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I painted this wasp solely because of its scientific name - Astata boops. I didn't even do a particularly good job of it, but it doesn't matter, because... Astata boops.

These solitary wasps are predators of shield bug larvae, which they paralyze then stuff into underground cells where they lay their eggs.

This painting is a female; males are about 98% eyes.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor #boop

Watercolor of a black wasp with red top half of the abdomen. Its eyes are quite large.

⭐️JANUARY SALE⭐️
The Madagascan moon moth is also known as the comet moth.
My original drawing is on sale, reduced to just £22.50
https://folksy.com/find/item/8530242

#FediGiftShop #ScottishArtist #MastoArt #CreativeToots
#Moth #MadagascarMoonMoth #InsectArt #OriginalArt #Drawing #Painting #Artwork #TraditionalArtist #ArtFromScotland #GiftIdeas #ArtShop #ShopIndy #SupportSmallBusiness #Sale #Bargain #Clearance

A small drawing of a Madagascan moon moth, a yellow green moth with brown spots and very long tails. It is sitting on a branch and has dark pink background.
The Madagascan moon moth also known as the comet moth is native to the rain forests of Madagascar. The adult moth cannot feed and only lives for 4 to 5 days.
An original art work, please note that the frame is not included.
Colour pencil and mixed media on acid free toned artist paper
5 by 7 inches (12.7 by 17.8 cm).

⭐️JANUARY SALE⭐️
Cabbage white butterflies on yellow flowers. Shop early for Valentines or Mother's day.
Now only £22.50 for this original artwork.
https://folksy.com/find/item/8530325

#FediGiftShop #ScottishArtist #MastoArt #CreativeToots
#Butterflies #InsectArt #OriginalArt #Drawing #Painting #Artwork #TraditionalArtist #ArtFromScotland #GiftIdeas #ArtShop #ShopIndy #SupportSmallBusiness #Sale #Bargain #Clearance

A drawing of 3 Cabbage White butterflies perched on tall yellow flowers with a blue background to the lower area of the composition. The drawing is on Black paper.
The Cabbage White butterfly is a species that thrives in diverse habitats, these small to medium-sized white butterflies with dark wingtips and spots are a familiar sight, fluttering in abundance during late spring and summer.
An original art work, please note that the frame is not included.
Colour pencil and mixed media on acid free toned artist paper
5 by 7 inches (12.7 by 17.8 cm).
Sold unframed

I claim to like bee butts, but not nearly as much as this guy - Stylops melittae is a twisted wing fly, also known as a Fächerflügler, a parasite of Andrena sand bees. This painting is of a male - females retain their pupal form and live most of their lives within their host, who survives the ordeal, albeit greatly subdued. The female's head partially sticks out from between the bee's abdominal segments, releasing a pheromone that attracts males. The larvae hatch inside the female's body, where they consume their mother from within before emerging through the head. The still living host bee then scatters the mobile larvae around flowers, where they can be picked up by unwitting foragers.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a black insect with broad antennae and large, fan-like hindwings. The forewings are reduced to club-like protrusions.

This is actually the second version I did of this piece, for a story project I have been working on for a few years now
I felt I couldn't get the right greens from the pallette of the first one

Gouache on Oxford watercolor paper

Support me on ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/konstrukto

#gouache #gouachepainting #art #mastoart #insectart

A gouache painting of a firebug making its escape from wicked flies, using a spaceship

Where's your nose, friend? For #WeevilWednesday I have a broad-nosed weevil, Phyllobius arborator. The Germans call weevils "Rüsselkäfer," which translates literally to "trunk beetles." A Grünrüssler would be a green trunk guy, I guess.

A weevil's mouthparts sit at the end of its nose, or rostrum. Broad-nosed weevils in the subfamily Entiminae have notable scarring on their mandibles, from where they lose their sharp poky teeth (deciduous processes) shortly after emerging as adults.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a shiny green weevil with no nose.

This lady wins the award for coolest common name - Riesen-Blutbiene, or giant blood bee (Sphecodes albilabris). Despite its name it is not out for blood, unless you happen to be the larva of a Colletes bee. As kleptoparasites, females lay their eggs in other bees' nests, killing their hosts to make room for the new larvae.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a black bee with a bright red abdomen.

Gouache in my sketchbook

#kons_spons #konstrukto_spons #gouache #sketchbook #insectart #art #MastoArt

A sketchbook gouache painting of a firebug

For Christmas my spouse got me even more German field guides! So many new friends to paint!

This green-eyed fellow is a Salz-Buntbiene (Camptopoeum friesei). They dig semi-communal nests in salty, alkaline sands and specialize in collecting oils from thistles.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a black and white bee with bright green eyes.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar, you get a drawing and a photograph! Burying beetles (genus Nicrophorus) are known for their practice of burying small animal carcasses to create a home and food for their larvae. Both females and males tend to their brood until they pupate.

One of the most exciting moments of last summer was when one wandered through my backyard!

#SciArt #InsectArt

Chalk drawing on earth tone paper of a black beetle with red stripes and fringed antennae, carefully carrying a white larva in its mandibles.

Photograph of a black beetle with red stripes and fringed antennae, walking across pavement.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar I have this power couple, the trilobite beetle (Platerodrilus sp). Females retain their larval form, just getting bigger and bigger, while males undergo regular metamorphosis. The females were first described (and poorly classified) in 1831, but it took nearly 100 years to figure out who or what the males were.

#SciArt #InsectArt #warercolor

Watercolor of two beetles. The male is small with yellow wings and squiggly antennae. The female is an enormous, armored worm, brown with bright orange highlights.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar, you get... wasps! Just as important as bees, and even more fabulously diverse!

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a long-tailed giant ichneumonid wasp (Megarhyssa macrurus), a yellow and red wasp with a very long ovipositor.

Watercolor of Aphytis melinus (unlabelled), a very tiny yellow wasp with green eyes.

Marker drawing of a Pelecinid wasp (unlabelled), a black wasp with a long, curled up abdomen.

Watercolor of a fairy fly wasp (family Mymaridae), a wasp too tiny to have regular membranous wings. Instead they have what look like fluffy feathers stuck to their backs.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar I have... Cicadas! I love listening to them scream :D

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Chalk drawing of an orange and black cicada, staring wide-eyed at the viewer.

Drawing of the outline of a person's head, their brain filled with screaming orange cicadas. It says, "There are cicadas where my brain should be."

Watercolor of a black and orange cicada in a pinned pose, with one set of wings extended to the left and the other folded up. The colors bleed outside the illustration for a grungy aesthetic.

Watercolor of a white cicada with orange and blue stripes. The colors drip and bleed beyond the illustration for a grungy feel.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar... I love learning about insect symbionts.

Like the guardian wasp (Parachartergus apicalis), which tends to treehopper nymphs, protecting them from predators in exchange for honeydew excretions.

Or Attaphila cockroaches, which are known to infest leaf-cutting ant's fungus farms. They mimic the scent of their hosts, making the pests indistinguishable from worker ants.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a black wasp with white wing tips. She is tending to little brown treehopper nymphs.

Watercolor of an ant surrounded by little brown blobs similar to tribbles, including one perched on the ant's head. It says, "The Trouble with Attaphila..."

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar you get some of my favorite beetles - tiger beetles! They're so pretty! They're vicious little predators! They run around so fast their little brains can't process what their enormous eyes see!

I first learned about them as a kid from the Animal Planet show, "The Most Extreme", which I'm still half convinced was a fever dream because I've never met anyone who even remembers that show. I was obsessed with it.

#SciArt #InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a fuzzy green beetle with purple and white elytra. It has enormous eyes (all the better to see you with) and large, stabby mandibles (all the better to eat you with).

Scribbly sketch of an all-green tiger beetle with white spots at the rear of its elytra.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar, a lovely mantis.

#InsectArt #watercolor

Watercolor of a silhouette of a mantis clinging to a flower in front of a setting sun.

Today for #ArtAdventCalendar I have some ancient insects that we only know of from fossils and amber. I based the coloring on modern insects.

Angimorella burmitina is a beetle found trapped in amber and covered in pollen grains, pushing back our understanding of insect pollination by nearly 50 million years!

Palaeovespa florissantia is one of the earliest known wasps, from an absolutely gorgeous fossil found in my home state of Colorado.

The last one is an extinct frog legged beetle called Pulchritudo attenboroughi, or Attenborough's Beauty. It also comes from a gorgeous fossil found in Colorado, not far from where I used to live!

#SciArt #InsectArt #FossilArt #watercolor