Underside of Aphodius rufipes
Description
- Title:
- Underside of Aphodius rufipes
- Caption / Description:
-
Aphodius rufipes is a dung beetle, feeding on horse, sheep, and cattle dung. At night it can fly great distances in search of new food sources, but it is attracted to light, and so can often be found flying into houses or gardens at night, despite no food sources being nearby.
The female beetle lays its eggs in dung, which the larvae also use as their food source. Aphodius rufipes beetles are often host to small brown mites, these mites are actually beneficial to the beetle as they feed on moulds that would otherwise spoil the dung as the food source for the beetle's larvae. The mites cling to the underside and legs of the beetle, and so travel to new food sources along with the beetle.
Aphodius rufipes indivduals range in size from 9-14mm, and are coloured dark brown to black. The wing cases (elytra) are ridged, while the pronotum is finely punctured with a few larger punctures.
- Tags / Keywords:
-
- Biota
- Life
- Vitae
- Eukaryota
- Animalia
- Animals
- Arthropoda
- Arthropods
- Insecta
- Insects
- Coleoptera
- Beetles
- Aphodius rufipes
- Aphodiidae
- Aphodius
- Dung beetles
Admin
- Date Original Photo Taken:
- Original File Name:
- _MG_7150-3.psd
- Event:
- Rating:
- ☆
- Date this image added/last updated on website:
- Original File Dimensions:
- 4251px x 2525px
- File Type:
- JPEG
- Color Mode:
- RGB
- Original Image Color Profile:
- Adobe RGB (1998)
Location
- Location Created:
-
- Sublocation:
- City:
- Market Harborough
- Province/State:
- Leicestershire
- Country:
- United Kingdom
- World Region:
- Europe
- Geo-location:
Rights
- Copyright Status:
- Copyrighted
- Licensing Status:
- Rights Managed
- Available for Editorial Use:
- Yes
- Available for Commercial Use:
- Yes
- Copyright Notice:
- © 2009 Dave Kennard
Camera Data
- Date Digital Resource was created:
- Shutter speed:
- 1⁄200 s
- Aperture:
- f/8
- Camera Model:
- Canon EOS 450D
- ISO:
- 100
- Exposure Compensation:
- 0
- Focal Length:
- 65mm
- Focal Length (35mm equiv.):
- Metering Mode:
- Multi-segment
- Flash:
- Off, Did not fire
- Exposure Mode:
- Manual
- White Balance:
- Manual
- Light Source:
- Exposure Program:
- Manual
Additional shooting metadata
- Lens:
- Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x Macro
- Filters used:
- Additional Optics used:
- Setup:
- Handheld, 2 shots
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Flash with home-made diffusers
Post Processing
- Image Modified:
- Software used:
-
- Adobe Camera RAW
- Adobe Photoshop CS5
- Post Processing:
CR2s converted in ACR
Images blended for focus in PS CS5
Straightened in PS CS5
Extra background cloned in using PS CS5