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Blog Archives
Stingless Bee Nest
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This stingless bee nest was nestled in the hollow of a tree. The nest entrance is only about a centimeter wide, making the bees themselves only 5 or 6mm long.
As their common name suggests, these bees have no sting to defend themselves. Knowing that, I got quite close. Harmless though they may be, they certainly look mean.
Looking mean
New arrival below
In that last photo, you can see a new arrival hanging below the nest, with pollen visible in the basket on its hind tibia.
According to Hogue, there are three genera of stingless bees. Lestrimelitta can be eliminated here because it doesn’t have a pollen basket. Of the other two, Melipona is larger, hairier and the wings don’t extend beyond the tip of the abdomen as they do here. These must then be a Trigona species.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
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Dictyopharid
January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Just another one of those odd looking dictyopharids.
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Snout Beetle
18mm | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
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Prominent Caterpillar
22mm | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This caterpillar looks enough like some of my local caterpillars that I can confidently say it’s a prominent moth larva. Its markings camouflage it well as it inserts itself into areas it has eaten.
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Large Bark Katydid
75mm | January 19, 2011
Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This large katydid was trying to remain inconspicuous on the side a tree. With a body three inches long and antennae over twice that, it was difficult to miss. I considered making this a crypsis challenge, but it seemed too easy.
In the second photo, it’s in the lower right corner.
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Apterostigma collare
4mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I spotted the structure below on the underside of a large leaf. I really didn’t know what it was, and I gently poked at it. It was quite fragile as it turns out, and it fell open to reveal an ant nest. I then immediately regretted not having taken a photo beforehand. The next day I was lucky enough to find another one, also pictured.
6cm x 4cm | Unexpected ant nest
4cm x 2cm | Nest with an ant entering
These nests are the work of an ant in the genus Apterostigma. Ants of Costa Rica has an info page for this genus in Costa Rica. I tried to use the key there to identify these, but it was a bit technical for me. I’m basing the species identification on the statements from the site that seem to indicate that only Apterostigma collare builds these nests under leaves. There are some more photos of nests at that same site.
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Hammerhead Fly
7mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I spotted this little fly on the underside of a large leaf. I was really thrilled to find something so unusual. I probably spent about a half hour chasing it around from one perch to another. Luckily, it always flew just a short distance.
Dorsal view
I had heard of antler flies before, and I figured this was a good candidate to be one. Initial internet searches using that phrase didn’t turn up anything though. On a whim I tried searching for “hammerhead fly” since that seemed like an obvious common name for this fly. That turned out to be a good guess, and I found lots of similar looking images of Richardia telescopica in the family Richardiidae. I’ve been unable to eliminate the possibility of similar looking species. If not for that uncertainty, I’d have made this into an identification challenge.
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Black and White Weevil
15mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
My SWAG for this weevil is Cholus costaricensis, based only on illustration 16 on this plate from the Electronic Biologia Centrali-Americana. I could find no other information about this species online, but the name fits!
It’s got some fancy feet.
Fancy Foot
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Cockroach Mating Call
5cm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I found this impressively large two inch long cockroach just like this, sticking out its abdomen from the side of a creek bank after dark. I found the behavior odd, and I suspected that it might be releasing pheromones to attract a mate. I really had no idea if cockroaches did that or not. After some recent reading, that does appear to be part of the courtship ritual. To initiate courtship, a female will call nearby males in this manner. Presumably then, this is a female.
A while later, I managed to catch her in a different pose.
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Bullet Ant
January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This species, Paraponera clavata, is the infamous bullet ant. In Costa Rica, its common name is “bala,” which also means bullet. If somehow you don’t already know, the name derives from its powerful sting. Getting stung is said to be as painful as getting shot. I’ve also heard it referred to as “hormiga veinticuatro”, or  24 hour ant, for the duration of the pain. I’m happy to say I can’t testify to any of this personally.
I saw plenty of these large ants. It was difficult to get any images though, as they seem to be constantly on the move. These images were taken at night as the ant crawled around on a tree trunk.
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