Insect Gallery

Honey bees on a honeycomb

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) on a honeycomb. The chambers in a honeycomb are created using wax secreted by the bees. The chambers are then filled with honey, using nectar obtained from flowers, and capped with wax. These honeycombs are part of a beehive, a structure built by a beekeeper who removes honeycombs and harvests the honey in them. Because bees store honey to provide food over winter, the bee keeper replaces it with syrup for the bees to feed upon. Photographed in the Novgorod region of Russia

© RIA NOVOSTI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Dragonflies in flight

Dragonflies. High-speed photography of dragonflies (order Odonata) in flight. Dragonflies are predators of other insects, often catching prey mid-flight

© Dr.John Brackenbury/Science Photo Library

Animal, Biological, Biology, Dragon Flies, Dragon Fly, Duo, Fauna, Field, Flower, Flying, High Speed Photography, Insect, Insecta, Invertebrate, Meadow, Nature, Odonata, Pair, Wild Life, Zoological, Zoology

Ant, SEM

Ant. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of an ant (family Formicidae). One of its compound eyes (red) is seen, as well as two long antennae that are mounted on the head between the eyes. They are used for tasting chemicals to detect food and follow trails left by other ants. Ants are social insects that can form colonies of several million individuals

© SUSUMU NISHINAGA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY