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Checklist

Lynx Spiders: Oxyopidae Checklist

on
7 March 2024

Lynx spiders of the family Oxyopidae got their name from their hunting behaviour, akin to that of the Lynx cats. They are adept at chasing after their prey from leaf to leaf and some are capable of leaping to catch their prey in flight. The taxonomy of the genera in…


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Highlights

Macro Highlights – The Best of 2023

on
4 January 2024

2023 went by in a flash, but not without a bang. I managed to document lots of amazing lifers and did field trips in Borneo and Thailand as well. I’ve finally launched Isopod Site which started as a photo compilation of terrestrial isopods and slowly adding in information on…


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Guide

A Photographer’s Guide to Laowa Aurogon FF 10-50X NA0.5 Supermicro APO

on
30 December 2023

The new Laowa Aurogon FF 10-50X NA0.5 Supermicro APO is a beast that produces great images at a fraction of the cost of high end microscope objectives. While the end results may look mind-blowing to those new to microscopy, many are still clueless to how they can start using…


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Checklist Feature

Coccinellidae Checklist: Ladybird Beetles

on
27 September 2023

Ladybirds from the family Coccinellidae Latreille, 1807 are also commonly known as Ladybugs in North America, but are actually not true bugs but beetles. That is why some prefer to use the name ladybird beetles rather than ladybugs to avoid any confusion caused by the misnomer. Ladybirds are one…


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Checklist

Pillbugs & Sowbugs: Isopoda Checklist

on
15 June 2023

Pillbugs, sowbugs, roly-polies and woodlice, collectively referred to as isopods, are land-dwelling crustaceans that feed mainly on decaying organic matter, especially rotting wood and leaves. Pillbugs can roll into a tight ball or a pill — an ability called conglobation. Sowbugs, on the other hand, cannot conglobate and would…


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Checklist

Harvestmen: Opiliones Checklist

on
17 April 2023

Arachnids from the order Opiliones are commonly called harvestmen, harvest spiders, shepherd spiders, or daddy-long-legs (not to be confused with Pholcidae). In Latin, opilio refers to “shepherd”. In England, they were called harvestmen because of a superstitious belief that there will be a bad harvest that year if one…


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Highlights

Macro Highlights – The Best of 2022

on
31 December 2022

In 2022, I spent a little more time exploring the urban microfauna. I was also an instructor at BugShot Ecuador 2022 and had lots of lifers from the Amazon and cloud forests. I also resumed some workshops in the field, while most of my lectures were still conducted online….


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Checklist

Tingidae Checklist: Lace Bugs

on
10 October 2022

Lace bugs belong to the family Tingidae and are recognised by the lace-like structure on their pronotum and forewings. Lace bugs are usually host-specific and feed on the undersides of leaves by piercing the epidermis and sucking the sap. The holes left behind by the pierced epidermis are also…


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Feature Workshop

BugShot Ecuador 2022 Highlights

on
13 July 2022

BugShot Ecuador 2022 was held from 4 to 13 June 2022, brimming with a troupe of naturalists hungry for some macro action after a 2-year hiatus due to the pandemic. All of us immersed ourselves completely in the cool cloud forests and the deepest corners of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Many…


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Checklist

BugShot Ecuador 2022 Checklist

on
17 June 2022

BugShot Ecuador 2022 was an unforgettable adventure with some of the world’s most wonderful bug folks. From the cloud forest to the Amazon river system, we simply snapped non-stop for 10 days. I ended up with over 10000 photos in recording almost everything that we saw. Ecuador is a…


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Feature

Fake News Explained: Cork-Lid Trapdoor Spiders

on
12 April 2022

My photos of the Cork-Lid Trapdoor Spider have been making their rounds on the internet again this month with yet another entirely untrue caption claiming that the spider kills you within 5 minutes. This post is to address and debunk the nonsensical captions and to share the actual beauty…


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Workshop

BugShot 2022 – Ecuadorian Amazon

on
4 April 2022

If you get breathless or froth in the mouth on seeing a bizarre invertebrate that you’ve only ever heard of or read about and have been dying to photograph, this is for you. Every year, BugShot organises a 10-day macro workshop in an exotic location and another shorter one in…


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Highlights

Macro Highlights – The Best of 2021

on
31 December 2021

2021 has pretty much contained us within Singapore but despite that, we had many significant discoveries in the little red dot. While we were largely exploring the same trails, we still managed to find something new almost every fortnight. I also started some different styles or approaches to macro…


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Review

Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO Field Review: World’s Smallest 2:1 Full Frame Macro Lens

on
29 November 2021

The new Laowa 85mm F/5.6 2x Macro lens is one of the smallest macro lenses that I’ve ever used for a full-frame sensor. It is even smaller than the Laowa 50mm F/2.8 2:1 for Micro Four Thirds, and that’s no mean feat! The reason for a small f/5.6 lens…


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Checklist

Fulgoroidea Checklist: Planthoppers

on
1 June 2021

Planthoppers from the superfamily Fulgoroidea are plant-feeding insects which “hop” in the same fashion as grasshoppers. The nymphs, as well as some females, produce wax from special glands and some of them can be exceptionally flamboyant. Planthoppers can be differentiated from other “hoppers” (such as treehoppers, leafhoppers and froghoppers)…


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Feature

Bioluminescence: Glowing Mushrooms of Singapore

on
8 May 2021

Singapore is home to a number of bioluminescent fungi. Out of over 148000 known species of fungi across the world, over 70 of them are known to exhibit bioluminescence. All known luminescent species are white-rot fungi, which means that it breaks down lignin in wood. Lignin is responsible for…

NICKY BAY
Singapore

Hi my name is Nicky Bay. I am a macro photographer, instructor and book author, travelling the world to document the vast micro biodiversity that nature has to offer. Follow my updates and discover with me the incredible beauty and science behind our planet's micro creatures!

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