Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Image:Grosser Wollschweber Bombylius major detail.jpg

 
Original - Bombylius is a large genus of flies belonging to the family Bombyliidae (the bee-flies). The genus has a global distribution.
 
Edit 1 Tweaked histogram in the blacks
Reason
very detailed picture where you can see the typical hairiness and the impressive sucker. This species lives in forrests close to warm clearings. Its very hard to do a picture of this species because they abscond at the tinies motion in their environment. Feel free to Google around, where you will find out that there are no pictures available in this quality and size.
Articles this image appears in
Bombylius
Creator
Richard Bartz
  • Support as nominator Richard Bartz (talk) 11:16, 22 April 200 (UTC)
  • Support original - One of the best insect pictures in Wikipedia. I confirm the extreme difficulty in taking a decent shot of this species. But Richard didn't explain yet how he got the critter asleep... -- Alvesgaspar (talk) 11:50, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You cannot meet them, they meet you if you remain quiet & motionless on one spot, the camera still aimed --Richard Bartz (talk) 12:13, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I dont understand the term asleep, do you mean a pause ? Like every insect they have periods during a day when they are less active, based on the species and many other circumstances. When i was doing the observations on this beauty (for 10 long days!) i recognized that they are only active when the sun is really bright, otherwise they back-out in the forrest. This was my chance then on a changeful clouded day. I found a look-out on the forrest ground, heading outside to the clearing and was waiting for 4 hours. In the meantime i found out something interesting. There was a flower 20" left to me on the border of the clearing, and on this afternoon (a period of aprox 4h) it was heavily visited by 12 different species. This project now has totally changed my behaviour in photographing insects. Before, my strategy was "run and gun" on everything which is tiny and moving, but now i think its much better to setup the camera (with a tripod and a infrared remote-control release) on a nice place and wait motionless. They come along its just a matter of time --Richard Bartz (talk) 02:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Weak Full support My first thought: is that black line the snout, or a wing in unfortunate angle? Should be mentioned in the caption. (If it's the snout, and the caption is corrected, then I'll strike the "weak" from my support.) Also, let's hope this image encourages someone to do something about the article it appears in - it's a one-line stub at the moment! This photo would also be appropriate in Bombyliidae, a (slightly ;-) longer article... PS: This is one of the few pictures that look fuzzy in thumbnail, but get sharp in full size! --Janke | Talk 12:15, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Janke, if you look at the alternative image (in the image description), you'll see that it's the proboscis. I'd change the caption, but I'm unsure whether the large size is characteristic of the genus, or just the one species. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 12:50, 22 April 2008 (UTC) Prefer original. Alternative feels faded. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 23:31, 23 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support and Comment. I've gone ahead and expanded the article a bit. That proboscis is characteristic of the genus indeed. By the way, does anyone know how to make the little *show*\*hide* option ? I think that'd work well for that big species list in the bottom of the article. Cheers. --Mad Tinman T C 13:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Excellent macro. I'm surprised by the large DOF considering the aperture used. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 15:43, 22 April 2008 (UTC
  • Support what an awesome bug! (an an awesome photo of course) Mangostar (talk) 16:30, 22 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Looks good! I wish I looked like that. ;) SpencerT♦C 02:02, 23 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Shoo-in. NauticaShades 02:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Support Edit 1. The edit improves upon an already fantastic photograph. NauticaShades 21:33, 24 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Promoted Image:Grosser Wollschweber Bombylius major detail edit.jpg MER-C 11:48, 29 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]