A cold mountain stream draining part of La Amistad Internation Biosphere Researve accessible from Las Alturas Biological Station.
I visited the same site in 2013 and took a dip… both this year at the previous visit.
Rio Bella Vista
Category Archives: Gallery
The Wrinkle-faced Bat
One of the ugliest bats on the planet, the wrinkle-faced bat Centurio senex was caught at Las Alturas by Rachel and her students while mist netting at Las Alturas. The face of the bat may help in directing and manipulating sound waves for echolocation. There are also striations on the bats wings, although I’m unsure of their function.
Pond at Cerro
Tabanid deer fly with mites
A Tabanidae deer fly captured by a mist net (set up for bats) as it buzzed around myself and other researchers at Las Alturas field station. Several small, red and orange mites have colonized the fly, including the fly’s compound eyes. It was somehow satisfying to see these possible parasites on the flies…as they are parasites of humans and other vertebrates.
Tadpoles in Quebrada Cerro
A large tadpole from Quebrada Cerro in Las Cruces. This could be a tadpole of the brilliant forest frog (Lithobates warszewitshii), but I haven’t keyed it out.
Tadpoles were abundant in this stream, which drains primary wet forest, whereas they are fairly scarce in other streams in the preserve, possibly because fish didn’t appear to be present in Quebrada Cerro–in most other streams, fish, particularly the guppy, are abundant.
Cichlid From Finca Cántaros
Introducing Las Cruces forest
Rodo, a resident biologist at Las Cruces Biological Station, leads a hike through some of the trails at the station with the NAPIRE students. During the hike, he took students through several habitat types, and explained the origins of the land and its use.
Poeciliidae guppies at Las Cruces
A guppy from 2013’s NAPIRE program.
Female rhinoceros beetle
A large female Rhinoceros beetle (Scarabaeidae), probably of subfamily dynastinae (courtesy of Cristian, our entomologist NAPIRE mentor this year) attracted by a black light at Las Cruces.
A juvenile water bug
A small, juvenile, belostomatid awaits prey in Quebrada Cerro.