Canon Elan IIe, tripod Sigma 105 EX Macro Fuji Provia 100F f11, 1/30 second

Grassus Hopperis

Yes, I made that up. I have no idea what this is, other than a grasshopper.

But a cluster of them attracted my attention when I stopped the car to photograph some alligators, in the Florida Everglades. I'm guessing the bright coloration would scare away predators, though it'd be hard to mistake them for wasps. Maybe they're just an evolutionary dead end.

Some might say the same about me, sprawled on the ground six feet from the road to get photos of something like this...

Note added 2012: Actually, it's an Eastern Lubber grasshopper nymph, (Romalea microptera.) This is what the adults look like, and they're huge. I had these images in my stock for years, on the same page of slides, and didn't know they were related since I hadn't identified the nymph above.