natural science illustration

Worker ant F. aquilonia Scottish wood ant, in profile.  Workers are all haplodiploid, sharing much of their genetic material with their mother, the queen. This supports their eusocial colonies.

Male wood ant F. lugubris Hairy wood ant.  These males have dark bodies and yellow legs and genitals.  Like the females, they have wings.  Unlike the females, shortly after mating during the nuptial flight, they will die.

Queen ant F. aquilonia Scottish wood ant with wings.  Newly emerged queens have wings, and following their mating and nuptial flight, they bite these off.  This enables them to burrow underground and set up a new ant nest and colony, and to begin laying eggs and raising young.

Pupae of a wood ant, both within its cocoon, and extracted.  Detail from a life cycle ant illustration by Lizzie Harper natural history and sciart illustrator

Larvae of wood ant showing their translucent bodies and segmentation.

Illustration of several eggs of a wood ant.

Detail of the thorax of the Scottish wood ant Formica aquilonia.  The illustration shows distribution of hairs up to the eyes.  This species is often confused with the Hairy wood ant which has longer hairs.

Lungwort Pulmonaria officianalis showing distinctive spotted leaves

Thomsons Gazelle Eudorcas thomsonii illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Tarpan Equus ferus ferus illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenboroug

Sunda pangolin Manis japonica illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Honey bee worker Apis mellifera illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifero illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Brain coral Diploria labyrinthiformis Staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus illustration from A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

Ammonite Dactylioceras commune fossil similar to those collected by David Attenborough as a child

Oak sudden death Phytophthora ramorum fungi and algae pest on Oak tree Quercus

Oak spangle galls from wasp Tilia platyphyllos and Silk button galls from wasp Neuroterus numismalis on Oak leaf Quercus robu

Oak Quercus robur sketchbook page including flowers and young leaves

Magnolia sprig Magnolia grandiflora in flower with leaves not yet out

Sea Buck-thorn Hippophae rhamnoides shrub pen and ink with colour wash

Sea Buckthorn shrub Hippophae rhamnoides.  Pen and ink illustration shows elongate leaves, low shrubby growth habit, and berries.

Lilac Syringa vulgaris tree pen and ink.  Illustration shows the tree in full bloom.

Lilac Syringa vulgaris tree pen and ink.  Illustration shows the tree in full bloom.