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Blog Archives
Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I spotted another of these relatively large frogs, Dendrobates auratus, in the botanical gardens. Unlike the one I spotted a few days before, this one wasn’t carrying a tadpole.
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Identification Challenge #12 Reveal: Emesinae
30mm (body) | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Only one reader commented on the latest identification challenge. Bryan Reynolds found it easy to identify this as a thread-legged bug in the subfamily Emesinae (family Reduviidae). Be sure to check out Bryan’s new non-profit, The Butterflies of the World Foundation.
This thread-legged bug was spotted in some leaf litter, finishing off some sort of nondescript prey.
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Another Micropezid
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This one looks a lot like the one I found ovipositing.
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Female Yellow-headed Gecko
January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Compared to the male, this female Gonatodes albigularis is quite drab.
She looks as if she has suffered some unfortunate incident. Not only does she appear to be regrowing the tip of her tail, but one of her hind feet seems a bit mangled.
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Feeding Derbids
30mm (wingspan) | January 21, 2011 | Finca La Isla, Limon Province, Costa Rica
These planthoppers in the family Derbidae are feeding on the yellow stem.
You can clearly see the left one’s beak (rostrum) inserted in the stem. Next time I’ll have to try and get a good profile shot. They really are odd looking.
Face on
Also odd are those Velcro like hooks along the leading edge of the wing.
What purpose might these hooks server?
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Identification Challenge #12
30mm (body) | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Can you identify this critter as far as subfamily?
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Male Wandering Spider
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This wandering spider in the family Ctenidae was spotted at the base of a large tree.
The large palps leave no doubt that this is a male.
Palps indicate a male
The eye arrangement was my first clue to the family. They also have a deep groove along the mid-line of the carapace, called a fovea, just barely visible in these photos.
I wasn’t able to identify this one any further than family. It’s quite a large spider though. The body measured 25mm (~1″) and with legs it was around 80mm (~3″).
Some species of Ctenidae have a nasty reputation. Suspecting at the time that this was a Ctenid, I kept a respectful distance.
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Bronze-backed Climbing Skink
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I thought it would be difficult to identify this skink, but it turns out there are only three skinks in Costa Rica. Only two of those occur in the area I was in. And only one, Mabuya unimarginata, is bronzed like this one.
Chiefly arboreal, this one was nonetheless basking on a log near the ground.
Showing more of the body
See more images of this species here.
Reference:
[book:0970567804]
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Slender Anole
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I photographed this slender anole, Norops limifrons, not long after sunset. This species is common and abundant in Costa Rica. It ranges from Mexico to Panama.
According to Leenders, observations suggest that this species mates for life, a rare behavior for a lizard. Energy otherwise spent by the male on defending a territory against other males is instead spent on maintaining the relationship with the female. The male and female stick together, usually never more than a few meters apart. If I’d known this at the time, I’d have looked around for this one’s mate.
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Litter Frog
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I thought this was perhaps an Eleutherodactylus species in the family Leptodactylidae. That determination was based mainly on the pads visible on the undersides of the hands and feet.
I asked Brian Kubicki for his opinion, and he said this is Craugastor polyptychus. That last link notes that this species was recently split from Eleutherodactylus bransfordii, so I guess was on the right track.
Looking around on the internet, it looks like the two species are separated by elevation, with this species occurring at lower elevations.
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