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
Reddish Tortoise Beetles
4mm | January 17, 2011 | Cahuita National Park, Limon Province, Costa Rica
There were quite a few of these reddish tortoise beetles feeding on this banana plant.
Banana plant
They feed on the large leaves, scarring them in a distinctive way.
Sign from feeding
Here you can see one munching its way forward, carefully feeding only between the leaf veins.
Machinelike feeding precision
Did you notice the little hitchhiker above? Looks like some sort of parasitic wasp to me. I suspect this is probably a female beetle, and the wasp is just hanging out until she lays eggs, which the wasp will then parasitize. Here’s a closer look.
Parasitic wasp closeup
They’d often fly away from me once I started taking pictures, but it was no trouble to find another one.
Posted in Featured Photos
5 Comments
Velvet Ant
January 27, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I like finding velvet ants, but boy are they tough to photograph in the field. They don’t stand still unless they’re hidden. This crop is the best I could do for this one. I saw one other one like this.
Posted in Featured Photos
2 Comments
Pelecinid Wasp
January 28, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Wasps in the family Pelecinidae are distinctive and easily recognized by that long thin abdomen. I’ve see them closer to home as well, but I can’t recall if I’ve ever gotten a decent photo. I do remember chasing after quite a few in vain or watching as one teased me from someplace just out of reach. I got lucky with this one.
What I thought was a red marking turns out to be a small mite.
There’s only one genus, Pelecinus, for this family. There appears to be at least two described species in the tropics.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
1 Comment
Unexplained Beetle Behavior
January 27, 2010
Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This beetle looks like a buprestid to me. The interesting thing is that it’s splitting this leaf lengthwise. In the second photo, you can see where the cut starts in the upper right. That would seem like an odd way to eat, so I suspect there’s some other purpose. Is anyone familiar with this behavior?
There’s also what appears to be a small wasp hanging out on the elytra.
Posted in Featured Photos
1 Comment
Paper Wasps and Parasitoids
January 26, 2010 | Caraça Natural Park, Minas Gerais, Brazil
When I spotted these paper wasps alongside the trail, I only halfheartedly took a few shots. Mostly, I just didn’t think I’d be able to get an attractive photo out of it. So when I was reviewing my shots, I just about deleted all of them, including this one.
At the last second though, I noticed something unusual in the photo. I call these sorts of discoveries where I notice something in the photo that I didn’t realize was there when I took it “easter eggs.” It happens often enough that I just decided to add a new category for that here on my blog.
Posted in Easter Eggs, Featured Photos
Leave a comment
Parasitic Wasp Stalking Tumbling Flower Beetle
June 14, 2009 | Twelvestones, Roswell, GA, USA
As usual, I was working in the yard when I got distracted by some sort of dramatic natural scene. This time, I noticed that some magnolia blooms were literally crawling with tumbling flower beetles. Mostly, there was a lot of mating going on amongst the beetles. Then I noticed this little wasp that kept approaching various beetles, usually resulting in the beetle running off. Finally, she found one that was less wary. Above the wasp is closing in. Below, it appears she eventually made contact.
Contact
Posted in Featured Photos
Leave a comment
