Melon Fly (Bactrocera cucurbitae)

Small enough to overlook and patterned enough to admire, the Melon Fly (Zeugodacus cucurbitae) is a fruit fly native to South and Southeast Asia whose amber-tinted, dark-banded wings and bright yellow-and-black body give it a graphic quality that belies its tiny size.

The Melon Fly is a significant agricultural pest across much of the tropical and subtropical world, having spread far beyond its native range to Africa, the Pacific Islands, and parts of the Americas. Females lay their eggs beneath the skin of cucurbits - melons, cucumbers, courgettes, and gourds - using a sharp ovipositor to pierce the fruit surface. The larvae feed and develop inside, causing the fruit to rot from within. This combination of wide host range and efficient reproduction has made it one of the most economically damaging fruit flies globally.

Despite its pest status, the Melon Fly is an elegant insect under magnification, with elaborately patterned wings that males display during courtship rituals. The species has become a model organism for studying invasive insect biology and the development of sterile insect techniques (SIT) - programmes that release sterilised males to suppress wild populations. It is a case where scientific understanding of a species' biology has been driven almost entirely by the need to control it, rather than simple curiosity.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 50 × 70 cm · 20 × 28 in

XLarge · 70 × 100 cm · 28 × 40 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

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Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

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