The Mutant Art of Radioactive Insects

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Science illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger records mutations of insects found near radioactive disasters, including Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Her watercolors offer a rarely-seen view on the long-lasting effects of radioactive contamination on living beings.

[Cornelia Hesse-Honegger via Neatorama]

Tree bug from Parvin Road near Hanford WA, USA
The right feeler lacks a section

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Harlequin bug near Three Mile Island, USA
The Scutellum is curved and its yellow ornament is asymmetrical.

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Soft Bug larva from Posonby, Sellafield, UK
Both of the left wing tips are damaged.

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Tree bug, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Right tip of the neck plate is flattened

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Housefly mutant ‘aristapedia'
Parts of legs are growing out of the feelers and the eyes are yellow

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Squash bug from Rohr, Canton Aargau, Switzerland.
Left cover wing is a short stump.

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Soft bug from Pripjat, Ukraine
Right side middle leg is short with no foot but two claws

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Damsel bugs Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Wings of uneven length and disturbed neck plate

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Scentless plant bug from Würenlingen, Canton Aargau, Switzerland
Left cover wing is blown up like a balloon

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Tree bug from Slavoutich, Ukraine
Right feeler is disturbed.

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Drosophila melanogaster
The left wing is a little clump

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Ladybird beetle near Three Mile Island, USA
Dent and a black growth on wings.

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