My penchant for macro photographer of small animals continues unabated. Here are some images from Saturday and Sunday along Skyline Drive and the Whiteoak Canyon / Cedar Run loop in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia:
A fly with a hairy back of golden iridescence. Compare it to this one:
Very similar in some regards, but check out the size differences in the eyes, and the abdomen… Perhaps this is a case of convergent evolution, or maybe simply sexual dimorphism.
Next up, check out this interesting larva:
… a beetle of some sort, perhaps?
Here is a very green shot of a true bug (some sort of assassin bug, I think), sipping on a fly:
And last, please enjoy this lovely salamander, like a star-dappled night sky:
The salamander looks like a northern slimy salamander (Plethodon glutinonsus). There’s a guide at:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/streams/pdfs/HerpKeyForWeb.pdf
The flies are probably a male (larger eyes) and female Golden-backed Snipe Fly, judging by the pictures at:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3552/bgpage
and
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3632/bgpage