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Unidentified Nymph

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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. read more

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Planthopper

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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.

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Crypsis Challenge #6 Reveal

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

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Identification Challenge #6 Reveal

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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.

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Attractive Caterpillar

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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.

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Identification Challenge #5 Reveal

Posted on November 28, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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.

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Freshly Molted Treehopper Nymphs

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

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Identification Challenge #4 Reveal

Posted on November 18, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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. read more

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Immature Stink Bugs

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

The nymphs of some stinkbug species will stick together, as shown here.

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Gold Moth Caterpillar on Wingstem

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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:
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