File:Soldier beetle antennae.jpg

Summary

This shot shows a highly magnified close-up of an insect's antenna and one of its legs. The limbs belong to a common soldier beetle, a creature which derives its name from its bright red body supposedly resembling a soldier's uniform. They are considered to be a friend of the gardener as they are useful for all sorts of pest control; eating grasshopper eggs, aphids, caterpillars and various other would-be vegetable attackers.

The antenna is the darker coloured thin limb at the bottom of the picture and the foot is the lightly coloured one at the top. I had never really thought about the shape of an insect's foot until looking at these slides - they're quite intruiging. The feet (properly called 'tarsi') are made of several segments and may have pads, hairs, or hooks, as with this beetle. We tend to think of small creatures like insects as simple and uncomplex but they are positively bristling with all sorts of sensory equipment if you look closely enough. The image was captured through this old Victorian microscope with a Nikkor 18-55mm camera lens and Nikon D40 for the capture.

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Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjblackwell/4147000359/