Tag Archives: Animals
Is this a fly or beetle?
When I arrived at my current field site today, I started chopping a branch with my machete and found this larva with a gigantic head, presumibly housing huge muscles for chomping through bark/wood. My guess is a beetle larva.
Lichen bug
An interesting bug that appears to camoflauge as a lichen.
First scorpion sting
I was stung yesterday by this scorpion (Centruroides margaritatus) that had decided to hide in a sink.
Stream anole
Stream anoles (Norops oxylophus) were scattered throughout the Río San Lorencito. Every chance I got, I caught them and examined their bright dewlap. They are a relatively large anole and were able to dive underwater, but more often would simple swim across the surface. Those that did make it underwater would be covered in a blue-ish shine where air bubbles were adhered to their scales.
Coral Snake
We saw one poisonous snake at San Ramón, despite that we were promised hundreds. The coral snake not pictured here slide under the log before I could get my camera out.
Diploglossus bilobates
Although it’s not the greatest photograph, I wanted to share an image of a skink we caught in San Ramón since the lizard’s coloration and patterning were pretty awesome. I picked it up shortly after taking this photograph and was promptly bitten… first skink bite for me.
Dangling caterpillar
Frozen, an appendage covered caterpillar attempts to hide from my camera.
A better picture for orthopterists
Here’s a more close up picture for a cricket expert…
Mangrove Black-Hawk
Near the tide pools at Campanario, we spotted a Mangrove Black-Hawk after hearing its distressed call while sitting in a nest. The photos may not be all that sharp, but from as far away as I was, it’s good enough. Although I’m by no means an ornithologist (or really even a bird watcher), it seems like a good sighting given that the bird’s range is restricted to a narrow margin around the Pacific coast (Garrigues and Dean 2007).