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Blog Archives
Another Bizarre Treehopper
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I’ve shown a couple of odd treehoppers already, but here’s yet another variation on that theme. This time, I do kinda see a resemblance to an ant.
Dorsal view
Marshall’s 500 Insects includes a very similar looking treehopper identified as a Cyphonia species.
[book:1554073456]
Posted in Featured Photos
4 Comments
Lacewing under Leaf
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Most lacewings are nondescript. So when I spotted this one on the underside of a leaf, I couldn’t pass it up. The markings are not unlike some Leucochrysa species here in the US.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Planthopper
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Based on the snout and the wing venation, I’m gonna say this one is a dictyopharid planthopper.
Posted in Featured Photos
1 Comment
Crypsis Challenge #6 Reveal
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
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
1 Comment
Identification Challenge #5 Reveal
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.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Identification Challenge #5
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Here’s a closeup of an unidentified insect. Can you identify the family to which it belongs and the body parts shown?
Posted in Identification Challenges
2 Comments
Identification Challenge #4
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
Posted in Identification Challenges
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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
Posted in Featured Photos
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Crypsis Challenge #4 Reveal
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
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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A Caterpillar to Avoid
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I found a couple of these large caterpillars very near to each other. First the one above and then the one below. I believe they are a species of Automeris.
With those spines and colors, it’s pretty obvious they are to be avoided. Each one of those spines is like a little hypodermic needle bearing venom.
Here are some closeups.
Head
Spiny cluster
And here’s a particularly intimidating display.
Back off!
So what would mess with this spiny critter? I discovered while reviewing photos of the latter caterpillar that there was a small fly up to no good. Sorry for the photo quality. These are extreme crops.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
3 Comments
