Sunday and Monday doings...

 

 

The view of the Maya Mountains from the lime orchard (organic of course) at TREES.

 

Fran and Justin collecting the margin between young forest and the orchard...lots of cool plant feeding insects and also their predators!

 

A spectacular caterpillar nearly three inches long!

 

This caterpillar just screams "DON'T TOUCH". 

 

Collecting along the stream on the TREES property. Nice damselflies here...plus the previous orange caterpillar that we left alone.

 

Really neat coloration on this juvenile grasshopper. We aren't collecting juvenile insects because they don't really preserve well via pinning.

 

This is a hairstreak butterfly. Hairstreaks often are physically characterized by the little threadlike projections at the bottom of their wings.

 

More collecting in the heat and humidity - truly we all are streaming perspiration by this time.

 

Beautifully colored leafhopper - only about 1/3rd of an inch long.

 

One of the larger orchids that we saw blooming here at TREES. There were a number of small orchids that were also blooming but I wasn't able to get a picture of them...at least one that looked decent.

 

A hymenopteran that is being consumed by this neat spiked jumping spider.

 

Dan shows off his impressive collection of welts and bite marks...apparently the rest of his body is similarly covered. Supposedly a braille version of Moby Dick can be discerned on portions of his body..."Call me Ishmael...."  (Not all of us are similarly blessed with the welts).

 

 

 

An early stage of pinning for this round.

 

Now I'm ready to pin labels onto these insects and to put them into the appropriate drawers.

 

A Cicada - these are those insects that make the really loud buzzing (high pitch) noises in trees during the daytime (they also do this at night depending upon species) - only the males make the noise.

 

 

Putting the new scope to good use examining specimens and to pin really small insects - this is where we literally "glue" using clear fingernail polish the insect to a small triangle of paper and then pinning through the paper to hold the insect in the proper position. Very time consuming and you need steady hands!

 

One of the coolest insects we've collected...at least to me it is...this is a Fulgorid, related to the leafhoppers and feeds on plant sap. Many species possess really great color patterns and this one is no exception. I really, really loved catching this insect...simply AWESOME!

 

View of the Fulgorid from the front with a really elaborate headpiece. Not sure what it is for...maybe for mate selection (you know, impressing the ladies and such) or for drumming on wood to call other Fulgorids (again, perhaps for the ladies) - but, we don't know this individual's gender...not simply a matter of looking under the skirt after all.

 

Justin has been one of those intrepid pinners - often pinning well into the early morning hours.

 

 

 

 

The forest of pins that sometimes occurs when we pin and position the various appendages.

 

 

Sammy is Vanessa and Matt's new young pup...she's distinctly unimpressed with the pinning frenzy. Although, she does have a thing for socks and has been frequently found happily chewing on one sock. Still, she is an incredibly cute and friendly pup...who can resist puppy kisses anyhow!

 

Pinning Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths) is also a time-consuming job because they are so delicate. It is easy to tear their wings when spreading the wings. Then it is a matter of time for drying.

 

Vanessa checks out the scope.

 

Marlin checks out a specimen under the scope.

 

Marlin works on pinning legs out on an insect while Fran and Vanessa look on.

 

How about this for concentration?

 

Ahhh...satisfaction with a job well done!

 

Will - one of the main employees at TREES - found this out while doing landscaping work. It is a foam nest produced by a spittle bug, multiple SBs make this for protection from predators.

 

 

Fran gave a lecture on insect identification to the interns including collection and curation information. This all occurred before we went batting - two of the interns joined us for the bat mist netting too.

 

 

Gearing up to head out for a period of mist netting.

 

On the way down to where we're mist netting, we spotted this cool Katydid on a Piper (this is the plant the Katydid is perched on). Piper is a fruit that is eaten by bats, sort of like corn on the cob where the center is a hard core that isn't eaten. Notice how the fruit is oriented upward so that it is easier for bats to grab it.

 

This is a Rio Grande Leopard Frog that we found as we were putting up the mist net. We set up a 9-meter mist net in an open area near the creek.

 

We caught this nice Seba's Short-tailed Bat (Carollia perspicillata). Here Dan weighs the bag that held the bat - we take the weight of the bat + bag and then take out the bat and weigh the bag, simple subtraction results in the bat's weight. We also take forearm length measurement to help with diagnosis as to species.

 

Carollia perspicillata. Artibeus toltecus

 

 

 

One of the distinguishing physical features of this species is the fringe of hairs along the tail membrane.

 

We hung him up on a branch and gave him some alone-time to depart.

 

As previously mentioned, hairy means AVOID! Will told us that this is a particularly nasty caterpillar with intense pain and even potential cardiac arrest in the very near future after an encounter with this green fuzzy.

 

Here is the caterpillar we saw earlier...this time in active mode and rapidly consuming this leaf.

 

 

Rainforest Toad.