#stephanitis

[razehider]

i appreciate all my local lace bugs, as much as most of them just look like flat seeds, but i'd be lying if i said i don't wish i saw fancy ones more often. despite thorough searches on multiple plants my first Stephanitis was this bewildering encounter with one in my bathroom at 4 in the morning, which is exactly what a ghost or killer would place as bait if it wanted me to go outside at 4 in the morning to look for more lace bugs. but i endured

(September 13th, 2025)

[lycomorpha]

Azalea lace bug - Stephanitis pyrioides - Oregon by Thomas Shahan Via Flickr: What a beautiful pest! Here's the Azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides - shot with a new Venus 60mm lens in the style of the stacked images I was producing for the lab a few months back. This specimen was alive and healthy (and resultingly, not terribly cooperative) - shot atop a clear plastic petri dish with black velvet below. Crop from a 5 shot stack at f/8 or so. Imaging these guys on a black background doesn't show off the diagnostic black-brown maculations but really brings out the beautiful iridescence present in these tingids. Here's another shot I took at work that's a better (although less attractive) representation: www.flickr.com/photos/oragriculture/14824547766/in/set-72... Here's a review I did recently of this new Venus 60mm macro (that can do 2:1 *and* infinity focus!) petapixel.com/2015/02/02/review-venus-60mm-f2-8-worlds-fi... And a special announcement for west-coast folks (or anybody else!) that would like to join me and some other macro guys for a macro workshop - I'll be instructing again with Bugshot - this time in California! More info here: bugshot.net/

[lycomorpha]

Comparison of Tingids by Oregon Department of Agriculture Via Flickr: Comparison of Tingids