By Sheetal Kumari | February 12, 2025
The Royal Entomological Society’s Photography Competition 2024 has revealed stunning insect images. From a menacing beetle to a mummified wasp, all photos in this story are courtesy of the competition.
(Image: Rosemary Haleem/RES)
A male Ectemnius wasp emerging under the morning sun.
(Image: Matthew Thomas/RES)
This common red soldier beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) spreads its wings and takes flight.
(Image: Matthew Thomas/RES)
This highly detailed stacked image captures a living gnat ogre (Holcocephala fusca) in its natural habitat.
(Image: Matthew Thomas/RES)
A parasitoid braconid wasp (Braconidae) attacked this sycamore aphid (Drepanosiphum platanoidis), leaving its larva to build a disc-like cocoon beneath the aphid’s mummified body.
(Image: Rupert Lees/RES)
A pteromalus wasp is captured while ovipositing, laying eggs.
(Image: Jamie Spensley/RES)
A blue Pierrot butterfly (Discolampa ethion) rests gracefully, its patterned wings shimmering under the sun, captured with a smartphone.
(Image: Sritam Kumar Sethy/RES)
A large female jagged ambush bug (Phymatinae) sits on a tansy flower head, patiently awaiting prey. Captured in Montreal, Canada.
(Image: Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas/RES)
An azure damselfly rests among daisies at dawn, as the golden spring sun glows through its delicate wings.
(Image: Lee Frost/RES)
An acorn weevil (Curculio glandium) captured resting on an oak leaf.
(Image: Ryan Dale/RES)
A backlit capture of a Mediterranean mantis (Iris oratoria) at sunrise in Sikinos, Greece. The Aegean Sea’s reflection glows in the background, highlighting the mantis from a unique perspective.
(Image: Matthew Thomas/RES)