Learning from photography
Piece of Anthophoraright? Well, you can still call me blind, but I don't think I remember in life the black brush and the tuft of tarsal hairs that identify this beautiful insect as a male of Anthophora plumipesphotographed in a German city park.
As a second course we have not one, but a number of sleeping beauties. Andrena,, Colletes,... o Melitta? When I took the photo I didn't bother to try to recognise them, but in the middle you can see the relatively inflated tarsi of one of the dormice, and you can also see the abrupt end, as if cut off, of several of these resting antennae. This is, in fact, a group of Melittas sleepers.
Last but not least, here is a picture of a splendid bumblebee:
Note the apparent lack of corbiculae, or specialised pollen-gathering structures, which would necessarily identify this insect as a male or,... as a cuckoo bumblebee, one of the species of bumblebees that parasitise other bumblebees that actually do the work of gathering supplies in the nest. Indeed, this image seems to depict a cuckoo bumblebee as a Bombus campestris.
In sum, these and other images reflect, as I said above, the potential of insect photography as a learning tool, as well as its usefulness in documenting our encounters as a virtual collection. Although controversial in some circles, photography is no substitute for actual physical collection, proper preparation and maintenance of a serious entomological collection, as many species can only be recognised by looking at microscopic details or by repositioning the insect. There are even cases where genetic confirmation of identity may be useful, for which a photograph is clearly insufficient.
I encourage every interested reader to take up insect photography as another tool to try to get closer and better know our biodiversity that swarms among the flowers. You don't need to be a great photographer or have particularly expensive equipment to be able to document your observations satisfactorily, so go ahead!
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