Craig B

@mutillidae.bsky.social

956 Followers 391 Following

Principal Investigator of impedimental temporal phenomena. Hymenopterist. Keeper of secrets. he/him Curator of a university insect collection located in the Midwest (USA). I am passionate about velvet-ants.

This is a close up of the imaging set up I made to image the water penny. There's a 3D printed black block with a socket to hold a standard watch glass on the left, with an actual watch glass sitting atop the block on its right edge. On the right edge of the block is a off white 3D-printed diffuser, roughly shaped like a hollowed out hemisphere, with large circular openings on the top and bottom. The bottom rim of the diffuser fits into a recess on the top of the block holding the watch glass. The pieces are setting on a light grey bench top in front of a white wall.
Ventral view of a water penny larva (Psephenidae) against a black background. The six legs, antennae, and the feathery gills are all clearly visible—and would be well protected from above when the larva is clinging to a rock underneath the water.
Dorsal view of a mayfly naiad, facing left, on a nearly black background. The legs are clearly fossorial (modified for digging). Large paired feathery "gills" are extending backwards from each abdominal segment side. There are a pair of up-curved tusks or prongs on the face, a diagnostic feature of this burrowing mayfly.
Dorsal view of two extremely small moths; both are double-mounted and have their wings spread. Both have mostly brown and white front wings with paler, fringed hind wings. the edge of a U.S. dime is encroaching from the top of the image. You could easily fit four or five of each moth across the diameter of the dime, without overlapping.
Angled view of a micromoth in front of a large Atlas moth in a foam-bottomed insect drawer. The Atlas moth's wingspan is about 230mm while the micromoth's is ~9mm.
Lateral view of a very small phorid fly against a white background. The wings are two short pads with a dozen or so long bristles extending from each. The body is tannish overall; the head and thorax are brown. The palps are quite large and there are more long erect bristles on the head.
Right lateral view of a teeny tiny yellow microhymenopteran, against a dark grey background. There are lovely brownish markings on the body, so (in my mind) she looks like a little tiger. Rawrrr...
Frontal view of a pale crab spider against a dark bluish-black background. Its entire body and legs are pale yellow, with slighly darker yellow areas on the carapace and abdomen. Whitish blobs are also visible through the abdominal wall and there's a white smileyface-shaped area around the eyes. The white area has hints of pink...it is extraordinarily cute.
Lateral view of a small point-mounted velvet-ant female against a dark grey background. Overall, her body is dark reddish-brown, with lighter reddish legs and antennae. The head is also lighter in color, and covered with short golden setae. The first couple of metasomal tergites have apical bands of whitish setae and there are two small spots of whitish setae on the second tergite. Her body is uniformly punctate; the punctation is clearly visible through the short setae on the body. The tip of the white card point extends from the right (back) of the body and out of the top of the image. Finally, a lighter grey, blurry line extends roughly from top to bottom on the left side of the image—it is the insect pin.
Chart with about thirty circles arranged vertically in various shades of red, brown, and gray. On the left of each circle is the different name for each color, starting with flame-colored, ruby, roseate at the top and finishing with dusky, sooty, and black at the bottom. On the right, there are three brackets, grouping the 30 some colors into Red, Brown, and Grey. There's the silhouette of standing man with one hand on his chin and one pointing to the colored circles; above him the label "BIRDERS" has been crossed out and the label "ENTOMOLOGISTS" has been added underneath. Finally, there's an image of a little boy in shorts and a plaid short on the right, also pointing to the circles. Above him, it says "OTHER PEOPLE".
Teeny tiny bug nymph floating above a grey background. The body is mostly brown, with lighter colored legs. There are distinct, erect all black and all white setae scattered across its dorsal surface. The erect setae are flared and flattened at their tips. It has long thread-like antennae that are brown at the base and pale on the distal two-thirds.
Dorsal view of a large fuzzy robber fly perched on a rough piece of grey and brown bark. It is doing its best to mimic a bumble bee with its yellow and orange fuzzy body.
Left lateral view of a small point-mounted wasp, against a dark grey background. This parasitic wasp is predominantly yellow, with orangish tints on the legs and metasoma. There are also a few scattered dark brown markings. As a chalcidid wasp, it's characterized by ridiculously enlarged hind coxae and femorae.
Dorsal view of a point-mounted female velvet-ant against a grey background. This tiny beauty was collected in Western Australia in 2010; the head is metallic green, the mesosoma is metallic red with yellowish tints, and the metasoma is also metallic green, with hints of yellow and copper. Like most velvet-ants, she is quite pubescent, with erect light and dark setae over most of her body, and with apical fringes of white, appressed setae on the first two metasomal segments. The tops of her legs are a lovely metallic lavender color, the rest of the legs are yellowish-orange.
Dorsolateral view of a point-mounted wingless wasp, against a grey background. This wasp is decidedly ant-like in appearance. Overall, it is reddish-brown in color with darker spots dorsally on the abdominal segments. It is also very smooth and shiny; the reflection of the lens opening in the hemispherical diffuser that was used is clearly visible on its abdomen.
A teeny tiny point-mounted wasp against a grey background. Did I mention she's tiny?! Its body is metallic green with purplish tints. The legs are brown, transitioning to yellow at the feet. The antennae arise low on its face and are clearly geniculate (elbowed).
Lateral view of a pinned planthopper in the family Membracidae. I think this is the genus Cyphonia. Membracids are known for having crazy pronotal projections, making them look like thorns in many species. This genus has even more ridiculously ornate projections, with spines and nodes that may be an evolutionary attempt to mimic ants. This specimen is reddish brown overall, with pale yellow markings. There are large spine-like projections as well: a pair on top, a posterior pair, and single median spine pointing down and back from the apex of its pronotal projection.
Small, point-mounted bug on the left and the head of a #2 insect pin on the right, against a white background. The bug is tan overall, with slight darker legs. Its dorsum is bulbous and rounded and its eyes are dark. It is about the size of the head of the pin on the right.
Close up of a crazy looking blister beetle: Cysteodemus wislizeni. The elytra are greatly expanded over the abdomen and look like a purple brain on top of the rest of the body. The body is deeply punctate and is metallic purple overall, with bluish and greenish tints. The image background is white; this focus stacked image was taken inside.
Close up of a red velvet mite on the top of a wood chip, in a pile of wood chips.
Lateral view of a tiny point-mounted parasitoid wasp on a white background. It is tiny! It has very large eyes and geniculate (elbowed) antennae. Its body is a mixture of purple, browns, and orange with metallic green glints. There is an erect tuft of dark bristles on the back edge of the scutellum.
Closeup image of a female mutillid in a kind of fronto-dorso-lateral view, against a white background. She is wingless, like all females in her family. Her head and mesosoma are almost black while her metasoma is ferruginous, with yellowish maculations. She is punctate overall, with erect dark setae scattered everywhere. There are also appressed whitish setae around the dorsal periphery of her mesosoma and forming apical fringes on her metasomal tergites. Her left eye is in view, hemispherical and appearing smooth and polished. The species is Dasymutilla saetigera and this individual was collected from southeast Arizona (USA) in August 2025.
Mostly lateral, slightly front-ish view of a jewel beetle on a neutral grey background. It's a chonky specimen, the integument is various dark metallic shades of blue, green, bronze, purple, and black. Pale ivory/yellowish tufts of hair (setae) are evenly covering the pronotum and elytra. The ones on the elytra are shorter and arranged in longitudinal rows. At the corner of the elytron there is a dense appressed patch of brownish orange setae.
Small, point-mounted red and black bee on a grey background. The first three metasomal segments are reddish and the rest of the integument is black. Though quite small, the bee appears stout and robust. The body is densely punctate and there are dense patches of white appressed setae, mostly on the sides of the mesosoma and on the apical fringes of the tergites.
A black Labrador retriever sits in front of a Townes-style Malaise trap, under the shade of a live oak motte. The foreground is mostly covered with brown oak leaves. A line of more oak trees is visible some distance behind the trap and a mix of blue sky and white clouds can be seen above the trees. The dog is smiling, undoubtedly happy with the week’s catch, which is sitting on the ground in a white plastic jar next to her.
This is a dorsal view of a giraffe weevil from Madagascar on a neutral grey background; the head is facing left. The head, thorax, antennae, and legs are black and the elytra are a vibrant red. The black pronotum is nearly as long as the elytra and the head is almost as long as both of them together. The serrate antennae arc back towards the body, appearing like a drawn bow, ready to launch the weevil into its next grand adventure.
Four second video clip of a small branch of Mimosa quadrivalvis on a pebbly substrate , showing the leaves rapidly closing after disturbance.
Close up of five-petaled yellow flower with a dark orange center against brown and green background vegetation. There is a small black beetle with small whitish spots on the basal half of the elytra. The beetle is spanning two of the petals and some bright yellow pollen is clearly visible on its back.
A left lateral view of a pinned, small-bodied fly on a white background. Members of this family, Celyphidae, are commonly called the beetle flies because the scutellum is greatly enlarged and covers the entire abdomen. The body of this globular specimen is largely metallic; overall the color is coppery red with green, blue and purple tints. The small head looks like it's sort of hanging off the front end of the body. The head and legs are matte brown and the eyes are reddish. The black-enameled insect pin can be seen passing from the top of the image through the specimen and out the bottom of the image. The enlarged scutellum is slightly translucent and the shaft of the pin is faintly visible through it. The specimen is 4–5 mm in length.
A frontal view of a tiny, ferocious robber fly against a light grey background. It’s humpbacked pronotum is yellow with brown maculations, the wings are dusky, and the legs are orange. The ginormous globular eyes dwarf the rest of the head.
A mostly left lateral view of an extremely warty black weevil against a light grey background. The snout is rather short for a weevil. The pronotum and elytra are covered by large, irregularly-shaped conical protrusions arranged in longitudinal rows.
Left latero-frontal view of a metallic yellowish-green scarab on a white background. This species, Phanaeus demon, has a large backward curving horn coming off the top of its head. It also has a pair of large, inwardly curving, apically truncate processes extending dorsally from the back of its pronotum. It's pretty badass.
Frontal view of a dark scarab beetle against a dark grey background. The beetle's integument is shiny black, with deep metallic purple color on the sides of the pronotum. The pronotum is expanded at the back corners and there are four additional short, stout spine like protuberances. This male has a large, backwardly curving horn extending from the front of its face.
Two pictures: the left shows a tray with foam holding a rainbow scarab (Phanaeus difformis), a square image stage with black background, a dome diffuser, a rectangular yellow base piece, and optional white or grey backgrounds for the stage. All the pieces snap together with small neodymium magnets. The image on the right shows the same stuff except the foam tray and specimen. The stage, base piece, and diffuser are all rotated to show the magnets on their undersides. The yellow base piece has a brass bushing so it can be easily attached to a standard 1/4" bolt on a tripod or a copy stand for imaging. Both images have a textured white background.
Quarter-profile (-ish) view of a rainbow scarab (Phanaeus difformis) against a black background. The elytra are metallic purplish, the pronotum is metallic greeenish, and the head and horn are black with subtle purplish tints. The back corners of the pronotum are produced into small dorsals extensions, giving it a decidedly three horned appearance. The lamellate antennal clubs are orangish-brown. It is a lovely beetle (as far as beetles go).
Image of a 3D printed curation kit card, printed in red filament and sitting on a textured white background. The kit includes a larval forceps, pinning block, and the parts to assemble a box to hold insect pins and a specimen manipulator, to hold and maneuver a specimen on a microscope stage.
Image is of a 3D file rendering, showing several pieces of curation equipment laid out as a kit card. The kit includes larval forceps, a box to hold #2 pins, a pinning block, and a insect manipulator. The box pieces are deep blue, the block is yellow, the knobs of the manipulator are metallic red. The remaining manipulator pieces, the kit card frame, and the sprues are light grey.
Movie poster style image showing actors Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet as their characters in Dune against a huge orange sun. Text, in the Dune style, is in the center of the image and says BENTHICNET, THERE ARE NO AQUATIC INSECTS HERE...YET.
Movie poster style image showing actors Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet as their characters in Dune against a huge orange sun. Text, in the Dune style, is in the center of the image and says BENTHICNET, THERE ARE NO AQUATIC INSECTS HERE.
Image of the front of a package of HP Professional Business paper.
Close up view of a 3D-printed insect specimen manipulator on a white background. The manipulator is all black except the two rotating knobs and the foam filled socket for holding the insect are yellow. There is a pinned queen of the rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis in stuck in the foam.
Image of the back of a light blue t-shirt. There is a large circular logo, with a black stag beetle on a yellow background. The text says BEAUTY IS ONLY EXOSKELETON-DEEP
Right quarter profile view of a small, pinned robber fly (Asilidae) on a white background. The body is black with thick pale yellow setae on the face, thorax, and forming apical bands on the abdominal segments. The legs are very bristly and are mostly orange. The large eyes are dark with a faint purplish tinge.
An insect aspirator, or pooter (an alternate name that will never not be funny to me), sitting on a grey lab bench. The top, dark blue cap of the vial has been 3D printed. It has a groove to hold an o-ring, to make the seal between the cap and the clear plastic vial. At the business end of the aluminum tube, there is a transparent 3D printed flared attachment, which works in a similar way to vacuum cleaner attachments that allow for sucking over a greater area. on the end of the tube that normally goes into the user's mouth, there is a blue 3D printed mouthpiece to make that end easier to bite/use. I think it's the kind of aspirator Dr. Seuss would prefer...
Short video of a 3D printed insert to hold 1 dram vials inside a larger Le Parfait bail jar. The insert holds 21 vials: 14 in an outer ring and 7 in a smaller, inner ring. In the video, a hand appears from the left and grabs a central tab to pull up the inner ring. It's a design to address the jumble of smaller vials often seen in larger bail jars—used to store small specimens in a natural history collection.
Focus-stacked close up of two water pennies, one in dorsal and one in ventral view. These are larvae of beetles in the family Psephenidae. The thoracic nota and abdominal terga have laterally expanded flanges that create an oval shield above the body. This likely provides some camouflage and protection against predation as the larvae crawl across submerged rocks. Anyhoo, they are mostly mottled in yellows and browns. White filaments/gills can be seen laterally on the abdominal segments in ventral view.
Photo inside the open door of an enclosed 3D printer. Attached to the print bed is an angled chute, printed out of fluorescent orange ABS filament. Good times.
Metallic blue jewel beetle (family Buprestidae) on an insect pin. The specimen is resting on top of a 3D printed, rainbow colored pinning block. The beetle has yellowish/orange/red maculations on the pronotum and the elytra have scattered tufts of pale setae. The background is a neutral grey bench top.
Mostly lateral, slightly front-ish view of a jewel beetle on a neutral grey background. It's a chonky specimen, the integument is various dark metallic shades of blue, green, bronze, purple, and black. Pale ivory/yellowish tufts of hair (setae) are regularly covering the pronotum and elytra. The ones on the elytra are shorter and arranged in longitudinal rows. At the corner of the elytron there is a dense appressed patch of brownish orange setae.
A 3D printed insect pinning block on a textured white background. The pinning block has six differently colored layers of filament: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.
Picture of a black self-healing cutting mat, with a grid of white lines and additional white lines marking 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° angles. There's a rectangular piece of white Plastazote foam with a series of holes punched out of it. The punched out foam plugs are next to the rectangle and there is a black and sliver punch laying in front of the mat.
Insect specimen manipulator on a neutral grey background. The piece is mostly metal: the base and upright is aluminum, the specimen holder is brass/copper, the handle is bronze, and there are a couple of black machine bolts holding the bits together. There is some clear plastic tubing over the brass handle and there's a black rubber o-ring on the specimen holder.
Twenty-four 3D-printed insect specimen manipulators sitting on a neutral grey bench top. The manipulators were made with a variety of filament colors, including yellow, blue, metallic red, metallic purple, lime green, brass, and matte grey. They are arranged in a somewhat pleasing set of concentric circles.
Small, point-mounted red and black bee on a grey background. The first three metasomal segments are reddish and the rest of the integument is black. Though quite small, the bee appears stout and robust. The body is densely punctate and there are dense patches of white appressed setae, mostly on the sides of the mesosoma and on the apical fringes of the tergites.
A composite image of two small insects against a neutral gray background. A velvet-ant (Mutillidae) is above a true ant (Formicidae). Both are dark metallic, with shades ranging from purplish on the head and mesosoma, to shades of dark green on the metasoma. The velvet-ant also has dense apical fringes of appressed setae on the abdominal tergites.
Picture of a full size dark blue SUV...maybe a Suburban (?) going down the highway. This is a screen grab from Ggl maps and the SUV has six wheels and six doors. Whoops.
Close up of a standard insect pin, stuck in a piece of white foam. There is a hand-written collection label a small distance above the foam—fairly normal—but above that is a rectangle of lined index card. The insect pin has been inserted (somehow) in between the top and bottom layers of the card, so the card is sticking out like a flag from the side of the insect pin. Opposite the end with the insect pin, there are three minutens, also inserted into the edge of the card rectangle. Two of the minutens hold small red clerid beetles. The third has just a small piece of one elytron, presumably from a third beetle, now lost.
Three-quarters profile view of a springtail (Order Collembola) against a white background. The springtail is quite globular and I haven't yet tried to figure out what family it belongs to. The background color of the body is a a kind of pale orange-y red and it has many, mostly small dark spots over its body. It's moderately long antennae are strongly elbowed (geniculate).
A tiny moth on a green leaf. It is in the family Adelidae, commonly known as Fairy Moths. The wings are dark. The thorax and a transverse band across the folded wings are golden. It has very long antennae; they are roughly 2.5 times longer than the body. This specimen was seen in the Italian alps.
Dorsal view of a male strepsipteran, a parasite of social wasps. Its large membranous wings remind me a little of ginko leaves. The front wings are reduced to small knobs, reminiscent of the halteres found in flies. The phylogenetic relationships of this small order jumped around through history, but our current understanding is that they are relatives of the beetles.