Macro Photography Highlights Beauty of Extinct and Endangered Insects

For Extinct and Endangered, the species that you photographed were selected from the American Museum of Natural History's vast collection. How did you go about selecting what to photograph?

The specimens photographed for Extinct and Endangered were selected due to their order, conservation status, and geographical location. The majority of specimens are critically endangered, with a number already extinct—gone from this planet forever. There are, though, some specimens from breeding programs that are trying to restore species populations that are under threat of extinction, the Lord Howe Island stick insect, for example. These programs provide encouragement that threatened species can be brought back from the edge.