iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 04/10/2026

Double downward dog 💚🖤 Agapostemon and Exallonyx (I think), native bee and wasp, practicing their flow yoga on a late-season aster in the back yard

A brilliant green metallic bee with a black and white striped abdomen, face down in a flower, and right next to it, very tiny black wasp perched on a petal of that flower.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/10/2026

Surprise from my lab today 🥹🧪

A glass plaque on a desk etched with text that reads “20 YEARS
Congratulations
D. Allan Drummond
In honor of 20 years leading your own research lab. We thank you for your leadership, commitment, and mentorship.
May the years ahead bring continued discovery and rigorous science that pushes the boundaries of the field:
Drummond Lab
October 1, 2026”

The “0” in 20 is rendered as a budding yeast cell, the organism we’ve worked on most in those two decades.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/10/2026

Managed to catch him on our back window and could hyper-process the super washed-out shot to get his ventral aspect!

A bold jumping spider seen from underneath showing ventral details like his fangs, mouth, and sternum.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/10/2026

More shots of this lad before and after his kill 🏆

Side view of a bold jumping spider on gray brick.

Two thirds view of a bold jumping spider on gray brick.

Top view of a bold jumping spider with prey in his jaws.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/10/2026

Stay back, Two-Legs, this is mine 😠 Phidippus audax male caught a midge. Good job, mate! Hope you catch 1e6 more…

Black and brown jumping spider with a winged insect in his jaws. His chelicerae are metallic green. He’s looking at a spot just below the camera, head on.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 23/09/2026

“Mom, there’s a monster under the bed!” 😳 “Don’t be silly, go to sleep” 😱

A bunch of brilliant orange baby milkweed bugs snuggle on an old milkweed pod mattress. Below them, a large black jumping spider (Phidippus audax male) lies in wait.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 16/09/2026

Aster murderess is still at it. And still gorgeous, heaven help me. Her night eyes are just turning on here 👽 #bugsky

A female Chinese mantid, looking at the camera from close-up, against a background of purple asters. One purple aster flower covers her raptorial forelegs. Her eyes are slightly darker than her brown body.

Full view of the mantis in her purple aster killing field.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 14/09/2026

Went back to the same plant and there are SEVEN 🤯🐛 (six of which you can see in this single shot!)

Six out of seven small monarch caterpillars on a single milkweed plant. They are small and tiger-striped and adorable.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 14/09/2026

FOUR monarch caterpillars on ONE milkweed plant today in the main quad at the University of Chicago! 🐛🐛🐛🐛 #bugsky

A milkweed plant in a planted flower bed showing signs of caterpillar damage. Four small monarch caterpillars can be seen on the leaves. Go little ones!

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 13/09/2026

Busted this criminal on the asters, which are sensational, thank you

A female Tenodera sinensis mantid looking at me from her perch on a large cluster of purple aster blossoms. She is trying to hide the bee head in her right foreleg’s grasp.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 10/09/2026

*carolina, not carolinensis! Additional dual-mantis shot as compensation...

Another shot of the mating pair, with a walking path as backdrop.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 10/09/2026

Native mantises! 👽 Went out looking for cicadas, and instead saw my very first non-invasive mantis (the Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolinensis, the only mantis native to Illinois)...as a mating pair! 😍 Only had my phone, but here's our couple. Total delight. Good luck, kids... #bugsky

A pair of mating Stagmomantis carolina, the only mantis native to Illinois. The female is about twice the weight of the male, robust and highly camouflaged, brown with spots and a few muted stripes. The male, mounting her, is smaller, with dark brown-black wings and bright green legs. They blend into the tree bark they're on very well.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 07/09/2026

Thank you! Caught her in my garden (they're invasive and voracious), took a few pictures (dark eyes) when she had calmed down, then waited until the next day and took the light-eyes pictures, held her for more questioning (how many monarchs did you eat??), and released her up the street 👽

A female Tenodera sinensis mantis grooming her raptorial foreleg while perched on my knuckles. She's mostly browni and green, but the lateral edge of her hindwing is a striking bright chartreuse.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 04/09/2026

Night eyes 😎 Finally got proper pictures of this amazing phenomenon! Mantises change their eye color (and light sensitivity) at night by transporting pigments from the surface of each compound eye unit toward the deeper eye region. Same female Tenodera sinensis, two different times. #bugsky

A female Tenodera sinensis mantis with dark black eyes against a light background, seen from very close up.

A female Tenodera sinensis mantis with green/brown eyes against a light background, seen from very close up to show the details of her face. The pseudopupil is clearly visible on her left eye, facing the camera.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/09/2026

I tried my best…but nobody beats nature for detail! (Bronze mantis, “Huntress”)

A closeup of a bronze mantis sculpture showing the mouthpart details.

View from slightly behind the mantis sculpture showing the details on the mouthparts and raptorial forelegs

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/09/2026

Mantis mouthparts are just way more complicated than their 👽 face would have you believe 😳 (Tenodera sinensis, female) #bugsky

Macro closeup of a Chinese mantis female from just underneath and behind her head, showing all her layered mouthparts

Another shot of the mantis, lengthwise, to show details on her body. Mottled spots and leaflike veins everywhere.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/09/2026

Last call for #InverteFest: a final shot of this old beauty, down a leg and an antenna but still translucently stunning 🤩 (Scudderia furcata katydid, female)

Macro photo of a fork-tailed bush katydid from the side against a black background. Her light green exoskeleton looks like textured glass, revealing anatomical details beneath it. Her pseudopupil gives the appearance that she’s bee startled.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 31/08/2026

Otherworldly alfalfa plant bug (Adelphocoris lineolatus) for the last day of #InverteFest 👽

Alfalfa plant bug (Adelphocoris lineolatus) facing the camera. The bug is pale shades of green and yellow with white eyes. It’s sitting on a leaf.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 28/08/2026

Leathery lady looking lethal. 😳 A female Tenodera sinensis mantis giving me the (pseudo-)eye as I photographed her up close. Love the texture on her skin, which looks more like kid leather than anything else. #InverteFest #bugsky

Closeup of the face of a mantis. Her pseudopupils make her look a bit angry and a bit crosseyed. The photo has a high level of detail, allowing you to see the small ripples and textures on her exoskeleton. Her front legs are stretched out straight.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 26/08/2026

What a lovely idea! 🥹 Should have filled up one of the snaps on my diffuser...a little cuckoo bath 💙💚

A cuckoo wasp crawling over a huge (i.e. tiny-wasp-sized) white plastic snap on a white background (which is my detached diffuser hood from my camera). The snap looks like a miniature bird bath.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 26/08/2026

For scale, here's Chrysis conica on my thumb 🔬💙 #Invertefest

A brilliant metallic blue/green wasp with dimpled armor and black eyes perched on the tip of my thumb. The wasp is dwarfed by my thumbnail, a small portion of which fills the lower right corner of the photograph.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 25/08/2026

Magical creature, a cuckoo wasp (Chrysis conica) 💙💚🖤 Found this one trapped in a window frame, tuckered out just enough to not immediately fly away after I freed it. #bugsky

A gorgeous iridescent metallic blue/green wasp with black eyes on a white semicircle (my disconnected flash diffuser) on a white background. The wasp's body armor is dimpled all over as if finely hammered.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 24/08/2026

QRP with your art featuring warm colors! 🤎🧡💛

A bronze scarab beetle larva sculpture curled up in the jagged knothole of a piece of rotten wood. The colors are warm gold and brown and bronze.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 23/08/2026

Have a real close-up in gratitude for your story and suffering!

A dusty white wheel bug looking up at the camera from close up

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 22/08/2026

One more (Arilus cristatus). They bite, painfully, so my heart was racing for this one 😅

A large white-frosted true bug striding over pine needles.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 22/08/2026

Straight from Hoth, a massive killer, the North American wheel bug. Spotted by a friend on our bug walk on the UChicago campus. What a beast! #bugsky

A large, white-frosted true bug with powerful long legs and red waving antennae striding over pine needles. Its comically small head is almost half made of a huge black rostrum (sucking mouthpart). It has a spinosaur-like spiky sail/crest on its back.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 22/08/2026

Disturbed this boy creeping on the milkweed. He was not amused. After, then before. #bugsky (Tenodera sinensis)

Male Chinese mantis turning his head to look at me. He’s very green.

A male praying mantis stretching out to look like blades of grass or stems, forelegs straight forward, on a large milkweed leaf.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 21/08/2026

This is not the best picture of a wasp but THAT WING #bugsky (Scolia dubia)

A two-spotted scoliid wasp faceplanting in a mountain mint blossom, wings angled up. Its left wing is flat to the camera and a brilliant deep iridescent blue, structural veins in sharp relief, with the purple fringe of its hindwing behind it.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 21/08/2026

Milkweed bug nymphs (Oncopeltus fasciatus) on milkweed. Luxury-padded accommodations. #bugsky

A group of true bug nymphs with fat orange bodies and black wing buds, reddish faces and waving antennae, chilling on the fleecy pale-green surface of a milkweed pod.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 20/08/2026

Go, little one! 🤩 My favorite bug and my favorite time of year ❤️‍🔥

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 20/08/2026

Creeping into #WorldPhotographyDay with my first night macro shot (Neoscona crucifera, spotted orb weaver) 🕷️🕸️ #bugsky

A big fat (gravid?) female spotted orbweaver hanging from her web, seen laterally. She’s hairy and has her fangs sunk into some chewed prey.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 19/08/2026

Just look at this villain’s mustache 🦹‍♂️

An extreme close-up of a bumblebee‘s face, showing two curled tufts of hairs to the left and right where its mandibles are, looking for all the world like a brushy mustache

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 19/08/2026

Photo-bombus 🐝 A bumblebee resting on an obedient plant blossom, looking like a fighter pilot in winter gear. #bugsky

A bumblebee, Bombus species, sitting on a pink and white flower against a greenish garden background. The photograph is very detailed and focused on the bee’s face. Shot with an OM-1 Mark II, 60mm macro lens, AK diffuser.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 12/08/2026

Hello new folks! Just a heads-up that I post lots of bugs. Just got my first real camera so there are plenty of real bugs, but I also make real-looking bugs out of metal. Like this recent pair, bronze and silver. So basically, bugs. 🐛🐞🐜🪲🪰🦋 #bugsky

A bronze carpenter ant and a silver aphid on a white background seen from above at an angle. The ant has its antennae forward and its mandibles open. The aphid is presenting a gemstone from its up-tilted abdomen in the place of honeydew.

Closeup of the ant and aphid from their eye level showing the details that the bird’s eye view hides. The ant’s maxillary palps are visible beneath its mandibles and the aphid looks…surprised.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 10/08/2026

Heading out to catch a flight, saw this katydid gal, ran back to grab my camera, took a few quick shots. Meet HER 💚 #bugsky

A female adult fork-tailed katydid perched on the back of a wooden deck chair. She’s missing one hind leg and one antenna.

Macro shot of the same katydid, focused on her head. She has a prominent pseudopupil and the detail on her mouthparts is sharp.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 09/08/2026

Danger dino 😳 Jagged ambush bug, Phymata species, lying in wait among the swamp milkweed blossoms. Love their prehistoric look. This little bug (true bug) will take down a bumblebee ten times its weight with those raptorial forelegs 🫣 #bugsky

A Brown bug with green legs and orange eyes crouching next to a swamp milkweed blossom. It has raptorial four legs. Its antenna are swept backward into a slot. Its face is bumpy and squarish and quite unlike most other bugs.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 07/08/2026

Caught this flesh fly guiltily smooching a poo nugget. Thought y’all would like to see. #bugsky

A high-resolution macro shot of a white and black striped flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, with its mouthparts extended toward a compressed brown nugget. The fly is bristly with a white face and large red eyes.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 05/08/2026

Ha! I do have a long-unfinished draft wasp (paper wasp) I'll get back to when I've dispatched current commitments...need to figure out a good approach to color, which has up to this point eluded me 🛠️

A gray resin sculpture of a paper wasp perched in my outstretched hand, wings folded.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 05/08/2026

Two-spotted scoliid wasp on mountain mint. Very skittish species, but the mint has tamed them! Such beautiful animals #bugsky

Two-spotted scoliid wasp (Scolia dubia) crawling on a mountain mint flower. The wasp has a reddish back part of its abdomen with two prominent capsule-shaped yellow spots. Its right wing is extended and is a deep iridescent blue.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 03/08/2026

Look at this FUZZY PUPPY 😍 (native animal on native plant in the back yard, and one of my best shots yet, day 5!)

Bombus sp bumblebee on swamp milkweed seen up close, nearly head on, tongue out and antennae pointed down in flower-sensing mode. The photo is highly detailed with diffuse light.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 02/08/2026

Perfect tiny bee! 🐝 Alfalfa leafcutter bee, a male Megachile rotundata, chilling on a mountain mint blossom. It’s a nice cool day so he was very cooperative and stayed still while I took a billion shots 😅

A beautiful tiny leafcutter bee with yellow fur and bright, pale-green eyes. His antennae are stretched out, and his sharp jaws are open. He is perched on a mountain mint blossom against a darker background.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 01/08/2026

Perfect use for new macro camera: SLEEPY BEES! They do not move and so are much easier for novices (✋) to get in focus 😅 #bugsky

A sleeping bumblebee hanging underneath an ironweed leaf, seen from the side against a dark background. The bee's feet are covered with pollinia, little pollen packets from milkweed. The photograph is highly detailed.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 31/07/2026

Back yard today (day 2). Single shots on very active animals...part of the process is just standing with this massive camera, weaving back and forth as if in the wind, so that the bugs begin to accept you as part of the garden. And then desperately leaning in/back to get the focus right 😅 #bugsky

Sphex pennsylvanicus (great black wasp) on mountain mint, head on, iridescent blue wings popped apart. You can see her delicate mouthparts (labial and maxillary palps) extended, hanging down below her head.

Melissodes bimaculatus (two-spotted longhorn bee) on ironweed. The bee is actively crawling on the bright magenta flowers, its face and body dusted with white pollen grains. Its hind legs are covered in cream-colored fur.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 31/07/2026

Same subject, camera on top, phone on the bottom. I adore my phone and the quality is pretty amazing, but even my very first camera shot shows where we’re going. Control of lighting with flash/diffuser is a whole new chapter. Very excited!

Two shots of a clouded plant bug. On top, with a proper macro setup. Bottom, with an iPhone. The top shot has more diffuse lighting and higher detail in the focal plane, while the bottom shot has more of the subject in focus but is much grainier.

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D. Allan Drummond @dadrummond.art · 31/07/2026

Setup: OM-1 Mark II camera, Godox V480 flash, AK diffuser, M.Zuiko 60mm 1:2.8 macro lens (somewhat regretting not springing for the 90mm…). Very popular system so I followed in many footsteps!

A macro camera rig, dominated by the large diffuser holding the flash and lens, held in my left hand

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