due to the fact that the aperture is small. nd I could take a very closeup shot keeping the weevils in focus.

Ashy Prinia

The Ashy Prinia or Ashy Wren-Warbler (Prinia socialis), is a small warbler. This prinia is a resident breeder in the Indian subcontinent, western Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It is a familiar bird of urban gardens and farmland in many parts of India and its small size, distinctive colours and upright tail make it easy to identify.

Canopy

Here is the green canopy created by the Wild Castor bean(Ricinus communis) leaf. Naturally back lit by sunlight. You can also notice a ladybird beetle at the center of the image.

The castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It belongs to a monotypic genus, Ricinus, and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species is currently being studied. Its seed is the castor bean which, despite its name, is not a true bean.

Castor seed is the source of castor oil, which has a wide variety of uses. The seeds contain between 40% and 60% oil that is rich in triglycerides, mainly ricinolein. The seed coat contains ricin, a toxin, which is also present in lower concentrations throughout the plant.

The toxicity of raw castor beans due to the presence of ricin is well-known. Although the lethal dose in adults is considered to be 4 to 8 seeds, reports of actual poisoning are relatively rare. According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, this plant is the most poisonous in the world.

Castor Leaf Canopy

Castor seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to 4000 BC being used mostly to fuel lamps because of the slow burning oil. Herodotus and other Greek travelers have noted the use of castor seed oil for lighting, body ointments, and improving hair growth and texture. Cleopatra is reputed to have used it to brighten the whites of her eyes. The Ebers Papyrus is an ancient Egyptian medical treatise believed to date from 1552 BC. Translated in 1872, it describes castor oil as a laxative.

Global castor seed production is around 1 million tons per year. Leading producing areas are India (with over 60% of the global yield), China and Brazil.