A type of spiny toad that has several males with a female in the middle.
Alois Pichard
Every year, large flocks of spiny toads (buffer spinas) mainly congregate to breed and spawn in freshwater lakes and ponds throughout Spain, Portugal and France. However, mating is grueling and difficult, with males often outnumbering females five to one. Desperate to find a mate, a male will usually cling to a female (known as a “belly”) that is already being held by another mate.
Alois Pichard captured one of these “breeding balls” in southern France in May as the toads crossed a road at night on their way to their spawning grounds (main photo). His photo, along with others featured here, was selected as a finalist in this year’s Close-up Photographer of the Year contest.
Kaneo Melita honey bee
Joris Begtel
Image of Joris Begtel’s four golden tails Melita Bee (Melita hemorrhoids) It is shown above nestled against the flower head. Melita Bees often sleep together in bell flowers all night long in search of warmth. Vegter said she inspected more than 1,000 flowers around Groningen in the Netherlands before finding the sleeping bee. “My passion is sharing the invisible beauty of the small world around us,” he says.
male polyphemus moth
Ignacio Castellanos
The photo above is an image of a male Polyphemus moth taken by Ignacio Castellanos (Antheraea polyphemus) in the oak forest of Huasca, Mexico. This moth measures over 15 cm from wing tip to wing tip.
pot-bellied seahorse
daniel sly
A shot of a pot-bellied seahorse by Daniel Sly (ventral hippocampus) A close-up photo of a ladybird spider by Alice Corocontes near Bear Island, Australia is shown above (Elesus Valkenaeli) Photo below.
ladybug spider
Alice Corocontes
Contest winners will be announced in January.
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