3/21/18: Never have I felt the need to write about the same artist three times, but the bug lover in me just cannot resist Igor Siwanowicz’s work. Back in 2014, I wrote about the scientist’s stunning insect pictures. Then in 2017, I wrote about his fascinating microscopic photography. This time, we are checking out his macro-photographs of caterpillars. I always liked the little buggers – their colors, their fuzziness, their method of locomotion – but I confess I haven’t spent much time looking at them up close. Luckily, these super-detailed photos let us take a really close look (without having to crawl around in the forest).

Siwanowicz has gotten up-close and personal with some of the kookiest caterpillars ever. I had no idea they were so wildly diverse! Much like the deep-sea WTFs I sometimes post about, these bugs look like they’re straight out of a scifi movie. I thought they had to be from some exotic rain forest, but I was really shocked to discover that many of his most bizarre subjects are native to the U.S.!

When he’s not creeping on the creepy crawlies, Siwanowicz is a neurobiologist at the Janelia Farm Research Campus in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Virginia.

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All images property of Igor Siwanowicz.