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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
Crypsis Challenge #7 Reveal
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Commenters had no trouble finding the cryptic critter circled above on a partially eaten leaf. No one figured out that it was a caterpillar though, and a rather bizarre one at that. Here’s a closer look.
It's a caterpillar
It does a pretty good job, I think, of blending in with the damaged areas of the other leaves. I suspect the brown leaf areas were damaged by an earlier instar that chews away at the surface of the leaf rather than eating the entire thing. It looks formidable and I didn’t risk touching it. Those black structures are unlike anything I’ve seen on a caterpillar.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
2 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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Blister Beetles Defoliating
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This plant was being devoured by dozens of these attractive blister beetles. Above I’ve caught one with a leaf fragment in its mouth. Below, you can see how they’ve stripped a branch clean. The frass seems to be exiting just about as fast as the plant goes in (must be a good source of fiber).
Beetles Defoliating
As these pictures show, the plant was literally crawling with these beetles.
Working on another branch
The dark backgrounds here are an effect of the camera flash. This was actually happening in broad daylight. How are they able to risk doing that? Blister beetles are so named because they defend themselves with a caustic compound, cantharidin, found in their blood. Predators soon learn to avoid them.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Dinner at the Cow Patty
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Remember I said in the location profile for Tupaciguara that cattle are abundant? I was driving through one of the many cattle pastures at night when I noticed that some of the fresher cow patties were being visited by moths.
I suppose this shouldn’t be too surprising. I’ve seen plenty of butterflies taking nourishment from bird droppings and other animal scat. Well, at least something is benefiting from those cattle.
Some other random thoughts:
I wondered if anyone has ever done a study on how many and what types of species come to cow patties? That might be worthy of an Ig Noble prize.
Posted in Featured Photos
2 Comments
Unidentified Nymph
January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Remember the recent crypsis challenge where Ted C. MacRae thought he also saw a noctuid moth in addition to the more obvious praying mantis? Well, that wasn’t a moth at all, but what sure looks like the nymph of some sort of homopteran.
I actually saw quite a few of these in the area. Here’s another one.
Another individual
I’ve been puzzling over this for quite awhile now. While I’ve encountered and seen pictures of plenty of homopteran nymphs with waxy appendages extending from their abdomen, I’ve never seen one with anything like the plumose structure shown here.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Crypsis Challenge #7
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Can you find and identify the order of the critter hiding in plain sight above?
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
2 Comments
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
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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
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Tupaciguara
Google satellite image
Tupaciguara (too-pah-see-GWAH-luh), in the state of Minas Gerais, is my wife’s hometown and her family still lives in the area. We frequently visit and often stay in our condo in a nearby city, Uberlândia.
Location
Location within Minas Gerais and Brazil (inset) (c) Raphael Lorenzeto de Abreu (Source: wikipedia)
The city itself is roughly at latitude -18.6, logitude -48.7, at an elevation of around 900m (~3000ft). It’s located in what’s known as the Mineiran Triangle, which is basically that Western part of the state of Minas Gerais jutting out in the map above (the part below the inset).
Posted in Location Profiles
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