Blog Archives

Army Ant Week Post #1

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

In honor of Army Ant Week, I’m going to take a short break from my recent Costa Rica photos to post a few army ant photos.

June 7, 2004 | Barro Colorado Island, Panama

The only time I’ve ever seen an army ant bivouac was on a trip to Panama. I don’t recall if the photo above was of part of the bivouac or just an ant bridge somewhere along a foraging trail. My field notes were unfortunately lost in a house fire several years ago.

This could be Eciton hamatum, based on Alex Wild’s post today on that species. They are definitely orange, and I don’t recall being bitten or stung. If they are some other species, I’m sure I’ll be set straight in short order. read more

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Ant, Victimized by Fungus

Posted on February 7, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

Ant, 10mm | Fungal stalk, 5mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

This unfortunate ant fell victim to a fungus, Cordyceps perhaps.

This short sequence from an episode of the Planet Earth series gives a nice introduction to the phenomenon.

Posted in Featured Photos | 6 Comments

Colorful Snout Beetle

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

12mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

I really love the colors on this snout  beetle. Check out the detail. The image is not quite as sharp as I’d like, but just look at all those little colorful scales.

Detail

Posted in Featured Photos | 3 Comments

Identification Challenge #8 Reveal

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

15mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

I knew the photo above would be difficult to identify, but I was happy that everyone at least figured out it was a spider. As a side note, I hope everyone realizes you can click on the photo to see a larger version.

One commenter, biozcw, ventured that it might be an Argyrodes species. That’s close, because the species I believe I have here, Ariamnes attenuatus, was formerly placed in that genus.

This spider was hiding beneath a large leaf. At only 15mm as shown in the initial photograph, it’s small and virtually disappears when assuming that cryptic position. Here’s a decidedly more spider-like pose. You can just barely see a strand of silk stretching from the spinnerets towards the upper right corner of the image. read more

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Crypsis Challenge #8 Reveal

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

Well, this challenge was certainly more difficult than I anticipated. Nonetheless, several people did find the frog in the image above. Below, I’ve outlined it.

Frog Revealed

Now that you know it’s there, I bet you can’t look at the image without it standing out.

Andrea J. went on to suggest it might be a Leptodactylid. I agree. Here’s a close crop from the photo above.

Overhead crop

I picked up this book while in Costa Rica:

[book:0970567804]

According to that book, all Costa Rican leptodactylids lack webbing between their fingers. In the crop above, I don’t see any webbing. There are only three genera in Costa Rica. One genus has only large species, and this one is small. Another has only a single species, easily dismissed because it has extremely warty skin. So by deduction this must be an Eleutherodactylus species. There are 40 highly variable species in that genus that the book calls a “taxonomic nightmare”, so I won’t speculate further on the species. I might even be wrong about the family :). See comments below… I was fooled by the size. Turns out it’s the first genus I dismissed based on size, and it’s just a baby. read more

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Identification Challenge #8

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

15mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

How specific can you get with an identification for what’s shown above?

Posted in Identification Challenges | 9 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #8

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

It’s tough for me to know just how  difficult these crypsis challenges are, since I obviously know what’s in them. I would think this is very easy, but then a coworker commented that others that I thought were easy were in fact hard for him.

Anyway, see how challenging it is for you to spot the critter camouflaged in the photo above. A general identification is fine, since I haven’t yet determined anything more specific.

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 16 Comments

Bridal Veil Stinkhorn

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

20cm | January 17, 2011

Cahuita NP, Limon Province, Costa Rica

I was thrilled to find this stinkhorn, Phallus indusiatus, growing right on the side of the trail. I’m not sure how long they last, but with frequent foot traffic through the area, I might have been lucky to be the first in the area.

There’s lots of interesting information on the wikipedia page for this species, including a surprising physiological effect on women.

One of my photography resolutions for the year is to use my wide angle lens more. I thought this was a good subject for it, particularly in the first photo, showing the trail in the background. Using the wide angle lens required getting quite close for these photos. Being male, and consistent with what’s reported on the wikipedia page I linked to above, I found the smell disgusting. read more

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Colorful Micromoth

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

11mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica

This was the first subject I found after starting along the coastal trail in Cahuita National Park. There were dozens of these little moths on some sort of plant that was prevalent along the coastal trail. When I spotted the first one, I thought perhaps it was a leafhopper. It was only after seeing one up close that I realized it was a moth, and a spectacularly colored one at that.

I’m amazed at how well the forewing and hindwing patterns line up. While clearly two wings toward the tail end, you can barely make out the division between them elsewhere. As for what purpose this pattern serves, I’m stumped. They stand out well on the foliage, so it’s hard to imagine it provides camouflage. Perhaps these are warning colors, but why then the intricate pattern towards the rear? It might be a false eye sort of thing to distract attention away from the important end. And the two red bands do look kind of like legs, if the thing were facing the opposite direction. read more

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Identification Challenge #6 Reveal

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

As I suspected, this challenge was easily met by all commenters.

October 8, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA

It is of course Arilus cristatus, commonly known as the wheel bug for the very structure shown above. I didn’t get a full body shot of this specimen, but here’s a wider view.

Facing opposite direction from the previous image

Among the largest assassin bugs in North America, they can deliver a painful stab with that beak. I foolishly held one when I was a kid, and I’ll not be making that mistake twice.

For more info, see the species info page at BugGuide.

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