Nature Closeups

Crypsis Challenge #4 Reveal

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

Hopefully it didn’t take more than a few seconds to spot the katydid in this image.

January 27, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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A Caterpillar to Avoid

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I found a couple of these large caterpillars very near to each other. First the one above and then the one below. I believe they are a species of Automeris.

With those spines and colors, it’s pretty obvious they are to be avoided. Each one of those spines is like a little hypodermic needle bearing venom.

Here are some closeups.

Head

Spiny cluster

And here’s a particularly intimidating display.

Back off!

So what would mess with this spiny critter? I discovered while reviewing photos of the latter caterpillar that there was a small fly up to no good. Sorry for the photo quality. These are extreme crops. read more

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Some Frogs and Toads from CaraÃ§a

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

These are the frogs and toads I encountered in CaraÃ§a Natural Park.

Treefrog | January 26, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Toad | January 27, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Treefrog | January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I didn’t see any snakes, and I only caught fleeting glimpses of a few large lizards.

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Colorful Butterfly

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I usually don’t have the patience to stalk butterflies. The colors on this one were just so vibrant that I spent about 20 minutes chasing after it.

Even the undersides of the wings, while definitely muted, are attractive (to me anyway).

Wings closed showing underside

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Glasswing Butterfly

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Glasswing butterflies lack scales on parts of their wings, leaving those parts transparent.

Though similar looking, this is not the species (Greta oto) commonly found in many of the butterfly houses I’ve visited. That one’s range doesn’t extend into South America. This is probably a closely related species. I was surprised there are so many that look very much alike. Check out this Florida Museum of Natural History page on the tribe Godyridini to get an idea.

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Target Tortoise Beetle

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I’ve seen variations on this pattern for tortoise beetles throughout Central and South America. I often see the species referred to as target tortoise beetles, though a quick google search seems to confirm my suspicion that that common name applies to many different species across several genera.

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Ants Herding Treehoppers

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 28, 2010 | CaraÃ§a Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

These ants have quite effectively corralled their herd of honeydew producing treehoppers.

There’s a lot to see here if you look carefully. First, it looks like quite a few of the life stages of the treehoppers are present. There’s the dark adult in the center, an early instar in the bottom center, and the majority appear to be middle instars.

In the detail below, you can see the ant on the right has just taken a drop of honeydew and the dark adult has a drop waiting.