December 3rd, 2013
Despite the cold weather, there are still plenty of exciting macro subjects about. I recently discovered a series of tiny orange slime mould fruiting bodies on a piece of rotting wood:
CLICK TO ENLARGE – Slime Mould {Trichia decipiens} fruiting bodies on decaying wood next to pencil lead for scale.
Going in closer, we start to reveal the details of these delicate, transient structures. Click to enlarge the image below.
CLICK TO ENLARGE – Slime Mould {Trichia decipiens} fruiting bodies on decaying wood.
Another tiny subject that can be found on rotting wood is the Globular Springtail {Sminthurus viridis}. I photographed this one a few hours ago. It was about 1.5mm in length and on the move for most of the time… a tricky customer, but great fun to work with nevertheless! I hope to do more work with these little fellows soon.
CLICK TO ENLARGE – A male globular springtail {Dicyrtomina saundersi} on decaying wood.
For those of you interested, all of these images were made using the Canon MP-E 65mm macro lens.
All images and text copyright Alex Hyde –Â www.alexhyde.co.uk
Alex Hyde's Blog 
Lovely springtail shot Alex. I think this is likely a male Dicyrtomina saundersi. The females lack the pigmented “cheek” area, but do have the multi-barred cross on the rear of the abdomen.
Thanks very much Ed, most helpful of you. Springtail identification can be a bit challenging!