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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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Identification Challenge #5 Reveal

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

As usual, Ted C. MacRae was right on all counts for this challenge:

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

I thought perhaps the swept-back antenna across the bottom third of the photo might throw people off. Not so.

Here’s a better shot of the katydid which was cooperative enough to allow some good closeups. This should put all the body parts shown above in context.

Katydid

My sister guessed a dragonfly via a Facebook comment. I can see the resemblance so not a bad guess.

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Identification Challenge #4

Posted on November 13, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

October 8, 2009

Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

I spotted this chrysalis on a tree trunk (looks like some sort of cherry). You can see in the first photo that it blends in pretty well. I took it home to see what would emerge. Something did, late the following April. Any ideas what it was?

This probably won’t help, but I couldn’t resist posting a closeup.

Closeup of spiracles

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Crypsis Challenge #5 Reveal

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

At least a few people found the caterpillar outlined below, from the last crypsis challenge.

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I like how effectively it blends in. The dorsal markings match up pretty well with the damaged areas on the leaf.

It has spun a sort of silken lair across the entire leaf as well.

Closer view

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Longhorned Beetle Damaging Stem

Posted on October 25, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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. read more

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A Walkingstick with Wings

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

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Crypsis Challenge #5

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

What sort of critter is hidden here?

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 4 Comments

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 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

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Crypsis challenge #4

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This should be an easy one. The next one should be a bit more difficult.

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Crypsis Challenge #3 Reveal

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

Did you find the critter hidden in this image?

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

Ted C. MacRae did and correctly identified it as a stick grasshopper in the family Proscopiidae. As a reward, my next post will be a tiger beetle.

If you still need help finding it, here’s an outline and a cropped version.

Outlined

Cropped

Hopefully this one was bit more challenging. I didn’t spot the critter in this setting. It was originally higher up in some foliage and only jumped to the ground in a failed effort to escape my photographic pursuit.

Note the short antenna which makes it easy to distinguish these from walkingsticks. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 3 Comments