Some insects blend in so perfectly with their environments that they are difficult to spot. That is clearly not the case with this Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) that I spotted yesterday at my local marsh.
The beetle’s metallic green body glistened in the sun and made it stand out against the bark of the fallen tree on which it was perched. It flew away several times when I got close to it, but kept returning, eventually remaining in place long enough for me to get this shot. Click on the image to get a higher resolution view of the beetle, including its textured body and multi-segment antennae.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
I like that color. I found a different type of beetle that was much the same color last year and read that its underside was bright red, so if I see another one I’m going to have to take a peek.
What an incredible beetle and photo! I like that you captured all six spots, Mike.
Great capture!
Another tribute to patience! I’ve seen photos of these, but I’ve yet to encounter one in person. We have another insect that has the same crystalline emerald color, the agapostemon bee. They’re very exciting, too. Really nice detail!
Thanks, Gary. Are those the metallic green bees? If so, I’ve seen them only once, but couldn’t get close enough to get this kind of detail–maybe this year I’ll do better (https://michaelqpowell.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/green_bee1_blog.jpg).
Yup, those are the ones. I sent you one of mine, and here’s another link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/7997.
Superb photo Mike, I love the detail you have captured here.
Thanks. My 180mm macro lens is really fun to use, because it lets you stay a little distance from a subject and still get incredible results. I use the Tamron version, which is a whole lot more affordable than the Canon one.
It’s a cracking lens Mike, I’ve also heard that it’s no different in terms of image quality to both the Canon and Sigma f3.5 variants of this lens so an excellent piece of kit and something I would not mind investing in myself in the future.
Beautiful picture.
Thank you for your kind words, Diane.
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