One of the predictable quips of Don Adams as Maxwell Smart can probably describe the effort below to capture a scurrying lady beetle with a reversed 28mm lens. I put it here anyway since it gives a nice view of the undercarriage of this member of the order coleoptera. That word means “sheath winged” since its translucent wings are encased below the hard covers made of chitin. There’s a word for them, but my low thyroid output makes me confused and uncertain as to what it is. So, I cheated and looked on WKP. Just as the page opened, as if by magic, the word “elytra” swam into my stew of neurons. When I was a kid (funny how long lost memories are returning more and more every day now) I undertook to memorize all 27 insect orders with examples of each one. The Latin speakers (when it was still alive and well) had vivid ways of describing each insect. Too bad they had to have dipterans back then buzzing around in their agoras.

Oh well, this is supposed to be photography and not lunatic ravings.

Here it is:

Again, far from perfect, but maybe I’ll improve.

Thanks for looking.