Green Lacewings (Chrysopidae) fly in a slow, somewhat hovering manner. At flight, most would dismiss them as any other random fly. Looking up close at them would prove otherwise.

#1 Beautiful green, and hardly noticeable when camouflaged on the leaf. We found it only after it started walking around.

#2 Side view shows a rather flat body

#3 View of the face reveals a pair of radiant bug eyes

#4 Can’t get enough of the compound eyes… lol

#5 Extremely thin DOF with the entire body out of focus

#6 Finally, a close up of the eyes

#7 Another Lacewing I captured in an earlier shoot. Yellow body!

#8 This trash collector is the nymph of the lacewing. It sticks debris on it’s back for protection and camouflage. This little fella packs a mean sting… the pic shows it sinking it’s fangs into my thumb. More on this incident here: Bitten by a Walking Trash Collector

#9 Side view of the bizarre creature

#10 And finally, this is how the eggs would look like — each perched onto the end of tiny stalks

The Labrador Park boardwalk (just beside Labrador MRT entrance) did not have much subjects to offer as it was heavily manicured to be an urban park. Not many finds except for another praying mantis. My flash setup fell apart so I couldn’t use the tripod nor flashes. Thanks to Alfred for lending the use of his flashes! Advantages of using Nikon Creative Lighting System! 😛

#11 Tiny praying mantis cleaning it’s antennae. Looked like an ant if one did not look close enough.

#12 The body was black and reflective, making it one of the most difficult subjects to capture and expose well

#13 Final face shot!

The complete album can be viewed here.

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