Up close with a Phidippus jumping spider (Salticidae).

Urbana, Illinois, USA
An Australian Garden Mantis Orthodera ministralis cleans pollen from her foot.

Melbourne, Australia
A honey bee worker, close-up. The hairs serve several functions, including insulation, pollen collection, and sensory input.
Magicicada periodical cicada.

Allerton Park, Illinois, USA
Cicindela sexguttata - six spotted tiger beetle

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Eciton burchellii soldier. The bizarre globular eyes of army ants are a result of the ants' having re-evolved functional lenses from the vestiges of a blind ancestor.

Maquipucuna reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador
Eciton burchellii soldier. The bizarre globular eyes of army ants are a result of the ants' having re-evolved functional lenses from the vestiges of a blind ancestor.

Maquipucuna reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador
Eciton burchellii soldier. The bizarre globular eyes of army ants are a result of the ants' having re-evolved functional lenses from the vestiges of a blind ancestor.

Maquipucuna reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador
Acromyrmex echinatior 

Panama; Laboratory colony at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
Cicindela sexguttata - six spotted tiger beetle

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Cicindela sexguttata - six spotted tiger beetle

Urbana, Illinois, USA
Cicindela sexguttata - six spotted tiger beetle

Urbana, Illinois, USA
See photo in original gallery.
all images and text © Alex Wild 2001-2013