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Crypsis challenge #4

Posted on October 16, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This should be an easy one. The next one should be a bit more difficult.

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 2 Comments

Pentatomid

Posted on October 15, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I really like the flashy colors on this large stink bug.

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Caraça Tiger Beetles

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I encountered a handful of these tiger beetles. At least, I think that’s what these are. I hope I don’t embarrass myself.

Most of them were up in trees and bushes as suggested by the first photo. I only encountered one on the ground.

From a distance, I mistook the first one for a large ant. Indeed, they move more like an ant than what I expect from a tiger beetle. I believe they may in fact be mimicking ants, and I found some references to back that up. None gave even a general identification though, so I wasn’t able to search for any online photos. read more

Posted in Featured Photos | 11 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #3 Reveal

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

Did you find the critter hidden in this image?

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

Ted C. MacRae did and correctly identified it as a stick grasshopper in the family Proscopiidae. As a reward, my next post will be a tiger beetle.

If you still need help finding it, here’s an outline and a cropped version.

Outlined

Cropped

Hopefully this one was bit more challenging. I didn’t spot the critter in this setting. It was originally higher up in some foliage and only jumped to the ground in a failed effort to escape my photographic pursuit.

Note the short antenna which makes it easy to distinguish these from walkingsticks. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 3 Comments

Ant tending Caterpillar

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Here’s an ant in the Formica genus tending a caterpillar in the Lycaenidae family. The ant has just taken a drop of a sugary substance produced by a gland at the rear of the caterpillar. Here’s a shot from about 10 seconds earlier where you can see the drop sitting atop the gland and the ant fast approaching.

Sugary drop produced for tending ants

I’m not sure what flowers these caterpillars are eating, but they are pretty well camouflaged settled in among the flower buds. Once I spotted the first one, I started looking for them and found quite a few wherever I spotted these flowers. read more

Posted in Featured Photos | 5 Comments

More Bell-bearer Treehoppers

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

Another photo, same individual

One more shot, same individual

I’ve been researching these neat little treehoppers some more and I found references to a couple of Brazilian species, Bocydium globulare and tintinnabuliferum. I had to mention these just because of the scientific names.

Do you know the Edgar Allen Poe poem, “The Bells”? Remember these lines?

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

That came to mind as soon as I saw that scientific name, tintinnabuliferum. Besides just sounding cool, it translates as “bell-bearer”. The other name, globulare, I can’t quite work out, but I think in part it means “little balls”. read more

Posted in Featured Creatures | 6 Comments

Treehopper

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I actually saw quite a few of these in various places throughout the park. I’m sure that headdress serves some useful function. I’m just not quite sure what.

In this excellent little book there’s a very similar looking treehopper identified as a Bocydium. I assume the one shown above belongs to that same genus.

[book:1554073456]

Posted in Featured Photos | 2 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #3

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

Can you find and identify (generally, nothing more specific than family) the critter here?

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 2 Comments

Crypsis Challenge #2 Reveal

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

I suspect most people didn’t have too much difficulty finding the caterpillar in the image above (upper right, in the middle of a fern leaflet). Here’s another shot.

Caterpillar Closeup

I like how the white bands help break up the body and coincide nicely with the gaps on the little fern leaves. Looking up from below, it just sort of disappears against the light filtering from above.

I first spotted this caterpillar the previous night by the light of a headlamp. It stood out under those lighting conditions, but I resolved to return the next day and try to take some photos under natural lighting. read more

Posted in Crypsis Challenges | 1 Comment

Paper Wasps and Parasitoids

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

When I spotted these paper wasps alongside the trail, I only halfheartedly took a few shots. Mostly, I just didn’t think I’d be able to get an attractive photo out of it. So when I was reviewing my shots, I just about deleted all of them, including this one.

At the last second though, I noticed something unusual in the photo. I call these sorts of discoveries where I notice something in the photo that I didn’t realize was there when I took it “easter eggs.” It happens often enough that I just decided to add a new category for that here on my blog. read more

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