Tag Archives: NAPIRE
Vampire bats!
The bat group trapped a couple of vampire bats (Desmodus sp.), which can be quickly identified by their large thumbs. Vampire bats do feast on blood, but it is most often on cattle and other livestock.
Green anole – Norops biporcatus
This anole suns near the lab at the Las Cruces lab most days, and I was recently able to catch and key it. This is likely a female; she lacks a prominent dewlap. Norops biporcatus is a large anole that is most often bright green and resembles Dactyloa spp. and Polychrus spp., because of its size. However, presence of elongated, unkeeled lamalle on its toes, and dorsal + nuchal ridges help to place it in Norops. I was really hoping for a Polychrus: the Neotropical chameleon… but it was still fun to catch.
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.
A view from Finca Cántaros
Café at Finca Cántaros
San Vito, the closest town to Las Cruces, was settled primarily by Italian coffee growers. Now, there is much less coffee production, but there are still a good number of farms. At Finca Cántaros, an American-owned plot and tourist attraction between Las Cruces and San Vito, there is a small plot where coffee and a few other agricultural plants are grown. I realized I didn’t have any photographs of coffee trees… so here goes.
Stream collections and characterization
Nest predation in the Wilson Botanical Garden
Wendy Kuntz, a NAPIRE faculty mentor from University of Hawaii-Kapi’olani Community College, is advising a couple of students in projects about bird behavior and nest predation. Here, Shaina, one of Wendy’s students, is placing 40 artificial nests within the Wilson Botanical Garden at Las Cruces to assess nest predation rates at both high nest locations (~2 m) and low nest locations (~1 m). Shaina monitors loss of quail eggs in the nests over the course of a week. I “helped” set a few of the nests up one day… but I ended up dropping the cooler full of quail eggs and smashed about 8 of them. I will not likely be asked to help again…
Leaf-cutter ants
Atta cephalotes
Untouched river
A very cold and very beautiful river draining primary forest out of La Amistad. Of course, I had to swim in it….
