BioPic
The latest images from The Biologist magazine
Photoluminescent archosaur by Brian Engh
A new paper in the palaeobiology journal Historical Biology considers whether non-bird dinosaurs had photoluminescent display structures. Display patterns for UV-sensitive vision have been found in extant reptiles and birds, and here, illustrator Brian Engh speculates on what a heterodontosaur’s display may have looked like to other animals with UV-sensitive vision (and without).
Three stentors by Dr Igor Siwanowicz. Stentors, sometimes known as trumpet animalcules, are horn-shaped protozoans commonly found in freshwater lakes and streams. This x40 depth-colour projection, taken by Dr Igor Siwanowicz at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Virginia, took second place in Nikon’s annual Small World photomicrography competition.
Unknown tortoise beetle, Equador, by Andreas Kay
This striking beetle from the Cassidinae subfamily of leaf beetles was taken by Ecuadorian biologist and photographer Andreas Kay, who sadly died in October. Kay discovered many new species of plants and was a co-founder of the Dracula Reserve in northern Ecuador. He leaves behind almost 30,000 images in his Ecuador Megadiverso collection on Flickr.
DNA INSIDE A CELL NUCLEUS by Kirti Prakash
Over the past decade, super-resolution microscopy has allowed biologists to image cellular structures in unprecedented detail. Here Kirti Prakash at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz shows the location of individual dye molecules bound to DNA in a mammalian cell nucleus. The picture was an ‘image of distinction’ in the 2015 Nikon Photomicrography Competition.
Capillaries on a fingerprint by David Linstead
This image shows a sample of fingertip tissue collected and injected with red pigment in the 1850s. Modern lighting and imaging methods capture in vivid detail why pinprick blood tests cause blood to pool on the fingertip immediately. The image was shortlisted in the 'hidden worlds' category of the Wellcome Photography Prize 2019.
Pink Cotton Candy Slime Mould By Katja Schulz
These intriguing-looking structures (Arcyria sp.) were found in Rock Creek Park, Washington DC. More of Schulz’s extensive nature photography can be found at www.flickr.com/treegrow
Juvenile longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) by Stefan Siebert
Stefan Siebert is an evolutionary developmental biologist at the University of California, Davis, where he studies the developmental biology and diversity of hydrozoans. More of his photography can be found at www.stefansiebert.photography
Trails of life by Roberto Bueno
This picture of winding tracks left by the larvae of the aspen leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella) won the RSB's annual photography competition, which this year was on the theme 'patterns in nature'
Spots By Milo Hyde
This close-up image shows the flower of an Orbea variegate plant, or star flower. It is one of the images shortlisted for the Society’s ‘young photographer of the year’ award 2018. These succulents have highly variable star-shaped flowers, speckled with maroon, and sometimes have a faint carrion smell to attract insects.
Coot Drowning a Buzzard
By Naomi Portnoy
This extraordinary picture was sent in by member Alexander Waller, whose friend Naomi Portnoy photographed a coot drowning a buzzard in woodland in Alblasserwaard, the Netherlands. The image amazed ornithologists from around the world when posted by The Biologist’s editor, Tom Ireland, on Twitter and was discussed on the BBC’s Springwatch programme soon after.
Bacillus subtilis pellicle, by Scott Chimileski
Scott Chimileski is a microbiologist, science photographer and author based in the Kolter and Baym Labs at Harvard Medical School. This image shows a colony of Bacillus bacteria that has formed a floating biofilm known as a pellicle. More of Scott's photography and mini-videos can be found at www.microbephotography.com or in the book Life at the Edge of Sight: A Photographic Exploration of the Microbial World
Head of a Gigantiops worker ant, by Alex Wild
This extraordinary image of a jumping ant (Gigantiops destructor) is part of the Insects Unlocked project by the University of Texas. Hundreds of photos from the university's collection, captured by its Insect Image Lab, have been made available for free.
Cyanea Capillata (lion's mane jellyfish) by Alexander Semenov
Semenov is a researcher at the White Sea Biological Station on the north coast of Russia. His amazing photography has captured many mysterious and fragile marine organisms in the Arctic circle.
Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci) By Matt Bertone
This shows an adult beetle resting in its former larval skin. The picture was a winner in the 2017 North Carolina State Research Image Contest. In a recent study by Bertone and his colleagues, the beetles were found in 100% of homes sampled in the state.
Pine Marten Descending a Moss-Covered Tree
This image, taken by Alastair Marsh on the west coast of Scotland, took the top spot in the 'mammals of the UK' category of the Mammal Society's annual photography competition.
Transverse section of Aristida pungens leaf, by Eliza Gray
The image is part of a project to identify intermediates between C3 and C4 photosynthesis, to better understand the stepping stones in evolution between the two. The project involves analysing the anatomy of leaf slides from the collections at Kew, focusing on members of the Poaceae and Cyperaceae families of grasses and sedges.
Intestinal organoid by Gianmaria Liccardi, Institute of Cancer Research
This confocal microscope image shows a fully developed organoid, and was one of five shortlisted entries in the ICR's 2016 photography competition. These simplified miniature organs, grown in vitro, are increasingly used in cancer studies and other biomedical research.
Barnacle appendages by Dr Igor Siwanowicz. These bristly appendages are used to sweep plankton and other food into the barnacle’s shell. The image was captured with confocal microscopy and was shortlisted in the Olympus BioScapes Competition.
Swallows Courting
Taken on Dartmoor by Peter Burkill FRSB
Many types of marine invertebrate can accumulate as ‘coral sand’ on the sea floor
Featured in the Royal Photographic Society’s International Images for Science 2015 exhibition, taken by David Maitland
A parasitoid wasp (Venturia canescens) under a microscope
By Seline Dilmec AMSB during lab research for her final year thesis at the University of Leeds in 2012-13
Longhorn Beetle with Tufted Antennae taken by Jackie Caine. A top-heavy beetle seen in Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica was later identified as Cosmisoma plumicorne by Max Barclay at the Natural History Museum.
Vegetation hanging on to the banks of the Thames at Cliveden
Taken by Robert Greenhill MSB
Insect eggs on the underside of a Rowan (Sorbus sp) leaf
Photographed in Edinburgh by James Iremonger
Elephant Seals
By Dr Lewis Halsey MSB, taken on the Crozet Islands, a Subantarctic archipelago in the Indian Ocean
Unusual weather on Île de l'Est, or East Island
Taken by Dr Lewis Halsey while researching penguins on the subantarctic archipalago of the Crozet Islands
The eye of an Indian elephant
Taken in Chitwan, Nepal, by Alexandra Bickell
Oil beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus)
Taken in La Rioja mountains by David Urry MSB
King penguins in their natural habitats on sub Antarctic islands
Taken by Dr Lewis Halsey MSB
Mission golden-eyed tree frog
Native to the treetops in South American rainforests, Lara Husain AMSB spotted this one at London's Horniman Museum
A Coati (Nasua narica)
Taken by Amy Padfield MSB in Costa Rica
A display of 404 dire wolf skulls at the Page Museum, La Brea Tar Pits, LA, California
Taken by Rajith Dissanayake AMSB
Adorable little lichens belonging to the genus Cladonia
Taken by Jim Gardner AMSB at Wigtown Harbour, Scotland
Cup fungi (Pezizaceae family)
Taken by Seline Dilmec AMSB during a research trip in the Amazon, in the Pacaya-Samiria region
Stunning autumnal colours
By Kugan Kumaraswamy, the tree is a branched, flowering & angiosperm plant, but fruits show gymnosperm characteristics
Algae and air bubbles trapped among frogspawn in a pond
Taken by Tim Moor as part of the Society’s 2015 photography competition. This year’s theme is ‘From Big to Small’.
A pair of mating common blue damselflies are disturbed by another male competing for the female
Taken by by Richard Nutter as part of the Society’s 2015 photography competition.
The Lytechinus variegatus larva skeleton has rainbow colours through its transparent body, due to the light angle
Featured in the Royal Photographic Society’s International Images for Science 2015 exhibition, taken by Rachael Inglis
A ghost goby shelters within a ‘sea pen’, a type of soft coral that forms stalk-like structures anchored to the seabed
Taken in Bali, Indonesia, by Marcus Commodore
A cheetah uses a small granite kopje as a lookout for prey in the Serengeti region of Tanzania
Taken by Peter Burkill FRSB
Disc winged bats in a rolled up leaf at the Parque Nacional Corcovado, Costa Rica
Taken by Simon Hoyte
A coconut octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) hiding inside a shell
Taken by Alex Varani
A small marine fish sheltering in a jellyfish, pictured off the Far Islands, Koh Lipe, Thailand
Taken by Jim Catlin
Vaucheria, a common freshwater algae, can become infected by microscopic animals known as rotifers. Taken by John Huisman, the photo was shortlisted in the British Phycological Society’s Hilda Canter-Lund Annual Photography Award.
A polka dot tree frog found during a research trip in the Pacaya-Samiria region of the Amazon
Taken by Seline Dilmec AMSB
The aim of BioPic is to combine biology with the best of our readers’ photography skills. For consideration, simply email a high resolution image relating to biology or wildlife, whether taken at work or on holiday, in the lab or garden. Please accompany your pictures with a 50 word caption explaining the shot, where it was taken, and information about yourself. Send your photos to Tom Ireland.