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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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Silver Argiope with Wasp Prey

Posted on November 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This spider was on an exposed ridge overlooking the sanctuary. She appears to have caught a nice sized wasp.

This species often creates an X-shaped design (stabilimentum) in their web, and you can just see a hint of one extending to the lower right.

The common name Silver Argiope is consistent with the scientific name (argentata = silvery). Even the common name in Portuguese, Aranha-de-prata, translates as Silver Spider. It is indeed silvery.

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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:
[book:0691121443]

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Orb Weaver

Posted on November 6, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

This orb weaver was safely tucked away inside a leafy retreat.

The general shape puts me in mind of Acanthepeira species here in the US. There is at least one species, A. labidura, in Brazil. I couldn’t find any information on it though.

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More Bizarre Treehoppers

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

 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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Colorful Butterfly

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

I usually don’t have the patience to stalk butterflies. The colors on this one were just so vibrant that I spent about 20 minutes chasing after it.

Even the undersides of the wings, while definitely muted, are attractive (to me anyway).

Wings closed showing underside

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Ants Herding Treehoppers

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

These ants have quite effectively corralled their herd of honeydew producing treehoppers.

There’s a lot to see here if you look carefully. First, it looks like quite a few of the life stages of the treehoppers are present. There’s the dark adult in the center, an early instar in the bottom center, and the majority appear to be middle instars.

In the detail below, you can see the ant on the right has just taken a drop of honeydew and the dark adult has a drop waiting.

Detail

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More Bell-bearer Treehoppers

Posted on October 7, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

Another photo, same individual

One more shot, same individual

I’ve been researching these neat little treehoppers some more and I found references to a couple of Brazilian species, Bocydium globulare and tintinnabuliferum. I had to mention these just because of the scientific names.

Do you know the Edgar Allen Poe poem, “The Bells”? Remember these lines?

To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,

That came to mind as soon as I saw that scientific name, tintinnabuliferum. Besides just sounding cool, it translates as “bell-bearer”. The other name, globulare, I can’t quite work out, but I think in part it means “little balls”. read more

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Treehopper

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I actually saw quite a few of these in various places throughout the park. I’m sure that headdress serves some useful function. I’m just not quite sure what.

In this excellent little book there’s a very similar looking treehopper identified as a Bocydium. I assume the one shown above belongs to that same genus.

[book:1554073456]

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Crypsis Challenge #2 Reveal

Posted on September 28, 2010 by Troy Bartlett

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

I suspect most people didn’t have too much difficulty finding the caterpillar in the image above (upper right, in the middle of a fern leaflet). Here’s another shot.

Caterpillar Closeup

I like how the white bands help break up the body and coincide nicely with the gaps on the little fern leaves. Looking up from below, it just sort of disappears against the light filtering from above.

I first spotted this caterpillar the previous night by the light of a headlamp. It stood out under those lighting conditions, but I resolved to return the next day and try to take some photos under natural lighting. read more

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