RSS Feeds
Categories
Location Profiles
Places
- North America (155)
- Aruba (5)
- Costa Rica (102)
- Limon Province (101)
- Cahuita to Manzanillo (101)
- Limon Province (101)
- United States (47)
- Florida (7)
- Georgia (40)
- Twelvestones (38)
- South America (171)
- Brazil (171)
- Goiás (5)
- Quirinópolis (5)
- Minas Gerais (165)
- Caraça Natural Park (66)
- Monte Alegre (7)
- Tupaciguara (48)
- Uberlandia (44)
- Goiás (5)
- Brazil (171)
- North America (155)
Subjects
- Amphibians (10)
- Frogs and Toads (10)
- Arachnids (41)
- Amblypygids (1)
- Harvestmen (5)
- Mites and Ticks (2)
- Hard Ticks (1)
- Scorpions (1)
- Spiders (32)
- Cobweb Spiders (2)
- Huntsman Spiders (2)
- Jumping Spiders (7)
- Lynx Spiders (1)
- Orb Weavers (9)
- Spitting Spiders (1)
- Tarantulas (1)
- Wandering Spiders (1)
- Wolf Spiders (1)
- Fungi (3)
- Insects (215)
- Ants, Bees, Wasps and Relatives (44)
- Ants (25)
- Army Ants (4)
- Leafcutter Ants (2)
- Bees (2)
- Stingless Bees (2)
- Sawflies (1)
- Wasps (16)
- Chalcid Wasps (2)
- Dryinid Wasps (1)
- Paper Wasps (2)
- Pelecinid Wasps (1)
- Velvet Ants (2)
- Ants (25)
- Barklice (1)
- Beetles (27)
- Blister Beetles (1)
- Click Beetles (1)
- Ground Beetles (2)
- Tiger Beetles (2)
- Jewel Beetles (2)
- Leaf Beetles (7)
- Flea Beetles (1)
- Leaf-mining Leaf Beetles (1)
- Longhorned Beetles (1)
- Snout Beetles (7)
- Tumbling Flower Beetles (1)
- Butterflies and Moths (55)
- Butterflies (7)
- Caterpillars (27)
- Moths (23)
- Cockroaches (2)
- Dragonflies (1)
- Earwigs (1)
- Flies (20)
- Biting Midges (1)
- Blow Flies (1)
- Dance Flies (1)
- Fruit Flies (1)
- Long-legged Flies (1)
- Mosquitoes (1)
- Phorid Flies (1)
- Richardiid Flies (2)
- Soldier Flies (1)
- Stilt-legged Flies (4)
- Tachinid Flies (1)
- Grasshoppers and Relatives (9)
- Crickets (2)
- Grasshoppers (3)
- Jumping Sticks (3)
- Katydids (4)
- Mantids (3)
- Net-winged Insects (7)
- Mantidflies (3)
- Owlflies (1)
- Termites (5)
- Thrips (1)
- True Bugs (57)
- Assassin Bugs (7)
- Broad-headed Bugs (1)
- Burrowing Bugs (1)
- Leaf-footed Bugs (3)
- Leafhoppers (5)
- Planthoppers (14)
- Delphacids (1)
- Derbids (2)
- Dictyopharids (5)
- Fulgorids (1)
- Nogodinids (2)
- Plataspids (1)
- Scales (2)
- Spittlebugs (2)
- Stink Bugs (4)
- Treehoppers (15)
- Walkingsticks (1)
- Webspinners (1)
- Ants, Bees, Wasps and Relatives (44)
- Mammals (2)
- Millipedes (1)
- Polyxenids (1)
- Plants (3)
- Reptiles (13)
- Velvet Worms (3)
- Amphibians (10)
Blog Archives
Snout Beetle
18mm | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
Posted in Featured Photos
1 Comment
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.
Posted in Featured Photos
Leave a comment
Gold-spotted Orb Weaver
18mm | January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
This large orb weaver was hanging out in the understory. I believe this might be Eriophora nephiloides. Most online photos for the species show a brighter yellower abdomen. It appears to be quite variable. Here’s a photo of one similar to mine (along with what’s pictured at wikipedia).
Posted in Featured Photos
1 Comment
Colorful Jumping Spider
4mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
It’s hard to resist jumping spiders. This little one sort of has the colors of the Costa Rican flag!
.svg "500px-Flag_of_Costa_Rica_(state).svg")
Better view of abdomen
Posted in Featured Photos
2 Comments
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
1 Comment
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
1 Comment
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
2 Comments
Spider Egg Sac
If like me you occasionally flip over rocks and such to see what might be lurking beneath, then you’ve no doubt seen things like this:
6mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I’m pretty sure this is the egg sac of some sort of spider. It was underneath a small rotting log.
I usually just carefully put things back the way I found them. Curiousity got the better of me this time. I peeled away the egg sac and carefully opened it. If you’ve ever wondered what’s inside, here’s the answer.
Eggs
Each one of those eggs are less than a millimeter in diameter. There were probably ten or so.
Posted in Featured Photos
3 Comments
Crypsis Challenge #10 Reveal
I didn’t intend to leave this challenge open for quite so long. Unfortunately, other things in my life sometimes have to take precedence over this blog, even if I’d rather it be the other way around. 🙂
Looks like the challenge was more difficult than I expected. Commenters who suggested a katydid were on the right track, but this looks like a cricket to me. Here’s the original photo and another version where I’ve crudely outlined the cricket.
Cricket, outlined
January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
I provided the outline to show the position and to show just how long the antennae are. Here’s a closer photo, sans antennae.
Posted in Crypsis Challenges
3 Comments
Rocket Frog: An Atypical Dendrobatid
20mm | January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica
If like me you associate poison dart frogs with bright colors, then you might be as surprised as I was to learn that this rather drab frog is also a member of that family, Dendrobatidae.
Not surprisingly, this frog and other members of the genus Colostethus lack the skin toxins that some other members of the family have. No wonder they try to blend in, especially given their diurnal lifestyle.
Colostethus species also differ from other dendrobatids in their association with moving water instead of standing water. Their common name, rocket frogs, refers to their habit of quickly leaping into streams and then drifting away. This one was in fact next to a small stream, but obligingly stayed put.
Posted in Featured Photos
3 Comments
