The beauty of stick insect eggs

It’s hard to imagine a better display of nature’s wild diversity, and its ability to keep surprising us.

Believe it or not, these are all tiny eggs laid by different species of phasmids – commonly known as stick and leaf insects.

They are mostly smaller than a grain of rice, and can’t be seen in this kind of detail with the naked eye.

To capture them like this, British photographer Levon Biss used microscope lenses to photograph each egg individually, then combined multiple photos of each one to get the whole of its shape in focus.

Stick insects’ talent for camouflage is in evidence before they even hatch: many of these eggs resemble seeds, appealing to ants, which help disperse them.

The eggs seen in the images were supplied by Dr. Thies Büscher, who studies phasmids and other insects at Kiel University in Germany.