Blog Archives

Velvet Ant

Posted on November 7, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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.

Posted in Featured Photos | 2 Comments

Pelecinid Wasp

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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. read more

Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos | 1 Comment

Unexplained Beetle Behavior

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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 | 1 Comment

More Bizarre Treehoppers

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

 January 28, 2010

Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

These treehoppers are probably two species in the genus Cyphonia.

The first one you may recognize from this book cover.

[book:1554073456]

Posted in Featured Photos | Leave a comment

A Caterpillar to Avoid

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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. read more

Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos | 3 Comments

Colorful Butterfly

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

I usually don’t have the patience to stalk butterflies. The colors on this one were just so vibrant that I spent about 20 minutes chasing after it.

Even the undersides of the wings, while definitely muted, are attractive (to me anyway).

Wings closed showing underside

Posted in Featured Photos | 2 Comments

Target Tortoise Beetle

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

I’ve seen variations on this pattern for tortoise beetles throughout Central and South America. I often see the species referred to as target tortoise beetles, though a quick google search seems to confirm my suspicion that that common name applies to many different species across several genera.

Posted in Featured Photos | 2 Comments

Pumped Up Snout Beetle

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

This one looks like it has been doing push-ups on that leaf. Check out those foreleg femurs!

Posted in Featured Photos | 1 Comment

Patterns in Beech Leaves

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

Looking up from a forest trail at a nearby nature center, I saw the leaves of a beech tree backlit by the afternoon sun. I picked off a few of the interesting ones and held them by hand so as to take some closeups. I find the patterns interesting in the same way ink blots are interesting.

What do you see in these abstract images?

Flames? | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA | September 5, 2010

Mandelbrot Fractal Set?

Stained glass window?

Leaf within a leaf?

What do you see?

Can anyone explain what’s going on here? Is this how leaves start to turn in the fall? A disease of some sort?

Posted in Featured Photos | Leave a comment

Dagger Fly with Prey

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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 | 1 Comment