It seems that as long as plants are blooming, some insects, especially those considered to be pests, will continue to be active. This past weekend as I was looking at flowers at a local garden, I spotted a familiar insect, the Spotted Cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata). I consider this beetle to be attractive, with his different shades of green and multiple black spots, but recognize that it causes a lot of destruction (and you can see some of the petals of the flower that it has chewed through).
Several cucumber beetles were on the flowers and I was able to get some pretty good shots with my 100mm macro lens, a lens that has fallen into disuse as I have focused more of my attention on birds. The photos show the beetles in several different “poses”—I especially like the first one that seems to have caught the beetle as he is chewing on the flower. You may want to click on the photos to see higher resolution views.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
The fourth one is my favorite, Mike, and I really like that you’ve included the ghost of the other flower in the background.
Thanks, Gary. Composition was a real question for me. The fourth one was my initial effort before I decided to move in closer. It is the one that shows best the context of the photo.
Excellent shots, I always wondered what they were called..:-)
Such interesting pictures. How do you get the “frame” around each picture like it’s on photo paper?
Thanks. I don’t know how the frame appears for the photos. WordPress does something to them–it is not part of my original photos.
Thanks. I’ll have to see if I can find whatever does that. I like the way they look.