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Category Archives: Featured Photos
Silver Argiope with Wasp Prey
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This spider was on an exposed ridge overlooking the sanctuary. She appears to have caught a nice sized wasp.
This species often creates an X-shaped design (stabilimentum) in their web, and you can just see a hint of one extending to the lower right.
The common name Silver Argiope is consistent with the scientific name (argentata = silvery). Even the common name in Portuguese, Aranha-de-prata, translates as Silver Spider. It is indeed silvery.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Immature Stink Bugs
January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
The nymphs of some stinkbug species will stick together, as shown here.
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Gold Moth Caterpillar on Wingstem
October 8, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
I found this caterpillar last fall. It was munching away on the flowers of what I believe to be wingstem. The plant was growing beside a walking trail at a forest edge.
Here are a couple of other views.
Head
Dorsal View
I’m basing the identification on similar photos of Basilodes pepita on BugGuide and in Wagner.
I like the bold colors. Wagner states that the combination of colors, behavior and foodplant suggest it might be unpalatable.
Reference:
[book:0691121443]
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Blow Fly
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I like the detail in this crop from the first image below. You can even see some pollen grains on and around the foreleg.
I’m pretty sure this is a blow fly, not unlike the common blue bottle fly.
Side View
Dorsolateral View
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Velvet Ant
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I like finding velvet ants, but boy are they tough to photograph in the field. They don’t stand still unless they’re hidden. This crop is the best I could do for this one. I saw one other one like this.
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Orb Weaver
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This orb weaver was safely tucked away inside a leafy retreat.
The general shape puts me in mind of Acanthepeira species here in the US. There is at least one species, A. labidura, in Brazil. I couldn’t find any information on it though.
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Pelecinid Wasp
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Wasps in the family Pelecinidae are distinctive and easily recognized by that long thin abdomen. I’ve see them closer to home as well, but I can’t recall if I’ve ever gotten a decent photo. I do remember chasing after quite a few in vain or watching as one teased me from someplace just out of reach. I got lucky with this one.
What I thought was a red marking turns out to be a small mite.
There’s only one genus, Pelecinus, for this family. There appears to be at least two described species in the tropics.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
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Some Army Ant Observations
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
That’s the general scene. I encountered these army ants on the side of the trail towards the end of the afternoon. The odd thing is that I didn’t see much more than what’s shown here. There were a couple of holes in the ground, outside the shot above, but roughly in the upper left and lower right. Despite some searching in the nearby vicinity, I didn’t find any other ant trails. But there were ants streaming in and out of the two holes, forming roughly two paths. The bottom path was moving to the right and the top to the left.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Unexplained Beetle Behavior
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.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Velvety Yellow Snout Beetle
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I resisted the urge to touch this one. It just looks so soft.
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