Coming Into Focus

LSU’s Dr. Claudia Husseneder was the winner of PCT’s 14th Annual Best Pest Photo Contest with this photo of biting midges feeding on wing veins of a dragonfly.

Published February 15, 2016

By Brad Harbison

This year’s winning photo was of biting midges feeding on wing veins of a dragonfly and it was taken by Claudia Husseneder from Louisiana State University.

PCT is proud to announce that Louisiana State University’s (LSU’s) Dr. Claudia Husseneder was the winner of our annual Best Pest Photo Contest with a picture of biting midges feeding on wing veins of a dragonfly.

The drangonfly’s common name is Needham’s Skimmer and its scientific name is Libellula needhami Westfall, 1943 (Odonata, Libellulidae). The midges are an unknown species of ceratopogonids (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae). The photo was taken at Big Branch Wildlife Refuge, in southern Louisiana.

“Biting midges are tiny flies with over 4,000 species described world-wide,” said Husseneder. “Females of known pest species acquire blood meals from mammals including humans, and other vertebrates (birds, reptiles, and amphibians) for egg production and are vectors of disease agents (mainly in livestock). Many ceratopogonid species, however, feed on other insects. The photo depicts biting midges feeding on the wing veins of a Needham’s skimmer dragonfly. It’s bugs bugging another bug!”

Husseneder wins $500 from PCT. In addition to the winning photo. On the following pages are finalist photos. Details about next year’s photo contest will be announced in October.

A mosquito feeding. The photo was shot in Central America by Tom Myers, All-Rite Pest Control, Lexington, Ky., who recalled, “I was photographing another insect when the mosquito flew in and started feeding on me. I ‘switched focus’ to the mosquito.”
Bruce Arnold, a retired 25-year pest management professional, took this photo of a praying mantis found in his backyard. “He was friendly and crawled on my hand after I put it down next to him.”
Jaime I. Negrete, a service technician for Aiken Pest Control, Aiken, S.C., took this photo of Gasteracantha cancriformis (spiny orbweaver spider) in a customer’s backyard with a macro lens attached to an iPhone.
Jimmy Rigg, Ant Busters, Carlsbad, Calif., took this photo of a European honey bee while he was relaxing and “having a late afternoon beer.”
Mark VanderWerp of Rose Pest Solutions, Troy, Mich., submitted this photo of a mating pair of lady beetles (Hippodamia variegata) cruising a milkweed plant for aphids to eat. He assures PCT’s readers that “this is NOT a scene from a Katy Perry video.”
“What I believe makes this photo so interesting is that it appears the mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) is looking at its own reflection in the plexiglass,” said its photographer Daniel Dye, training coordinator, Florida Pest Control & Chemical Co., Gainesville, Fla.
A. G. (Tony) Smith, Univar, Houston (retired), took this photo of a bumblee feeding on nectar of several varieties of flower.
Donna Richardson of Royal Pest Solutions, New Castle, Del., took this photo, which she titled, “Patience, young grasshopper.”
Ed Freytag, research entomologist with the New Orleans Mosquito & Termite Control Board, liked this photo of a flesh fly he snapped in Fort Collins, Colo. “I especially like the way the yellow center of the aster flower looks like the sun in the background.”
Amber Thorpe of Mares Exterterminating, Poquoson, Va., snapped this photo of a robber fly in her garden.
Richard Berman, Waltham Services (retired), took this fly photo in Hull, Mass. “The photo shows why the bite hurts with a clear image of the large piercing-lapping mouthparts,” he noted.
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