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Pyrrhocoris apterus ((Family: Pyrrhocoridae; common name: firebug; French: le soldat du tilleul)
As I was walking among the pine trees close to my home I saw a small branch covered with what seemed to be red paint. On close inspection I saw that the wood was actually covered by hundreds of red coloured insects of various sizes. I forgot about the job I had to do and rushed back to take my camera with two lenses, one for macro photography and a 50 mm one to take the whole scene. It was soon obvious that those insects were slowly walking away from the wood but there were still enough gathered together to make up for some very interesting photos. Firebugs are quite common in Greece but I will have to wait for a year before I get some photo of the actual mating, which I have seen many times none of which I had my camera with me. What stroke me was their interest for those grey things. Most of them were really interested in them and on one occasion the owner of this showed extreme aggression to a newcomer who tried to get hold of it. Most of the individuals in the photos are not adults which are distinguished by the presence of more intense black markings on the back which extend to the back of the insect. I got a photo of an adult so you can spot the difference yourselves. The smaller firebugs I saw were like little spiders with a bright red belly while the adult insects were sized over one cm. You can see how tens of them would fit in a little crack of the wood. Many thanks to the members of insectnet.com forum for their help to ID this insect.
Photos by George J. Reclos
Shooting Data:
Camera: Nikon D300
1. Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/13, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
2. Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/13, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
3. Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/8, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
4. Lens: Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8 D
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/16, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
5.Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/16, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
6.Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/13, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized.
7. Lens: Tamron SP AF 180mm f/3.5 Di Macro 1:1
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Shutter speed - aperture: 1/320 sec - f/16, Manual mode
Flash: SB-800 in TTL/FP (high speed synchronization) mode
Image: JPEG edited in Photoshop CS3, levels adjusted, sharpening added and resized. | 
