January 27, 2010
Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This beetle looks like a buprestid to me. The interesting thing is that it’s splitting this leaf lengthwise. In the second photo, you can see where the cut starts in the upper right. That would seem like an odd way to eat, so I suspect there’s some other purpose. Is anyone familiar with this behavior?
There’s also what appears to be a small wasp hanging out on the elytra.
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I resisted the urge to touch this one. It just looks so soft.
 January 28, 2010
Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
These treehoppers are probably two species in the genus Cyphonia.
The first one you may recognize from this book cover.
[book:1554073456]
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Normal disclaimers apply (flies are difficult to identify), but these mating flies might be a Systropus species.
Did you think they might be wasps? They are almost certainly wasp mimics.
Don’t be fooled by what appears to be an extra wing on the one to the right. That’s just a trick of the camera.
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This longhorned beetle blends in pretty well with these stems.
Some longhorned beetles are known as girdlers and that name might be aptly applied here. See the damage to the stem in the upper right? I didn’t witness it, but I suspect this beetle is responsible. In fact, given the bending of the stem under its head, it may very well have been chewing away when I took this photo. Further evidence is the frass present, indicating it’s been here awhile.
Why girdle? Some beetles that do it deposit an egg in the stem and then effectively kill the stem by chewing a ring into it. The stem beyond the girdle eventually dies and falls to the ground. The stem provides nourishment for the beetle larva and is then well placed for the grub to later escape into the soil where it completes its development.
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This tick is one of the largest I’ve ever encountered. I’m happy to say it was the only one I saw.
Ticks often wave around their forelegs while perched like this, hoping to grab on to some passing potential host.
When viewed from the side, there’s an interesting bit of anatomy exposed.
Side view (do you see the smaller mite bringing up the rear?)
I wondered about the purpose of that large hole on the tick’s side so I did some research. It’s called the spiracular plate, and it’s basically a tube into the tick’s breathing system. Calling it breathing might be a stretch though. It’s really more of a passive gas exchange. The shape of spiracular plates are also used by taxonomists as a way of distinguishing various types of ticks.
October 10, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
A few weeks ago I found this tortoise beetle, Deloyala guttata, on the underside of a sycamore leaf in a nearby park. Most of the time you only see tortoise beetles safely tucked away inside their “shell” (hence their name). I waited for this one to start moving around so I could get this shot.
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
While less noticed and more difficult to identify, the majority of lepidoptera species are small and are collectively referred to as microlepidoptera or micromoths. Though small, this one’s glittery wing scales caught my eye.
Walkingstick | January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
We don’t have that many species of walkingsticks here in the Southeastern US. None of the ones I’ve encountered have wings. So this one looks odd to me.
Remember the jumping sticks? Here’s one more photo of one of those so you can see how easy it is to distinguish the two based on their antennae.
Jumping stick | January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
What sort of critter is hidden here?
