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Blog Archives
A Walkingstick with Wings
We don’t have that many species of walkingsticks here in the Southeastern US. None of the ones I’ve encountered have wings. So this one looks odd to me.
Remember the jumping sticks? Here’s one more photo of one of those so you can see how easy it is to distinguish the two based on their antennae.
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.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
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A Caterpillar to Avoid
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.
And here’s a particularly intimidating display.
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
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Some Frogs and Toads from Caraça
These are the frogs and toads I encountered in Caraça Natural Park.
I didn’t see any snakes, and I only caught fleeting glimpses of a few large lizards.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Colorful Butterfly
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).
Posted in Featured Photos
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Glasswing Butterfly
Glasswing butterflies lack scales on parts of their wings, leaving those parts transparent.
Though similar looking, this is not the species (Greta oto) commonly found in many of the butterfly houses I’ve visited. That one’s range doesn’t extend into South America. This is probably a closely related species. I was surprised there are so many that look very much alike. Check out this Florida Museum of Natural History page on the tribe Godyridini to get an idea.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Target Tortoise Beetle
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
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Ants Herding Treehoppers
These ants have quite effectively corralled their herd of honeydew producing treehoppers.
There’s a lot to see here if you look carefully. First, it looks like quite a few of the life stages of the treehoppers are present. There’s the dark adult in the center, an early instar in the bottom center, and the majority appear to be middle instars.
In the detail below, you can see the ant on the right has just taken a drop of honeydew and the dark adult has a drop waiting.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Fly with a Humpback
I just couldn’t pass up this interesting looking fly. Flies are a difficult order, and I quickly gave up on narrowing down any sort of id.
Posted in Featured Photos
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