insects...

[SlipperFan]

Great link. Thanks!

 

[chrismende]

These photos are stunning! Care to let us in on your lenses? I'm a Canon user, but I often find out that my favorites are done by Nikon.

 

[biothanasis]

I have an Olympus SP-570UZ. I am very satisfied with it...!!

 

[Clark]

These look like stink bugs in holiday garb.

 

[fbrem]

more inverts

warning: lots of big pics to follow

some inverts I saw while in either 1. Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos, El Cope, Cocle, Panama, 2. Fortuna, Panama 3 Santa Fe, Panama, or El Yunque, Puerto Rico . I have no idea what most of these are.

some type of katydid molting

el Yunque

a snail with a very reduced shell

El Cope

these were all over the big boulders in the streams, big ones were the size of a dinner plate

blue Morpho butterfly before the attack

these things wouldn't leave us alone if we awoke one during our nocturnal herp surveys until we turned off our lamps for a few minutes, that's me getting mauled

this moth was amazing in flight, looked to be in slow motion

a big, i mean big, tarantula that made its home in the middle our our trail, more likely the other way around, never got a good look at it though.

this one was about 25 cm long

this one hissed at me and made me squeal like a little piggy

 

[fbrem]

another Morpho, inside of wings

and out

this one was a monster, one of the coolest inverts of the trip

huge lepidopteran larvae

some Onychophoran, or velvet worm, it's a horrible pic but a really neat invert

parasitoid wasp laying eggs on fly larvae in the papayas

one of the many clear winged butterflies

sorry for the insect porn but this was the only time I saw this species

and the coolest and most horrifying for last, this is a moth that has been infected with a parasitic ascomycete fungi, likely in the genus cordyceps, that causes behavoiral fever in the moth and makes it go to a place, like a tree trunk or the top of a large boulder, where it kills the host, anchors it to the substrate, then grows its fruiting bodies to release spores into the air in hopes of landing on a new moth, wow. there's lots of cool examples of different species and hosts online

 

[Erythrone]

Fantastic!!

Fabulous!

 

[JeanLux]

Oh yes, a lot of excellent pics!!!! Jean

 

[Shiva]

Great and wonderful pictures everyone.

 

[Wendelin]

Thank you so much for these wonderful pics! :clap: Insekts show an amazing beauty and variety.:drool:

 

[SlipperFan]

Amazing world we live in!

I wouldn't mind being attached by that butterfly. I think...

 

[Justin]

very cool, too bad you couldn't see the tarantula in the open.

 

[Kevin]

Very cool, fbrem! I like the 2nd and 3rd pics - that camouflage is amazing!

 

[biothanasis]

So stunning photos!!! thank you so much for sharing!!! WOW

 

[BestThaiOrchid]

beautiful macros!!

 

[Hera]

I am enjoying the photos, but my arachniphobia is kicking in big time

 

[cnycharles]

amazing pics. glad i'm not that moth, or meeting that tarantula along the trail (as a bug)

 

[NYEric]

Cool, weird, and scary!! Thanx for posting! :clap: