Several years ago I decided to participate in an illustration contest, a competition promoted by the Sociedad Gaditana de Historia Natural. Since it was an event with such an interesting location as Cádiz, I decided that my illustration would be about a recently discovered local faunal species, and I came across this magnificent bedbug and its exceptional discoverer, the incredible entomologist Pepe Torres.
I wrote to Pepe to ask him to send me photos of a clutch, an immature, the larva, a male, a female, an almost infinite number of images of this insect of the family Hemiptera. Pepe, very kindly, with his infinite patience, as he has always done with me, told me: ‘I only have one specimen that I still don’t know if it is male or female, and I will photograph it for you with a magnifying glass because it is only 3 mm long’. That left me a bit surprised, because now the work I had in mind was completely different, but in any case I would try everything without giving up.
I decided to illustrate a tiny insect which, when placed under the microscope, was beautiful, with elytra that looked like cathedral stained glass.
If you want to know the scientific details, please consult this document
The illustration was made using a digital technique, starting from the pronotum downwards, leaving the head and legs for the end. It is a scientific illustration, which provides the greatest possible rigour to the scientific description and to the specimen found. Of course, this is the first illustration of this species and it can be improved when further research is carried out and new specimens can be provided to enrich the data.
I hope it has been of interest to you.