‘Blue Bristletail’ by Tom’s Macro and Nature Photographs

Jumping bristletails, order Archaeognatha (meaning “ancient jaw”), are an order of small, strange, vaguely shrimp-like, wingless insects. They’re covered in fine scales, like butterfly or moth wings, and can indeed jump by pushing off with their tails.

They often live in damp environments, but you can spot them in the desert, usually under rocks. Most are tan or grey, sometimes with interesting patterns and a bit of subtle metallic color - but this is the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen. I found it on Saturday in Joshua Tree National Park.

I usually use a diffused flash when photographing insects and spiders, and shade the subject from harsh sun to prevent overexposed highlights, but in this case, the flash flattened out the gorgeous colors - so this is a full-sun, natural light image.

Like much of the blue in nature, this is structural coloration, meaning the hues come not from pigment but from micro-structures in the scales that cause only certain wavelengths to reflect back to our eyes.

This time of year there aren’t a lot of insects out and about, but this little creature, maybe about three times the size of a rice grain, was a spectacular exception.