Hellgrammite (predaceous water beetle larva) photo taken with Nikon D7100 in 2015


This blog is a continuation of my series on DSLR cameras I have owned.  I took a photo of this dytiscus beetle larva using my D7100 camera and 105 mm micro-Nikkor lens.  I still use this setup today as I have had great results with it even though the camera was released some 12 years ago.  The 24 mp sensor is very capable of rendering high resolution images.

These insects can get up to 2 inches in length and are tremendous predators often taking on creatures much larger than themselves.  Small fish, amphibians, and just about every aquatic insect out there are potential prey for this aggressive Coeleopterid.  The adults are very predaceous as well but tend to take smaller prey than their aggressive larvae.

I have put a collection of some of my Dytiscidea images below.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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