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Enrico Bonino — Extreme Macro Photography and Paleontology

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Explore my newest Instagram Images

Fresh photo drop on Instagram
Take a look (you’ll need an account) — which one’s your favorite?

A complete specimen of Datzia bispina (Diptera: Psychodidae: Protopsychodidae) with a passenger! A very beautiful spider embedded in a stream of resin rich in plant debris and air bubbles ...and if a harvestman were watching you, how would you react? This is an intriguing inclusion: a large brachyceran fly covered by the typical Verlumung, a whitish coating characterised by micrometre-sized gas bubbles, probably related to the decomposition of the organism and quite common in Baltic amber inclusions. I’m slightly uncomfortable looking at this spider web, with part of the spider’s prey still caught in it, knowing that this scene is about 40 million years old and was preserved in resin as it happened... A beautiful scene of a brachyceran fly photographed in darkfield. The technique reveals a spectacular display of birefringence colours surrounding the inclusion, creating an almost glowing effect around the insect. A very rare find! A bird feather beautifully preserved in Baltic amber. Scolopendromorpha (Chilopoda) acquired in darkfield. Excellent Lithobiomorpha (Chilopoda) acquired in darkfield. Palaeolignopholas kachinensis (Mollusca) A nice Hemiptera with its wings half-open. The colour pattern that this insect had during its lifetime is clearly visible. It is a pity that part of the wing and the head were cut during the polishing of the amber (not me! 🙂 ). An exquisite hairy Trichoptera with beautiful eyes, perfectly preserved in Cretaceous amber. It seems as though it was captured in the golden flow just yesterday… I found this tiny seed on the kitchen table, which piqued my curiosity, and naturally I wanted to take a photo of it to see what it was. In my previous post, I showed a “naked” chrysopid neuroptera larva. Here is the same genus, but this time carrying a whole collection of plant fragments, inorganic debris, and small dead prey. Can you recognise the larva below the huge amount of stuff? Today I (re)propose a little marvel: a chrysopid larva (Neuroptera) displaying the characteristic dorsal structures used to carry pieces of plants, inorganic debris and small dead prey as part of its camouflage behaviour. Very nice Nallachiinae with feathered antennae (Neuroptera: Dilaridae) A few days ago, I posted a photo of a hymenopteran cocoon taken under darkfield illumination; today I’m sharing the same subject but with normal lighting. It’s clear that the silk that makes up the cocoon is less visible than it is under darkfield illumination. Both techniques highlight different characteristics. Have you noticed the fecal pellets produced by the larva during its development inside the cocoon? I have been fortunate, little by little, to have built up an excellent network of collectors and professionals working in the field of amber inclusions. I recently contacted an American collector (Forester Wallace) who had published on Facebook a specimen that immediately piqued my curiosity. When I speak of a microcosm, I am not reaching for a poetic flourish. I mean it literally: there exists a parallel reality that escapes us entirely, a universe of creatures that live, grow, reproduce and die within it, and of which we remain utterly unaware. Olexum sp. (Coleoptera) and an excellent parasitic wasp, Braconidae (Hymenoptera) Urban heat surfaces in Liège, mapped from Landsat 9 thermal data. Another less-than-one-millimetre coleopteran. Look at the shine and the tiny spotted texture on the elytron. I love it! Something really beautiful is emerging while processing the photographs of the Jan Simon-Pražák amber material. "Jumping" Ensifera (Orthoptera) over some Palaeolignopholas kachinensis (domichnia) I am particularly pleased to announce a new collaboration with the Faculty of Science at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) for the photographic documentation of amber inclusions. Thank you to Jan Simon-Pražák for his trust in me. cf. Orphnidae or Ochodaeidae (Coleoptera) Pollen grains on wasp setae An unusual (putative) Osmylidae (Neuroptera)

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