Extreme closeup photograph of a firefly or lightening bug standing atop unopened common milkweed flower buds in my garden. Common milkweed produces a ball-shaped inflorescence with a large number of small flowers on short stem that radiate around a central stem. Each flower bud is egg-shaped and covered in small hairs and the appearance is similar to the alien eggs loaded with face-huggers from the movie series "Alien". The firefly is likely common eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis) which is in the beetle family. It has an oblong body with black wings covers with a yellow outline, a yellow plate on the back of its thorax with a black spot in the lower center with red patches on either side of the black spot, a black head with large, bulbous compound eyes, two long segmented antennae, and six black segmented legs.

🎵 "My milkweed brings all the bugs to the yard
And they're like, it's better than yours
Damn right it's better than yours
I can teach you, but I have to charge...🎵

#StormHour #PhotoHour #MacroHour #insects #beetles #LighteningBugs #FireFlies #MacroPhotography #macro #Photography #AletText