A microscopic breakthrough in Marine & Natural History Photography | Degree Show Stories
06 July 2026
BA(Hons) Marine & Natural History Photography final-year student Aryah Nagarajan has made a microscopic breakthrough during her final year project: to capture a previously unseen image of a parasitoid wasp larva inside an aphid.
To achieve this body of work titled 'Unseen Queens', Aryah learned specialised skills including dissection, specimen preparation and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imaging. The project has been a collaboration with the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum and IAC laboratories, which Aryah came to lead through a connection made by one of her lecturers at Falmouth.
Stay tuned and follow Aryah on Instagram for more on this remarkable project and to see the first ever image of a larva inside an aphid.
“My name is Aryah Nagarajan. I'm studying on BA(Hons) Marine & Natural History Photography.
“My final project is about parasitoid wasps and aphids. There has never been an image where the larva is inside the aphid. There is a technique called SEM through which we can see such things, so I gave it a try. I learned all the skills of dissection, specimen preparation and ACM (Asbestos-Containing Materials), and made it possible.
“It's a collaboration between the Darwin Centre at the Natural History Museum with the IAC labs, and then I led the project. I got this connection to the Natural History Museum through one of my professors (at Falmouth).
“If you are really into natural history, then this is a place where you can start off. You'll start somewhere, but then you'll end up somewhere else. It gives you so much exposure.”
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