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Ants Tending Treehoppers, Poorly Perhaps

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Troy Bartlett

~3mm | January 7, 2012 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I had planned to post just a single photo of this scene with ants tending treehoppers. Here we see at least two different colorful treehopper instars, with one actively molting. Ants like the one shown above tended to this small grouping of treehoppers. As I was choosing a photo to post, I noticed something strange about the treehoppers though. Do you see it too?

Look closely and you’ll see that a few nymphs have parasites. I wasn’t sure at first, so I started looking through my other photos. Sure enough, almost every one had one or more parasites. The parasites seem to prefer hiding under the wing pads and below the thorax. read more

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Parasitized Brush-footed Butterfly Chrysalis

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

17mm long | July 5, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Metamorphosis for this butterfly appears to have been interrupted by a parasite, a small wasp perhaps. You can see the hole where the parasite chewed its way out. Oddly, there’s a similar hole on the other side. Maybe it abandoned this other exit since it looks incomplete. Or maybe there were actually multiple parasites.

Another exit hole?

I know this is the chrysalis of a brush-footed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae because other butterfly families use a a small silken thread around the thorax to help secure it. Here’s an example from an earlier post. read more

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Chrysalis Surprise

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

10mm | July 4, 2011 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

I collected this little chrysalis while I was in the field the day before I took this photo. I didn’t think I’d be able to get a good photo at the time, and I was curious to see what might emerge. Strangely, looking at this with my own eye, it appears opaque with a silvery and gold surface. With the camera and flash, it appears as above, somewhat transparent and showing what looks like a wing inside. I figured it would only be a short time to see the butterfly that might emerge. Well, I was half right. read more

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Parasitised Caterpillar

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

13mm | July 9, 2011 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil

The more I observe nature, the more I realize that parasites rule.  So far this trip, I’ve accumulated dozens of photos to prove my point, including the one above.

Believe it or not, this caterpillar was still alive. The parasites, wasps presumably, are long gone.

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Mystery Exuvia

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

January 20, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica

What do you make of this exuvia? I found it just like this, sticking out of a large downed tree spanning a small creek.

Not sure if you can tell, but there’s a few small horns on the side and then one larger forked horn extending out from the bottom. Whatever left it squeezed out through a split on the top.

It measured 10mm in diameter, and there’s about 18mm extended out of the tree. I carefully pulled the rest out, and it measured 45mm long overall.

The whole thing

Even the rear end is somewhat bizarre looking. read more

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Army Ant Week Post #2

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

July 20, 2006 | Ilhabela, Sao Paulo State, Brazil

These two photos are from my first trip to Brazil. I spent a week on the island of Ilhabela, a few hours drive from Sao Paulo.

I probably wouldn’t even have noticed these ants if not for the calling of antbirds. The birds were making quite a fuss so I moved in to investigate. That’s when I started to hear a light rustling noise and then noticed the ants carpeting the leaf litter. The rustling is not just the ants, but all of their potential prey trying to escape.

Below, they’ve managed to overwhelm a spider, er, well, actually just a shed spider skin. Honestly, I always believed this was a captured spider until reviewing it yesterday when I noticed something was off. read more

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Mass Pupation

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Troy Bartlett

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

I found one other grouping of exuviae in the area where I found the one above. I’ve never seen anything like this locally. I believe these are from lepidopterans. There is a slight layer of silk on the bark. Up close, I saw some cast off head capsules. Look closely above, and you’ll notice a leg that must have broken off while struggling free.

I know some caterpillars are gregarious as early instars, but I thought they generally went their separate ways as final instars. I thought this was interesting evidence that in at least one species, they pupate and perhaps eclose together. read more

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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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