This Super-Slo-Mo Video of Insects Flying Will Leave You in Awe
NC State Assistant Professor Dr. Adrian Smith has a YouTube channel called Ant Lab that is pretty much dedicated to insects but perhaps his most impressive video is his latest. Smith decided to film in super slow motion the flight of many insects.
What do fireflies, moths, stoneflies, mayflies, fishflies, aphids, scorpionflies, and lacewings have in common?
— Adrian Smith (@DrAdrianSmith) August 20, 2020
They're all flying insects I filmed for this new video: https://t.co/JpRgADpWUq pic.twitter.com/KFGHNkHwi1
He purposely chose for his subjects insects that are not too common and whose flights have probably never been recorded before. This means he skipped over bees and flies and went for rarer insects such as the plume moth, the firefly, the painted lichen moth, the leafroller moth, the rosy maple moth, the common stonefly, the fishfly, the aphid, the scorpionfly, and the lacewing.
The end result is an educational video that will leave you speechless with its sheer beauty. Perhaps the most awe-inspiring insect filmed is the rosy maple moth that, according to Smith, looks like “a flying muppet.”
“It doesn’t jump or roll its wingtips up like the others, but honestly, who really cares,” said Smith. “Just look at it! It’s clearly the best moth. It looks like a flying muppet. Like after it flies off-screen here, it’s probably going to go back to living its life on Fraggle Rock.”