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Another Bizarre Treehopper

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I’ve shown a couple of odd treehoppers already, but here’s yet another variation on that theme. This time, I do kinda see a resemblance to an ant.

Dorsal view

Marshall’s 500 Insects includes a very similar looking treehopper identified as a Cyphonia species.

[book:1554073456]

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Lacewing under Leaf

January 31, 2010 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Most lacewings are nondescript. So when I spotted this one on the underside of a leaf, I couldn’t pass it up. The markings are not unlike some Leucochrysa species here in the US.

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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.

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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

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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

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More Bizarre Treehoppers

 January 28, 2010

Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

These treehoppers are probably two species in the genus Cyphonia.

The first one you may recognize from this book cover.

[book:1554073456]

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Glasswing Butterfly

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

Glasswing butterflies lack scales on parts of their wings, leaving those parts transparent.

Though similar looking, this is not the species (Greta oto) commonly found in many of the butterfly houses I’ve visited. That one’s range doesn’t extend into South America. This is probably a closely related species. I was surprised there are so many that look very much alike. Check out this Florida Museum of Natural History page on the tribe Godyridini to get an idea.

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Target Tortoise Beetle

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

I’ve seen variations on this pattern for tortoise beetles throughout Central and South America. I often see the species referred to as target tortoise beetles, though a quick google search seems to confirm my suspicion that that common name applies to many different species across several genera.

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