# Peruvian Amazon -- inverts



## moloch (Feb 20, 2010)

Here are more photos of invertebrates that I took on a trip to the Peruvian Amazon with Margarita Tours in January, 2010.  Invertebrates were abundant and one of the highlights of the trip to me.  

I posted background information as well as arachnid shots here:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=174092


A pretty scarab:







Pleasing Fungus Beetle:







... maybe the same family, not certain:







Tiger Beetle:







Lampyrid juvenile.  I was told that this insect hunted small snails.  It had a tubular mandible and it would stab this into a snail to feed on its juices.  Lovely.








Any ideas?  I don't even recognize the order.  I don't believe that it is a lepidopteran but I don't know what it is.







Grasshoppers with flattened bodies:












Dead-leaf Katydids:  I loved their incredible patterns.


















A good leaf-mimick Katydid:












A normal looking katydid that is undergoing ecdysis:








Monster Katydid.  These were the largest insects that I have ever seen.  Some of them were gigantic.








Pretty cricket:







Painted Grasshopper:







... another:







Aeroplane Grasshoppers:  These grasshoppers would usually sit with the legs lowered laterally and theirs closed wings elevated.  Quite unusual.  












... love the eyes of this grasshopper:







... really weird, I think it to be an orthopteran:







Dead-leaf Mantis:  It certainly looked like a cluster of dead leaves.








Another fast mantis:







Jumping Stick Insects:  These are really bizarred orthopterans.  I think that this pair is "grinning":













Stick Insect:








Wax-tailed Plant Hopper.  These homopterans could fly, despite their strange growths.








Lantern Fly (homopteran):








Hemipterans:




















Wasp nest that was built into the ground.  It had a lip that was a few cms above the surface of the soil.  I suppose that this helped to avoid flooding.







Damselfly:







Helicopter Damselfly:  These were wonderful to see.  They were big damsels that flew with a slow wingbeat.  I usually could only see the yellow wingtips in the poor light of the forest interior.  The remainder of the wings and body were almost invisible.













Millipedes:













Giant Snail:







Pygmy Kingfisher:  We saw several of these and Ringed Kingfishers asleep on vegetation that hung over the water.







Red-headed Cardinal -- Common along the Rio Orosa.








These fruiting fungi make me think of "Avatar":








Wine-cup fungus:








Strange seed pods:








Unusual flowers:














Regards,
David


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## eman (Feb 24, 2010)

Amazing shots! Thanks for sharing.


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## tarcan (Feb 24, 2010)

Really cool shots, thank you for sharing.

Funny, some of your pics almost look exactly like some I took in French Guiana! There is good consistency!

The eyes on this grasshopper are really fantastic!

Martin


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## pato_chacoana (Feb 25, 2010)

Thanks for sharing the pics! Really cool pygmy martin fisher!! ...now let's see the Pamphobeteus tarantulas!


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## myrmecophile (Feb 25, 2010)

Great stuff, the strange seed pods though I think are puffball mushrooms of some sort. One of them appears to have a stream of spores being released.


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## moloch (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks for the replies.

Martin,
Have you posted photos from your trip?  If so, would you mind sending a link?

myrmecophile,
I can see why you considered that the structures were puffball mushrooms, but they weren't.  These were dropping from one of the big rainforest trees.  I have seen them before at La Selva, Costa Rica, but I can't remember the name of the tree.  They always make me think of sea urchins.

Regards,
David


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## myrmecophile (Feb 27, 2010)

Interesting, I was fooled I guess by what appeared to be a drift of spores from the top one and the fact I have seen spiny puff balls before. Cool. Never saw these when I was in CR.


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## willychon (Mar 10, 2010)

I really enjoyed watch your photos!! are amazing


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## cacoseraph (Mar 17, 2010)

moloch said:


> They always make me think of sea urchins.


totally!

forest urchins, the newest danger when looking for bugs in the woods!


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## lukatsi (Mar 31, 2010)

> Any ideas? I don't even recognize the order. I don't believe that it is a lepidopteran but I don't know what it is.


Hemipteran for sure, but further than that...



> Stick Insect:


Pseudophasma sp.


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