Science illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger records mutations of insects found near radioactive disasters, including Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Her watercolors offer a rarely-seen view on the long-lasting effects of radioactive contamination on living beings.

[Cornelia Hesse-Honegger via Neatorama]

Tree bug from Parvin Road near Hanford WA, USA
The right feeler lacks a section
Harlequin bug near Three Mile Island, USA
The Scutellum is curved and its yellow ornament is asymmetrical.
Soft Bug larva from Posonby, Sellafield, UK
Both of the left wing tips are damaged.
Tree bug, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Right tip of the neck plate is flattened
Housefly mutant ‘aristapedia'
Parts of legs are growing out of the feelers and the eyes are yellow
Squash bug from Rohr, Canton Aargau, Switzerland.
Left cover wing is a short stump.
Soft bug from Pripjat, Ukraine
Right side middle leg is short with no foot but two claws
Damsel bugs Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
Wings of uneven length and disturbed neck plate
Scentless plant bug from Würenlingen, Canton Aargau, Switzerland
Left cover wing is blown up like a balloon
Tree bug from Slavoutich, Ukraine
Right feeler is disturbed.
Drosophila melanogaster
The left wing is a little clump
Ladybird beetle near Three Mile Island, USA
Dent and a black growth on wings.

Send an email to Lauren Davis, the author of this post, at .