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Blog Archives
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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Identification Challenge #6 Reveal
As I suspected, this challenge was easily met by all commenters.
October 8, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
It is of course Arilus cristatus, commonly known as the wheel bug for the very structure shown above. I didn’t get a full body shot of this specimen, but here’s a wider view.
Facing opposite direction from the previous image
Among the largest assassin bugs in North America, they can deliver a painful stab with that beak. I foolishly held one when I was a kid, and I’ll not be making that mistake twice.
For more info, see the species info page at BugGuide.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Attractive Caterpillar
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This caterpillar seems fairly distinctive, but I haven’t been able to find anything similar. The white bands are odd. I can’t decide if they are normal or evidence of an injury.
Posted in Featured Photos
2 Comments
Identification Challenge #5 Reveal
As usual, Ted C. MacRae was right on all counts for this challenge:
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I thought perhaps the swept-back antenna across the bottom third of the photo might throw people off. Not so.
Here’s a better shot of the katydid which was cooperative enough to allow some good closeups. This should put all the body parts shown above in context.
Katydid
My sister guessed a dragonfly via a Facebook comment. I can see the resemblance so not a bad guess.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Freshly Molted Treehopper Nymphs
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
There are a couple of freshly molted treehopper nymphs shown here. Just below them, you can see a shed exoskeleton. Their colors will return as their new skins harden. In the meantime, they inflate themselves so that their new skins harden larger than their previous ones.
Below is an adult that was hanging around a bit farther down the stem. That’s what they’ll eventually look like. You can see how the horn gets bigger with each molt.
Adult
Posted in Featured Photos
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Identification Challenge #4 Reveal
As Ted C. MacRae correctly guessed, the chrysalis in the latest identification challenge yielded a specimen of Papilio glaucus, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.
April 25, 2010 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
The blue on the upperside of the hindwings indicates this is a female. Here’s the underside of the wings:
Underside of wings
If I’d had some daylight, I’d have tried to get something other than a black background. I saw she had emerged after arriving home one evening though, so I took these shots in my home office before releasing her.
Being a fresh specimen, I thought I’d try for some closeups of the wing scales.
Posted in Identification Challenges
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Immature Stink Bugs
January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
The nymphs of some stinkbug species will stick together, as shown here.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Gold Moth Caterpillar on Wingstem
October 8, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
I found this caterpillar last fall. It was munching away on the flowers of what I believe to be wingstem. The plant was growing beside a walking trail at a forest edge.
Here are a couple of other views.
Head
Dorsal View
I’m basing the identification on similar photos of Basilodes pepita on BugGuide and in Wagner.
I like the bold colors. Wagner states that the combination of colors, behavior and foodplant suggest it might be unpalatable.
Reference:
[book:0691121443]
Posted in Featured Photos
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Blow Fly
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I like the detail in this crop from the first image below. You can even see some pollen grains on and around the foreleg.
I’m pretty sure this is a blow fly, not unlike the common blue bottle fly.
Side View
Dorsolateral View
Posted in Featured Photos
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