Rhamphotheca

herpsandbirds:

Orchid Bees (tribe Euglossini, family Apidae)

Manu Biological Station, Madre de Dios, Peru

One of my favorite insect encounters at Manu was with orchid bees! The volunteer coordinator, who is also an entomologist, showed me their method for attracting and surveying them.

They pin squares of cardboard to a tree, and dab on scents (which are usually essential oils or extracts). The male bees show up and “gather the scents” which helps them to attract females (so its win-win for the bees and the entomologists).

Here we see 4 species of orchid bee:

Euglossa analis (shiny blue/purple)

Euglossa sp. (smaller shiny green)

Knob-fronted Cuckoo-Orchid Bee, Exaerete frontalis
(large black-winged shiny green)

Eulaema sp. (Black front, yellow/black/red abdomen)

photographs by Paxon Kale CC

herpsandbirds:

Tailed Blue Metalmarks!!!

The Periander Metalmark (Rhetus periander), family Riodonidae, was one of my target species, and one I’ve wated to see for quite awhile… and I managed to see two! (bttm 3 photos)

I also managed to see another member of the genus Rhetus, the Blue Doctor (Rhetus dysonii), at a cloud forest lodge nearby. (top image)

If i had to rate a favorite butterfly sighting, in a lifetime of watching butterflies, these 3 individuals were the top 3!

photographs by Paxon Kale CC

herpsandbirds:

Velvet-purple Coronet (Boissonneaua jardini), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Colombia

photograph by Glenn Bartley

herpsandbirds:

Marbled Newt (Triturus marmoratus), male in breeding condition, family Salamandridae, Spain

photograph by Unbound Expeditions

herpsandbirds:

Solórzano’s Velvet Worm (Mongeperipatus solorzanoi), family Peripatidae, Costa Rica

photograph by Victor Acosta Chaves

herpsandbirds:

Snowcap (Microchera albocoronata), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, Costa Rica

photograph by Cayce Jehaimi

herpsandbirds:

Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus), male, family Anatidae, order Anseriformes, Toronto, ONT, Canada

Photograph by Todd Clustivik

herpsandbirds:

Imperial Sunstreak (Arcas imperialis), family Lycaenidae, Peru

photograph by Gavin Leung

herpsandbirds:

Lyre Sponge or Harp Sponge (Chondrocladia lyra), family Cladorhizidae, order Poecilosclerida, class Demospongiae

• Found at depths of 800–11,500 ft (3,300–3,500 m), off the coast of northern California, at the Escanaba Ridge and the Monterey Canyon.
• Carnivorous.

photograph by Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

The harp sponge: an extraordinary new species of carnivorous sponge

Oct. 31st, 2012

In this video we describe a new species of carnivorous sponge, Chondrocladia lyra from the deep-sea off California. C. lyra is called the harp sponge because its basic structure, called a vane, is shaped like a harp or lyre. Each vane consists of a horizontal branch supporting several parallel, vertical branches.

Clinging with root-like “rhizoids” to the soft, muddy sediment, the harp sponge captures tiny animals that are swept into its branches by deep-sea currents.

Typically, sponges feed by straining bacteria and bits of organic material from the seawater they filter through their bodies. However, carnivorous harp sponges snare their prey—tiny crustaceans—with barbed hooks that cover the sponge’s branching limbs. Once the harp sponge has its prey in its clutches, it envelops the animal in a thin membrane, and then slowly begins to digest it.

The harp sponge’s unusual shape and exposure to currents may also help it to reproduce more effectively. The swollen balls at the tip of the sponge’s upright branches produce packets of sperm. These sperm packets are released into passing currents and are captured on the branches of other nearby sponges. The sperm then works its way from the packets into the host sponge to fertilize its eggs. As the fertilized eggs mature, these contact sites swell up, forming bulges part way up the host sponge’s branches (see photo).

via: MBARI

Read the original paper here:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ivb.12001

herpsandbirds:

Flame-faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii), family Thraupidae, order Passeriformes, Ecuador

photograph by Sam Woods