I brought in several loads of firewood today, knocking the spiders off before I put the pieces in the wheelbarrow and again knocking them off into the wheelbarrow before I loaded the indoor wood rack. Between loads I dumped out the spiders. But after one spider dump I noticed one was still clinging to the inside of the wheelbarrow, and somehow it didn't look right. Sure enough, it was a spider beetle, not a spider.

I gathered it up with the wet-finger method that I need to learn not to do in Ecuador (dysentery!) and took it indoors to find my collecting vial. I figured it was a good opportunity to try out my brand-new Canon 7D and my 65mm macro lens. After finishing with some chores I unpacked and set up my light arena and took 85 shots of this and another beetle I found in the firewood just to become familiar with my equipment.

Judging by the rounded shoulders I'd say this is a female.

The 65mm lens produces a very shallow depth of focus and would benefit from a photo-montage setup, not quite doable when you're shooting live. I think it would help to get more flash on my subject as well. I'm using an indirect flash bounced around inside my light area.