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Archive 2022 · Manu national park: Part V

  
 
bladesofgrass
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Manu national park: Part V


A panoramic view around the Cocha Cashu biological station in Manu National park reveals the eponymous oxbow lake, as well as the snaking Manu river. Rain on the horizon underlines the turbidity of the water within the river as compared to the lake. The lake itself once formed part of the Manu river, until a greater and greater curvature of the river due to soil deposition resulted in the river overflowing its regular watercourse and forging a newer, straighter path of less resistance:



The smooth cup fungus (Cookeina sulcipes) is a common site in the rainforest understory, typically seen more on decomposing hardwood fragments:



The sheer number of army ants in a colony is sufficient to overwhelm most prey. Defences suitable to a single predator generally fail under the onslaught of an army. Here, the defensive foam shield produced by a spittle bug (Cercopidae) is being removed bubble by bubble by the ants, faster than it can be produced by the beleaguered prey:



A brood of newly hatched stink bugs (Pentatomidae) adopts a defensive ring posture to limit exposure to potential predators. These insects often remain in groups for days to weeks, their collective defence essential until their own, individual chemical defences are sufficiently developed to maintain their independence:



An owlfly larva (Ascalaphidae) which possesses small processes and a rough texture provides a good substrate for the accumulation of bits of soil, upon which mosses have grown. This type of relationship is termed epizootic ("on" + "Animal"). This type of relationship is relatively common within the oceans, however is rare in terrestrial animal relationships. In my experience it typically involves animals that remain stationary for prolonged periods of time, whether it be defensive or predaceous. Without the help of the cricket prey, it would have been indistinguishable from its surroundings:





The jumping spider (Beata sp.) could pass for bird dung, fungus, or a piece of fluff and uses this camouflage to ambush its prey:



A Goeldi's Paper Wasp (Polistes goeldii) queen rests upon its newly built nest, which actually happened to be on our clothesline at the station, until it was carefully moved to a less intrusive location:



A male whip spider (Amblypygidae) holds a spermatophore in its raptorial palps. The ungainly bodies of the whip spiders provides an interesting hurdle to reproduction. After a kind of dancing courtship, wherein the male and female sway back and forth in lock-step, an embrace of raptorial pedipalps. There is no "active" or penetrative reproduction by the male, rather the female is gently guided onto the spermatophore by the male:



The Bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) with one of the most painful stings of any insect generally hunts individually as seen here with an ant (Pachycondyla). However, larger prey sometimes succumb to a group of ants, usually when closer to the nest:



A moulting cicada (Zamarra sp.) inflates its shrivelled wings with air pumped from its abdomen. As they gradually unfurl, the cicada then hangs motionless and vulnerable as its wings dry and harden:





I typically see 9-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) at night, which one would expect given their terrible eyesight and their strong reliance on their sense of olfaction. However, coming across an armadillo during the day, I followed it to a hollow log where it presumably made its home. Setting up a camera trap revealed it emerging from the hollow log the following day:



Thanks for looking and commenting,
Paul



Feb 16, 2022 at 12:38 PM
RichP42
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Manu national park: Part V


Fantastic photographic stories!

Thanks for sharing.

Richard



Feb 16, 2022 at 12:45 PM
YEG-Photog
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Manu national park: Part V


Excellent work, Paul!


Feb 16, 2022 at 01:58 PM
dclark
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Manu national park: Part V


Great photographs and commentary.
Your posts are always a pleasure to see and read.

Dave



Feb 16, 2022 at 03:45 PM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Manu national park: Part V


Paul,

Some of your very best!

That is the best image I have seen of hatchling pentatomids.

Harold



Feb 17, 2022 at 02:15 AM
bladesofgrass
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Manu national park: Part V


Thanks everyone for the kind words, it's always appreciated.


Feb 17, 2022 at 06:46 AM
JavierWP
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Manu national park: Part V


Very nice shots, congrats 👏


Feb 17, 2022 at 08:22 AM
AGeoJO
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Manu national park: Part V


Very artistically captured images and the story telling part is excellent, Paul! A very enjoyable thread, that’s for sure.

Joshua



Feb 17, 2022 at 12:22 PM
TimCC
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Manu national park: Part V


Absolutely lovely images! Well spotted and expertly captured. I really appreciate the explanations too.


Feb 19, 2022 at 05:40 PM
jcw1982
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Manu national park: Part V


Beautiful and interesting photographs! Never tire of seeing your work.


Feb 19, 2022 at 08:16 PM
tommarshman
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Manu national park: Part V


Wonderful. Just the right amount of info coupled with fantastic images.


Feb 19, 2022 at 08:50 PM
joe3zz
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Manu national park: Part V


Fantastic photography along with fantastic subjects we don’t often see.


Feb 19, 2022 at 09:11 PM
bladesofgrass
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Manu national park: Part V


Thanks very much everyone.


Feb 23, 2022 at 03:30 PM
deke4774
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Manu national park: Part V


A wonderful series of images and information.
Thank you for sharing.

Derek



Feb 23, 2022 at 03:36 PM
40Driggs
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Manu national park: Part V


The background information was very interesting and I found each of these images compelling for various reasons. Thanks for sharing.


Feb 24, 2022 at 12:15 PM
jcw1982
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Manu national park: Part V


Your images and knowledge would make for a great book Paul!


Mar 13, 2022 at 02:11 PM
Karl Witt
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Manu national park: Part V


Paul these images are intricate and amazing! Thank you for the accompanying ID's and explanations of behavior and more. I enjoyed each on and would hit the Vote button if there were one for this series, you did a fantastic job on the presentation of your fine photography

Karl



Mar 13, 2022 at 02:39 PM





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