Stephen,
As I often turn to Bugguide for ID purposes, I see many of your nice photos as well. Thanks for the compliment. How do you feel about having mounted specimen photos on bugguide? I haven't had the experience nor have the equipment for natural close ups. I appreciate your comments.

Thanks for your kind words, Scott. I believe there is a place for pinned specimens in BugGuide, though I also hope that the large majority of images will remain natural habitat shots. I think that is what makes BugGuide unique.

You might consider giving it a whirl——photographing live specimens, I mean. You quickly get the hang of it, and lots of people are having great success with inexpensive cameras. Still, as I say, there is always room for a good sharp specimen shot like yours. Also, I should add that we are way too heavy on the eastern states, and would really value more shots from Oregon!

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

I also agree that we should try to have only a couple of pinned specimen photos per species/subspecies. We definitely need more photos from the western and central states. You do a great job mounting and photographing specimens, Scott. You certainly should try to take live images. With as good as you are as pinned insect images; you should get good live ones.

According to my tiger beetle guide this is the only tiger beetle species with such markings in Oregon. Very nice specimen! I have created a guide page and moved your photo to it.