Tag Archives: Insects
Cordyceps infected orthopteran?
I think this might have been a cordyceps-killed cricket or katydid. Cordyceps is an ascomycete fungus that parasitizes insects and alters their behavior, causing them to climb to a high point, latch on and die. At this point, the fungus produces fruiting bodies that rain new spores down on ground dwelling insect prey. A great YouTube video is here.
Leaf-cutter ants
Atta cephalotes
A horned katydid
Cecropia and Ants
Upon disturbing the leaves, Azteca ants rush out to protect their host plant, which provide food and shelter for them. I’ve posted a little about Cecropia before here and here.
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Stonefly exuvia
The molt or exoskeleton left over after an aquatic stonefly emerged as an adult from a river in Las Alturas.
Brown, leaf-mimicking, katydid
Edit: Tip of the hat to Pat Lorch for communicating a likely sub-family (Phaneropterinae) and genus (Orophus) of this katydid. The white, flattened structures on the forelegs are tympana (eardrums).
Lampyrid beetle
Filter feeders
Guava – An unpalatable story of language
Guava is a fruit with many names and many types, generally belonging to the genus Psidium. In Costa Rica, cas is a guava that is used to make delicious juice and has yellow or whitish, seed-filled flesh. In Nicaragua, cas is known as guayaba. And to an American English speaker, guava (the red-fleshed fruit often used to make guava jelly) is what ticos call guayaba, whereas ‘guava’ refers to a bean-like fruit from a tree in the genus Igna… I think. I’ve also heard cas referred to as ‘superfruit’ in English.
In any case, all of the fruits are good… unless they are parasitized by fly maggots. Or perhaps, that’s what you’re into:
