Video: tropical harvestman eating a midge

[ECooper]

This video shows a tiny juvenile Central American harvestmen (Acromares vittatum) very rapidly devouring a chironomid midge (like a mosquito that doesn’t bite).

I shot this video last weekend on my kitchen table using 3 tabletop LCD lamps. Unfortunately I didn't get the colour balance quite right so the video is a bit warm. I'd also like to use a lower ISO to get a higher resolution, but that would mean substantially brighter light, which I don't know it the critters would tolerate. I need to experiment a bit more.

Cheers,
EC
www.macrocritters.wordpress.com

The technical stuff:
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5
Lens: Zuiko 60mm micro four thirds macro
Settings: aperture priority exposure (F11 @ 1/30 sec)
Lighting: 3 Ikea LCD lamps
ISO: automatic

 

[DragonsEye]

Cool video and a sweet piece of music. Did the harvestman capture the midge or was the midge already dead?

 

[ECooper]

The midge was already dead. These harvestmen aren't very aggressive predators for anything this big, although they feed greedily on tiny prey like springtails.

Cheers,
EC