Fatal Attraction

I was trying to test Canon EF 300mm f/4.0 L IS USM which was courteously provided by Shivashankar with my Canon EF 1.4x II Extender when I spotted these mating Common Grass Yellows(Eurema hecabe) on a Peacock Flower (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) plant. On closer inspection there was this dark brown spider stuck on the head of the male. I wanted to capture the whole sequence so I quickly changed to my Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro with Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash and captured the whole sequence. I have posted 4 most interesting shots from this sequence.

Fatal Attraction

This Adanson’s House Jumper (Hasarius adansoni) had caught hold of the male by the head while in the act of mating. It had killed it and is now proceeding towards the female which was still stuck to the mate.

Fatal Attraction

It was a precarious perch for the spider as it had to manage the dead body of one and struggling butterfly on the other. The female was desperately trying to escape from the clutches of the spider but was unable to do. Spider manage to twist and turn the body of the dead male and lurched forward to reach for the female.

Fatal Attraction

After nearly 15 minutes of struggle the female managed to tire out the spider and gain the upright position. With bit more struggle she was able to release herself from the mate and fly away free and alive. It was such an awesome sight that I was amazed how she managed to do that.

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.

Handmaiden Moth

These mating Amata cyssea moths commonly known as Handmaiden moths that are day-flying members of the Arctiidae or Tiger moth family and Subfamily Syntominae. They mimic wasps in their body and coloration. Even for a predator who does not get deterred by wasps, the occasional bright body colors usually advertise a bad taste, so Handmaidens flourish.

The genitalia are asymmetric in both sexes. In the male the tegumen has prominent lateral lobes. The valves have strong, curved, asymmetric processes from the base of the costa and are themselves asymmetric. The aedeagus vesica contains a row (or rows if it has more than one lobe) of small cornuti, some of which can become very long. In the female genitalia the ostium is set asymmetrically between the eighth and seventh tergites.