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Blog Archives
Crypsis Challenge #5 Reveal
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
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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Longhorned Beetle Damaging Stem
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.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
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Tick Anatomy Lesson
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This tick is one of the largest I’ve ever encountered. I’m happy to say it was the only one I saw.
Ticks often wave around their forelegs while perched like this, hoping to grab on to some passing potential host.
When viewed from the side, there’s an interesting bit of anatomy exposed.
Side view (do you see the smaller mite bringing up the rear?)
I wondered about the purpose of that large hole on the tick’s side so I did some research. It’s called the spiracular plate, and it’s basically a tube into the tick’s breathing system. Calling it breathing might be a stretch though. It’s really more of a passive gas exchange. The shape of spiracular plates are also used by taxonomists as a way of distinguishing various types of ticks.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
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Glittery Micromoth
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
While less noticed and more difficult to identify, the majority of lepidoptera species are small and are collectively referred to as microlepidoptera or micromoths. Though small, this one’s glittery wing scales caught my eye.
Posted in Featured Photos
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A Walkingstick with Wings
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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Some Frogs and Toads from Caraça
These are the frogs and toads I encountered in Caraça Natural Park.
Treefrog | January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Toad | January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Treefrog | January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I didn’t see any snakes, and I only caught fleeting glimpses of a few large lizards.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Identification Challenge #2 Reveal
What was this?
September 5, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
As revealed in the comments, it is the rear end of a saddleback caterpillar, Sibine stimulea.
I neglected to take a good dorsolateral shot, but here’s a couple more shots of this individual.
More complete view
Front view -- head is tucked underneath
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Crypsis Challenge #3 Reveal
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.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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Globular Stink Bug Invasive
This post’s featured creature is Megacopta Cribraria.
August 5, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA | ~5mm
Just outside the entrance to my subdivision, there’s a stand of kudzu, Pueraria montana var. lobata, at the border of a city park. If you’re not familiar with kudzu, it’s a major invasive here in the Southeast that pretty much takes over wherever it manages to take root. Many of the volunteer outings with the local nature conservancy are focused on eliminating this invasive from conservancy lands. Here are a few photos of the area to give you an idea.
Posted in Featured Creatures
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Dagger Fly with Prey
Awhile back, Alex Wild posted some shots of dagger flies. I commented at the time that I had recently seen and photographed the flies, but didn’t know what they were. Thanks, Alex, for saving me the effort of figuring out what I photographed here.
May 22, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
I can’t make out what it has captured, a beetle maybe?
Posted in Featured Photos
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