While we have all heard of fleas and dung flies, very few of us have seen them up close - and we mean really up close! The photos were taken by Bedford -based scientific photographer Steve Gschmeissner, using a Scanning Electron Microscope, which not only magnifies images by a million times, but also, builds them up in 3D. In case you are wondering, the picture above is the head of a honey bee!

This spiky creature is what the head of a Human Flea looks like real up close. While dubbed 'human' these parasitic creatures which range from just 1-4mm long, also infest cats, dogs and many other domesticated animals, in particular pigs. While their bites are annoying, they are more dangerous, because of their ability to transmit diseases between species. Thankfully, these days they can be largely found on the farms and mostly around pigsties!

This cheeky looking thing that's sticking out its tongue at the camera, is a Yellow Dung Fly, a micro insect that grows between 5-11mm in length. It is a predator that feeds mostly off other small insects such as flies. As the name indicates they live and breed around animal dung!

This alien looking photo is a close-up of the head of a Jumping Spider, known to have very good vision - Not surprising given those big green eyes! Largely found in tropical forests, the spiders are active hunters and as the name indicates great jumpers. Most can jump as much as three times their body length. They are also quite astute - Before taking a big leap, they create a safety net by tethered a filament of silk thread to whatever they are jumping off, in case the jump is unsuccessful.

Steven, who has won many awards, including one for the bat's head pictured above, says he is lucky to be able to afford this telescope which can cost up to $800,000 USD and use it for fun projects. He chose insects for his latest work, because of the incredible shapes and patterns that make up their bodies - We sure agree with him!

Sources: piedpiper.co.uk, wikipedia.org