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Blog Archives
Tree Sharpening Caterpillars
~30mm long | January 5, 2013 | Panga Ecological Reserve, Minas Gerais, Brazil
What appears to be a flower here is actually a group of caterpillars working their way down a sapling trunk.
They look like they could do a decent job sharpening a pencil, about the same width as this tree(?) trunk.
Side view | Trunk ~5mm wide
Despite the black background, this was taken a few hours before sunset. At the time there was probably a few feet of the trunk left. I marked the location and returned after dark. I found no trace of the trunk or the caterpillars. They apparently ate the whole tree.
I know there are defoliating caterpillars. I know there are wood boring caterpillars. I never imagined there are caterpillars that consume an entire tree though. That’s assuming they eat leaves, which I didn’t observe.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Black-Dotted Ruddy / Holly Looper
Being National Moth Week, I have every excuse to post about one of my favorite subjects. Admittedly, I get more excited about caterpillars, but I enjoy seeing the moths that most of them become.
Back at the end of April, I was distracted by something while going to check the mailbox. Actually, I’m often distracted any time I venture into my yard, but that’s kind of the point of having one for me. Anyway, some large hollies form a hedge along part of my driveway. I spotted a caterpillar dropping from from the holly to the ivy beneath it. I grabbed it for a closer look and started scanning the holly for others. I quickly found another one and brought them inside for rearing. Less than a month later, I was rewarded with a Black-Dotted Ruddy, Ilecta intractata.
Posted in Featured Creatures
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Foraging Turtle Ants
4mm long | July 8, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I spotted these turtle ants (Cephalotes sp.) crawling around on vegetation, occasionally stopping to solicit honeydew from scale insects. I’ve been somewhat enamored with these ants ever since seeing some of Alex Wild’s photos, particular the specialized nest guarding soldiers. Sadly, despite watching the workers, I’ve yet to successfully find a nest for an opportunity to photograph one.
I’ll have to satisfy myself with the foragers for now.
Dorsal view
Here’s another one taking honeydew from a scale insect.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Scale Insects
5mm long | July 8, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I probably wouldn’t have noticed these scale insects were it not for the ants that would occasionally stop to feed from them.
Its difficult to see in the first photo, but each one has 20 or so waxy threads spiraling away from the body. It’s not clear to me where exactly they’re coming from. The threads are a bit easier to see in the next few photos.
Waxy corkscrew shaped filaments radiate out from the body
I wonder if the spirals don’t help the ants to locate the scale.
The scales excrete honeydew from a small orange tube (to the left above, right below).
Posted in Featured Photos
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Cockroaches
30mm | July 2, 2011 | Monte Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I saw quite a variety of cockroaches in my relatively short outing to Monte Alegre. The first one, above, was the largest and was not altogether unattractive. It blended in well with the leaf litter.
The second one was a bit smaller, and was spotted in some low foliage.
25mm | Dorsolateral view
This last one was the smallest, but the most robust.
20mm | Dorsal view
It was moving slowly about until it encountered something tasty (rodent dropping?).
Lateral view | Feeding
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Ants Tending Leafhoppers
July 2, 2011 | Monte Alegre, Minas Gerais, Brazil
These ants are tending to some treehopper nymphs. Most of the ants are busy collecting honeydew, but the one on the bottom has noticed me and is on alert. I accidentally bumped the branch after this shot and all of the ants started running around looking for something to attack. I held up a leaf for a background here so that the ants would stand out.
In this next shot, I’m assuming the white areas are either treehopper eggs or a protective covering for the eggs. One of the adult treehoppers is also visible here, a darker shade of red than the nymphs.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Two Flies Sharing a Meal
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
These two flies are sharing a meal.
I can easily identify the larger one as a micropezid.
Micropezid
I’m not sure about the smaller one though.
Smaller fly
Posted in Featured Photos
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Jumping Spider with Prey
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This little salticid has captured a small fly of some sort.
White scales on the chelicerae almost look like a mustache.
Frontal view
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Identification Challenge #12 Reveal: Emesinae
30mm (body) | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Only one reader commented on the latest identification challenge. Bryan Reynolds found it easy to identify this as a thread-legged bug in the subfamily Emesinae (family Reduviidae). Be sure to check out Bryan’s new non-profit, The Butterflies of the World Foundation.
This thread-legged bug was spotted in some leaf litter, finishing off some sort of nondescript prey.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Feeding Derbids
30mm (wingspan) | January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
These planthoppers in the family Derbidae are feeding on the yellow stem.
You can clearly see the left one’s beak (rostrum) inserted in the stem. Next time I’ll have to try and get a good profile shot. They really are odd looking.
Face on
Also odd are those Velcro like hooks along the leading edge of the wing.
What purpose might these hooks server?
Posted in Featured Photos
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