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Martin Galli

Entomologist and wildlife photographer

04/12/2023

What an absolute pleasure to hike in breathtaking landscapes for hours, hoping to find a tiny insect that lives in the snow, and actually seeing that insect !
This weird but beautiful beast is a Snow Fly (Chionea sp. - what a beautiful name too!!). This wingless Crane Fly thrives in temperatures lethal to almost any other insect thanks to its antifreezing sugar-filled-hemolymph. The emergence of adult Chioneas in winter is likely due to a lack of predators. This cost them their wings as it takes a lot of energy to generate and maintain flight. Insects usually obtain this energy through a heat source or a nutritional source. Yet, adult Chioneas are not known to feed and thus likely had no use for wings. Despite these rough conditions, Snow Flies live up to two months, a significantly longer lifespan than other crane flies.

03/11/2023

A couple days ago I returned to the cave in which I saw Ixodes vespertilionis (the bat tick) for the first time a year and half ago. I had previously spent two years trying to find this tick ! This revisit of the cave was a great occasion to get some more shots of this gorgeous species.
This specimen is an adult male, which are usually easier to find than females or nymphs and larvae. According to Hornok et al. (2014), males usually outnumber females on cave walls. It is possible to find them partly or fully engorged, although I've never observed this myself. Engorged males may indicate blood from the nymphal stage as adult males only feed for a very short time or perhaps even don't feed at all (Nuttall et al., 1911) as males have never been found on bats (Arthur, 1956). This is a common trait of males across many tick species - males usually don't feed or only very little, sometimes only for the maturation of the germinal cells (Kiszewski, 2001).

18/10/2023

A year and a half ago I saw my very first Araneus grossus during the study of spiders that I conducted on the Natura 2000 site "Gorges de la Vis et Cirque de Navacelles". I found this large subadult female at night, near a pond while Hyla meridionalis and Alytes obstetrician were singing. I always find it very exciting to find a rarer species of the same genus as another very common species (A. diadematus being the common species of the Araneus genus in this case). With my recent observation of Araneus alsine, I have now seen nine out of the ten species of Araneus that can be found France. A. marmoreus is now the last Araneus species I have yet to observe !

08/10/2023

After basically missing out the whole macro season because my dysfunctional macro lens was being repaired by Venus Laowa for more than 6 months, they finally sent it back to me a couple weeks ago. I soon went back to the field to thoroughly test the lens and it worked fine - what a relief ! One of my first subjects was this Buthus occitanus in defense position after my friends and I lifted up this rock he was resting under 😬
It was a really nice last field session in Hérault before moving back to Ariège.

Now that summer is over, I won't be able to practice macrophotography as much, although it is still 30°C nearly everyday here in the Pyrenees.
One of the many things I am excited about, with this new job, is that I will get access to new camera equipment such as the Canon RF 100mm, the Canon R5 and the KX-800 twin flash! Can't wait! and expect to see more stories and also some macros taken with this new equipment!!

02/10/2023

It didn't take long (literally three days) for .thevenin_macro and I to go out looking for insects when I moved to Montpellier in March. I actually stayed at his place for a week since it is so difficult to find decent housing nowadays. One day, after work, we went out bug hunting in the dried river bed of the Coulazou river. We had some nice observations including Pardosa morosa, Rhomphaea nasica and this Typical Green Lacewing (Chrysopidae spp.)

12/08/2023

After sharing many photos from my trip to Costa Rica in January, I am back to posting species from the south of France again! Let's start with a common but nonetheless beautiful caterpillar hunter carabid : Calosoma sycophanta. They were quite numerous this spring because of the cyclical increase in Lymantria dispar population, on which they feed.
Fun fact: this species was one of my very first macrophotography subject back in June 2019!

04/08/2023

Boulenger's Snouted Tree Frog (Scinax boulengeri) displays the most convincing camouflage I've ever seen on any frog, perhaps even on any animal. Though it was right in front of me, I lost it a couple of times while adjusting settings on my camera.

27/07/2023

The exceptional Eyelash Pit Viper (Bothriechis schlegelii). What an absolute pleasure and dream come true to be able to observe, in situ, this amazing snake. I was lucky enough to stumble upon this species three times while visiting the Cahuita National Park and am finally sharing a shot of my closest encounter. It was not an easy photo to take, nor the best out there of this species, but still, I just can't keep this image on my hard drive without sharing it with all of you!

12/07/2023

A couple of tiny weevils found under a leaf, in the Cahuita National Park. These belong to the subfamily Conoderinae, perhaps of the genus Zygops?

08/07/2023

Great memories of these Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs (Oophaga pumilio) being present all over the jungle, constantly singing (they almost sound like cicadas too) and even though this guy was very small, he is indeed an adult. They don't really get any bigger than 2.5 cm !

06/07/2023

Not many records of this beautiful Tortoise Beetle (Charidotella ambita) found in the wilderness of Limón, amongst some other Cassidinae species

03/07/2023

It is no secret that insects in Costa Rica are relatively large and colorful, and this Agrosoma placetis is no exception!

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