A bush katydid (Caedicia webberi) feeding on the rain-sodden flowers of a powderpuff satinash (Syzygium wilsonii). After extracting the proteins from the pollen and nectar the katydid expels the excess water in a clear drop.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Harlequin bugs (Tectocoris diophthalmus) cluster on top of leaves. Their bright colours are warning to predators that they taste bad or are poisonous.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
In the Wet season white-lipped tree frogs (Litoria infrafrenata) congregate around the swampy areas in the tropical lowlands. The males’ calls of ‘che-check’ to attract females resemble the sound of matches being shaken in their box.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
In this defence posture, the caterpillar of the fruit-piercing moth (Eudocima fullonia) has stretched segments of its body to enlarge the ‘eyes’ on its skin – a ploy to discourage predators. The moth is as striking as the caterpillar.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Nearly alll of Australia’s 1,200 or so species of jewel beetles live up to their name with bright colours and flashing iridescence. Even so some stand out, such as the red and purple jewel beetle (Metaxymorpha hauseri).
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Underside of a wing of a rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus).
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Most insects will hide under leaves or in tree hollows during downpours. But some – like the striped swamp dragonfly (Agrionoptera longitudinalis) – seem to welcome the rain.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
A sleeping cuckoo wasp (Stilbum cyanurum). It is only 16mm long. Moments after we took the last photograph, it lifted its head, wiped its eyes with its front feet and its wings with its hind feet, and flew off. Cuckoo wasps were given their name because they lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
The longicorn beetle (Rosenbergia megalocephala) gets its colour from and orange powder and pale grey hairs. Newly emerged from its pupa in rotting wood, it still has all its colour.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
This close-up of a giant shield bug (Oncomeris flavicornis), encapsulates the beauty and magnificence of nature’s miniatures.
Photo Credit: Kaisa and Stanley Breeden
Mycterophallus duboulayi is a chafer beetle and like all of its kind loves flowers and hot sunny weather.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Only when the leaf-mimicking katydid (Acauloplacella hasenpuschae) settles on a contrasting background can its true shape and colour be appriciated.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
The brass-button moth (Metallochlora lineata) is one of about two score small, green-patterned species in the Geometrid family. They all have looper caterpillars.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Daphnis protrudens, a species of hawkmoth, is powerfully built for fast buzzing flight. At night it seeks out flowering rainforest trees. Hovering in front of the flowers, it extracts their nectar with its long proboscis. Hawkmoths are important pollinators.
Photo Credit: Stanley and Kaisa Breeden
Portrait of a spiny katydid (Phricta spinosa).
Stag beetles like this splendid Mueller’s stag beetle (Phalacrognathus muelleri) are not endowed with antlers but with enlarged and reinforced mandibles. The ‘antlers’ are really its jaws.
Photographers Stanley and Kaisa Breeden have focused their lenses on some very small forms of life. The pair are masters of ‘focal stacking’ photography, in which they merge images to create an otherwise unachievable depth-of-field. Here, they’ve used their skills to bring out some of nature’s smallest details, from the amazingly delicate textures of moth wings to the curled-up form of a sleeping wasp. All these images can be found in their book, Small Wonders: A close look at nature’s miniatures.