Crypsis Challenge #7 Reveal

Posted on December 26, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Commenters had no trouble finding the cryptic critter circled above on a partially eaten leaf. No one figured out that it was a caterpillar though, and a rather bizarre one at that. Here’s a closer look.

It's a caterpillar

It does a pretty good job, I think, of blending in with the damaged areas of the other leaves. I suspect the brown leaf areas were damaged by an earlier instar that chews away at the surface of the leaf rather than eating the entire thing. It looks formidable and I didn’t risk touching it. Those black structures are unlike anything I’ve seen on a caterpillar. read more

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Lacewing under Leaf

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Most lacewings are nondescript. So when I spotted this one on the underside of a leaf, I couldn’t pass it up. The markings are not unlike some Leucochrysa species here in the US.

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Blister Beetles Defoliating

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This plant was being devoured by dozens of these attractive blister beetles. Above I’ve caught one with a leaf fragment in its mouth. Below, you can see how they’ve stripped a branch clean. The frass seems to be exiting just about as fast as the plant goes in (must be a good source of fiber).

Beetles Defoliating

As these pictures show, the plant was literally crawling with these beetles.

Working on another branch

The dark backgrounds here are an effect of the camera flash. This was actually happening in broad daylight. How are they able to risk doing that? Blister beetles are so named because they defend themselves with a caustic compound, cantharidin, found in their blood. Predators soon learn to avoid them. read more

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Dinner at the Cow Patty

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Remember I said in the location profile for Tupaciguara that cattle are abundant? I was driving through one of the many cattle pastures at night when I noticed that some of the fresher cow patties were being visited by moths.

I suppose this shouldn’t be too surprising. I’ve seen plenty of butterflies taking nourishment from bird droppings and other animal scat. Well, at least something is benefiting from those cattle.

Some other random thoughts:

I wondered if anyone has ever done a study on how many and what types of species come to cow patties? That might be worthy of an Ig Noble prize. read more

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Unidentified Nymph

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Remember the recent crypsis challenge where Ted C. MacRae thought he also saw a noctuid moth in addition to the more obvious praying mantis? Well, that wasn’t a moth at all, but what sure looks like the nymph of some sort of homopteran.

I actually saw quite a few of these in the area. Here’s another one.

Another individual

I’ve been puzzling over this for quite awhile now. While I’ve encountered and seen pictures of plenty of homopteran nymphs with waxy appendages extending from their abdomen, I’ve never seen one with anything like the plumose structure shown here. read more

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Crypsis Challenge #7

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Can you find and identify the order of the critter hiding in plain sight above?

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Planthopper

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Based on the snout and the wing venation, I’m gonna say this one is a dictyopharid planthopper.

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Crypsis Challenge #6 Reveal

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

What was hidden here?

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Ted was on the right track with his comments about the mantid-like head. It is in fact a mantid of some type. Here’s a close crop from the image above.

It's a mantid

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Upcoming Trip to Costa Rica

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

I’ll be taking a trip to Costa Rica in January for the sole purpose of nature photography. All I have right now is a plane ticket which I snapped up when I received a notification that the price had fallen below $250 from Atlanta.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be spending the entire time along the Southeastern coast. I’ve visited many parts of Costa Rica, but I’ve never been to that particular area. I’ll probably find lodging and base myself near Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. read more

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Identification Challenge #6 Reveal

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

As I suspected, this challenge was easily met by all commenters.

October 8, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

It is of course Arilus cristatus, commonly known as the wheel bug for the very structure shown above. I didn’t get a full body shot of this specimen, but here’s a wider view.

Facing opposite direction from the previous image

Among the largest assassin bugs in North America, they can deliver a painful stab with that beak. I foolishly held one when I was a kid, and I’ll not be making that mistake twice.

For more info, see the species info page at BugGuide.

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