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Ant tending Caterpillar

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

Here’s an ant in the Formica genus tending a caterpillar in the Lycaenidae family. The ant has just taken a drop of a sugary substance produced by a gland at the rear of the caterpillar. Here’s a shot from about 10 seconds earlier where you can see the drop sitting atop the gland and the ant fast approaching.

Sugary drop produced for tending ants

I’m not sure what flowers these caterpillars are eating, but they are pretty well camouflaged settled in among the flower buds. Once I spotted the first one, I started looking for them and found quite a few wherever I spotted these flowers. read more

Posted in Featured Photos | 5 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #3

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

Can you find and identify (generally, nothing more specific than family) the critter here?

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 2 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #2 Reveal

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I suspect most people didn’t have too much difficulty finding the caterpillar in the image above (upper right, in the middle of a fern leaflet). Here’s another shot.

Caterpillar Closeup

I like how the white bands help break up the body and coincide nicely with the gaps on the little fern leaves. Looking up from below, it just sort of disappears against the light filtering from above.

I first spotted this caterpillar the previous night by the light of a headlamp. It stood out under those lighting conditions, but I resolved to return the next day and try to take some photos under natural lighting. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 1 Comment

Crypsis Challenge #2

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This challenge should be a good bit easier than the last one. Remember you can click on the photo to see a larger version.

One thing I find challenging for these types of shots is trying to reproduce what the eye sees (or doesn’t see as the case may be). The flash tends to make whatever was previously relatively hidden stand out.

I actually spotted this critter the night before. Using a headlamp, just like a camera flash, tends to make otherwise difficult to spot things stand out. I returned the following day to attempt the shot above. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 4 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #1 Reveal

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

July 2, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

Did you spot the hidden critter from this earlier post? No one commented, but I’ll go ahead and reveal the answer.

There’s a hint about two thirds of the way down on the left hand side. That’s a lacewing egg on a thread. And just to the right of that is the creature itself, a trash carrying lacewing larva. I circled the two in red below.

Reveal

Still having trouble seeing it? Try this side view.

Side View

Of course, all you can really see is the debris. To see the actual critter, you have to turn it over, as I did here. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 1 Comment

Leaf Beetle Feeding Behavior

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This leaf beetle has created an interesting little scene.

There’s the leaf damage caused by feeding. The spots appear to be changing color as they age. I assume the green one to the top right of the beetle is the freshest. The light colored ones near the top must be the oldest.

There’s also some frass spread around.

Looking at this, I wonder if the feeding behavior isn’t offering some measure of camouflage. From a distance, the beetle appears to be just another damaged spot on the leaf. read more

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Crypsis Challenge #1

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

July 2, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

I plan to regularly post challenges like this. Can you find what’s hidden in this photo? I’ll follow-up with more info in a subsequent post. Again, I’m posting this before the site is public, so I’ll wait until I have some guesses in the comments before revealing the answer.

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 2 Comments