Author Topic: Bird bug & dog people etal  (Read 5537 times)

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #75 on: November 29, 2022, 07:09:57 AM »
A couple of moth pics for Calilasseia:

Saffron playboy ((Xanthiris flaveolata) and a tiger moth (amaxia pulchra). Two beauties.

Calilasseia

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #76 on: December 05, 2022, 03:19:05 PM »
If you're still in Peru, there's a butterfly for you to look out for ... bearing the wonderful taxonomic name of Styx infernalis.

Not especially remarkable in appearance, but it caused headaches for taxonomists for over a century. When I've had my night's kip, remind me to tell you the story. :)
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lilys field

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #77 on: February 15, 2023, 04:28:29 AM »
Warning:  Mush Alert

Because you bring clarity to the worlds we so often fail to see
With startling specifity, vividly capturing moments of their spans

I think you open our hearts & minds to recognizing how big & small is this universe we share

Thank you Pat & Cal. Happy Valentines Day

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #78 on: February 15, 2023, 04:41:44 AM »
Why thank you, lilys field. I'm glad you enjoy the photos. I'm off to Costa Rica next week. It will be my 4th trip there, so while I've already seen many of the more common birds I'm hoping to find some new weird and wonderful insects.

A happy Valentine's day to you, too.

lilys field

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #79 on: February 22, 2023, 03:33:05 AM »
Happy, safe journeys, pat. Write when you can

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #80 on: February 22, 2023, 04:05:23 AM »
Thanks, Paula (I think you're Paula). I'm hoping to get some nice pics for my collection.

Calilasseia

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #81 on: February 22, 2023, 05:06:51 AM »
Bleh, forgot to follow up on the matter of Styx infernalis ...

This is a white butterfly with deep brown or black wing veins, and probably would not attract much attention from anyone from the UK.

However, this butterfly caused headaches for taxonomists for over a century.

The reason for this?

When butterflies are dissected, in professional scientific work, it becomes pretty obvious in a short period of time, where your specimen will fit in the Lepidoptera family tree.

Skippers (Family Hesperiidae), for example, pretty much stand out from all the other Families very quickly indeed, and likewise, it's pretty easy to allocate a specimen to the Family Papilionidae (Swallowtails etc.), because these tend to be pretty unmistakable as well.

Two Families that sometimes require a little more work are the Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks and relations), and the Riodinidae (Metalmarks). Separating them occasionally requires extra attention to detail, but usually, this isn't a big problem, because each Family has its own set of anatomical idiosyncrasies, that once found, make the placement of any newly discovered species more time consuming than actually difficult. At least, once you've gained the requisite experience and know what to look for.

Then along came Styx infernalis . Which threw a whole bag of spanners into the process.

This is because this otherwise unassuming little butterfly, when first examined, appeared to be a "parts bin" special, with anatomical features taken from no less than four different Families. Or so it seemed, even when microscopes were brought into play.

As a consequence, this butterfly has been moved around the Lepidoptera family tree to a hilarious extent. Some taxonomists placed it in the Lycaenidae, others in the Danaidae, yet others in the Riodinidae, and at least one taxonomist decided that it was such an anatomical outlier that it deserved its own Family, the Stygidae.

Only with the advent of DNA sequencing, was the mystery finally resolved, and the butterfly finally assigned to the Riodinidae, where it stands out as being unique among the Metalmarks. Though it's perhaps not surprising that it's South American, as South America is the true home of this Family.

We have but one species in Europe, about 15 to 20 in Asia, about another 15 or so in Australia, and a respectable 100 or so in North America. Go to Central and South America, however, and there's nearly two thousand species to choose from. Peru alone has something like 900 of them. Chances are that Costa Rica has at least 250 species to choose from when Pat steps off the plane and heads for the nearest decent sized patch of rainforest.

In addition, many of the Metalmarks live up to their name, being decorated with iridescent metallic spangles in a range of hues, with blue or red being popular colour choices. Some of the more interesting ones are solid metallic blue with eye spots, and if there are any Ancyluris or Rhetus species present, these are a blast, though I'm more used to hearing of these being found in Amazonian Brazil, Peru and Ecuador.

Meanwhile, since Costa Rica has come up as a topic, look out for the native Orthoptera of that locality ... I guarantee you'll use up at least half a gigabyte of camera storage on them when you discover how utterly bizarre some of them are ... :)
Remember: if the world's bees disappear, we become extinct with them ...

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #82 on: February 22, 2023, 05:53:33 AM »
Orthoptera and coleoptera are probably my two favourite groups of insects. I have 5 'wants' when I go to Costa Rica (flying out tomorrow), only one of which is a bird, the lovely elegant euphonia. I've seen a female before but not a male. The others are a mantis (any mantis, since we don't have them in the UK), a tortoise beetle (which I have a thing about), a harlequin longhorn beetle and a peanut-headed bug.  I reckon I'll be lucky if I manage to get two of those.

On the subject of weird orthoptera, here's one that I saw in Ecuador. At first I thought it was a large stick insect until I realized its head was all wrong. It's actually a stick grasshopper. The other photo is of a tortoise beetle, only the second one I've ever seen. Both insects were photographed at the wonderful Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin.

ridethetalk

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #83 on: February 22, 2023, 12:20:19 PM »
The tortoise beetle looks like it's been dipped in gold!!!  :o :o :o
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Calilasseia

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #84 on: February 23, 2023, 09:32:27 AM »
The tortoise beetle looks like it's been dipped in gold!!!  :o :o :o

You'll find that a considerable number of beetle species across the planet exhibit striking metallic iridescence. The fun part being that Australia has some especially dramatic looking examples, and some from WA can be viewed here.

As well as the Family Buprestidae, aptly known as Jewel Beetles, iridescent species can be found in the Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles, including several of the Tortoise Beetles, which in some cases combine iridescence with transparent parts of the exoskeleton) and the Scarabeidae (Scarab Beetles). In the latter Family, some species are wonderfully metallic looking - Chrysina resplendens from Costa Rica looks as if it was fashioned as a piece of jewellery from a gold ingot!

The iridescence observed in these beetles arises from constructive interference of different wavelengths of light, as they are refracted and reflected in nanostructures in the exoskeleton. The mechanism is similar to that allowing Morpho butterflies to exhibit startling blue iridescence, which in some species is visible over a kilometre away across forest clearings.

I'm reminded at this juncture of a chemist who quipped "all that glisters may not be gold, but at least it contains free electrons" (referring to the behaviour of electrons in metals), only to be dumbfounded when presented with a specimen of Chrysina resplendens ... :D
Remember: if the world's bees disappear, we become extinct with them ...

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #85 on: March 24, 2023, 01:09:55 AM »
Costa Rica was a massive disappointment in terms of insects but I saw a couple of good ones, including this lovely leaf-footed bug (anisoscelis alipes). Leaf-footed bugs are common but this is the prettiest one I've seen.

pat

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #86 on: March 24, 2023, 01:31:22 AM »
I actually saw the silver scarab beetle in Costa Rica, Calilasseia. I believe it's chrysina chrysargyrea although I'm happy to be corrected. One had been found at Rancho Naturalista and the owner considered it such an unusual find that she kept it for us to see when we arrived the following day. It was actually a pure silver in colour but the surrounding vegetation reflecting in its back makes it look a different colour so doesn't do it justice. It was released unharmed after I'd photographed it.

Calilasseia

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #87 on: May 17, 2023, 11:10:30 PM »
I've been meaning to post this for some time, but keep being distracted. I shall now remedy that deficit, and by doing so, introduce everyone to a once in a lifetime moment!

Preamble: male Orange Tip butterfies are ceaselessly active in the sunshine. They'll patrol a section of greenspace for literally hours on end, looking for a female to mate with, occasionally pausing for a very short time at a flower to tank up on nectar before resuming what I refer to as their "long range bombing missions" :)

As a consequence, finding a male Orange Tip resting is largely a matter of luck.

So, cue April 26th, 2023. I spot a male Orange Tip on the wing as I'm returning home from some shopping, flitting about the greenery adjacent to the cycle track I use for commuting. Then, to my surprise, it settled on a dandelion clock.

At that same moment, a cloud crossed in front of the Sun, and as a consequence, the male Orange Tip reamined still for, wait for it, thirteen mnutes!

I dropped the bicycle, took the camera out of the bag, and started shooting. The photos I'm posting are the end result. Wait until you see what happened as I post these photos!

First, the specimen let me zoom in extra close to it, so I managed the extreme head close-ups you see below. But there's more ... watch this space ...
Remember: if the world's bees disappear, we become extinct with them ...

Calilasseia

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #88 on: May 17, 2023, 11:12:26 PM »
And now comes the special part ... yes, I achieved a once in a lifetime moment, when I persuaded the Orange Tip to pose on my hand for photos ... !!!
Remember: if the world's bees disappear, we become extinct with them ...

Hobbit

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Re: Bird bug & dog people etal
« Reply #89 on: May 18, 2023, 04:12:59 AM »
Fantastic pictures Calilasseia.  So pleased you shared them with us :)
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