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Blog Archives
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
Posted in Featured Photos
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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.
Posted in Featured Photos
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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.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Identification Challenge #10 Reveal: Phiale guttata
15mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Only Ted C. MacRae ventured a guess for this most recent identification challenge. He was exactly right, though a bit confused by his source which indicated this species might not occur in Costa Rica. This is indeed Phiale guttata.
The World Spider Catalog lists the distribution for this wide ranging species as Costa Rica to Paraguay. The Global Species Database of Salticidae site lists all the species for Costa Rica, and allowed me to eliminate the possibility of similar spiders in the same genus. There are also some good photos and illustrations there.
Posted in Identification Challenges
2 Comments
Another Attractive Beetle
9mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
While I work on some longer posts, here’s another attractive unidentified beetle to ponder. Maybe a pleasing fungus beetle in the family Erotylidae?
Posted in Featured Photos
4 Comments
Yellow-headed Gecko
January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This species, Gonatodes albigularis, can usually be found on surfaces two to three meters above the ground. Not surprisingly then, I spotted this male just above eye-level on the side of a tree, shortly after dark.
Male coloration as shown here is distinctive among Costa Rican lizards. Interestingly though, coloration changes after dark. The head darkens a bit and the body lightens somewhat. Both still remain distinct from each other. What you see above then is the night color phase, or perhaps a transitional phase between the two. Males also have that white-tipped tail.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Attractive Beetle
11mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I won’t venture an identification here, but it was too attractive to pass up! Can anyone narrow it down for me?
Posted in Featured Photos
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Another Nogodinid Planthopper
13mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Here’s another one of those planthoppers from the family Nogodinidae, pretty much just like the earlier one I posted.
Posted in Featured Photos
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Black and Yellow Leafhopper
10mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
In an earlier post I remarked how I initially mistook a colorful micromoth for a leafhopper, and that I later saw a similarly marked leafhopper. This is the leafhopper I had in mind, although now I can’t really say they look all that alike.
I did see quite a few of this variety of leafhopper though.
Another individual
Posted in Featured Photos
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Green and Black Poison Dart Frog
20mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Unlike the drab poison dart frog I posted recently, this one lives up to my expectations of having bright warning colors.
Do you notice anything strange about this frog’s back? Take a closer look.
Hitchhiking tadpole
All Costa Rican dendrobatids lay their eggs on the forest floor. Parenting behaviors beyond that vary by species. One or both of the parents care for the eggs, keeping them moist until they hatch (sometimes by the male urinating on them). After hatching the tadpoles are carried by one or both of the parents, sometimes singly, sometimes en masse, to suitable sites to complete their development.
Posted in Featured Photos
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