Brazil

Brazil Bugs #4 – Mais dos percevejos

/ Ted C. MacRae / 24 Comments

I found mais dos percevejos (more of the leaf-footed bugs) on the still-unnamed pink flowering shrub in back of the hotel in Campinas, Brazil.  Not only am I convinced that they truly do belong to the family Coreidae (for the reasons mentioned in the earlier post and below), but also that despite the different color patterns shown by the two individuals in that post that they are indeed a single species.  I also found the above individual, representing an even more heavily melanized version than the two shown previously.  In looking at a large number of individuals on the shrubs (and subsequently encountering them in a different part of Campinas over the weekend), it became clear that there were not just two distinct color forms but a broad range of variability.  I could believe maybe two species occurring together on a common resource, but it seems unlikely that each color variation represents a different species.  Thus, it now seems that there is one highly variable species visiting these flowers.

I had an idea on how to find the name of this species that almost worked.  Rather than Googling “leaf-footed bug” or “Coreidae,” I tried “percevejo” instead, along with Brazil or Brasil.  There were 3 or 4 photographs that showed up in the images search that I recognized instantly as belonging to the same species.  Unfortunately, none of the links where the photos were found gave any information more specific than family (all, however, agreeing with family Coreidae).  I think it’s time to send an email to Harry Brailovsky, a coreid specialist at the Instituto de Biologia (UNAM) in Mexico City.

Photo 1: Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5X macro lens (ISO 100, 1/200 sec, f/13).
Photo 2: Canon 100mm macro lens (ISO 100, 1/200 sec, f/16).
Both photos: Canon 50D, Canon MT-24EX flash w/ oversized DIY concave diffuser. Typical post-processing (levels, color, unsharp mask).

Last minute edit: I just heard back from Harry Brailovsky as I was ready to post (thank you Harry!).  The insect is, indeed, a species of Coreidae, which he identified as a member of the genus Hypselonotus.  I did some searching online to see if I could find any additional clues as the species identity – I found no images that looked right but did find this key to the Hypselonotus of Costa Rica.  The key relies on some ventral characters, and I’m a little uneasy about using it for something from southern Brazil, so I think I’ll just wait until Harry has a chance to look it up when he returns to the museum.

Second update 1/26/11:  Harry has confirmed the species as Hypselonotus interruptus, which was mentioned but not included in the key that I linked to above.  The only online images I have found of this species are at this link. Either Harry is wrong (unlikely), the photos in the link are misidentified (maybe), or the species is enormously variable (perhaps quite likely).

Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011

Brazil Bugs #3 – Gorgulho Enorme!

/ Ted C. MacRae / 20 Comments

The second night at the hotel on the outskirts of Campinas (São Paulo, Brazil), I found this enormous weevil laying on the ground underneath some windows.  It was dead but completely relaxed and in perfect shape.  I wondered if it had been attracted to lights in the window the previous evening and flown there as its “last hurrah.”  This beast of a weevil – measuring a good 30mm from the tip of the snout to the apex of the elytra – immediately brought to my mind giant palm weevils of the genus Rhynchophorus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).  I looked around and saw palm trees everywhere, so I figured that must be what it was.  I picked up one of the dead fronds from under a nearby palm tree and placed the weevil on the stem for a few photographs.  Given it’s freshness, it was quite easy to place in a lifelike pose, and I placed the stick in various positions to get a few different backgrounds.  As I was shooting, I noticed another, smaller, weevil on the ground near where I had found the first one – also dead and fresh.  Considering that Rhynchophorus often reaches pest status on palms, this further confirmed the ID in my mind.

Once back in the hotel room I smugly entered “giant palm weevil” into Google to bring up some images and confirm my ID (and also make sure my photos were at least on par with published images).  When the images came up, I saw immediately that my weevil was not a giant palm weevil at all.  While the South American species (R. palmarum) is black, the pronotum and elytra are much smoother and distinctly striate.  I don’t know if this weevil is a member of the same subfamily (Rhychophorinae) as the giant palm weevils, but it certainly not a member of that genus.  Still, considering its large size and distinctive appearance, I remained confident that an ID would come quickly.  Sadly, this has not proven to be the case – no search term I’ve tried involving the term “giant black weevil Brazil” or its many variations brings up anything remotely similar.  So, after spending much more time trying to identify this beetle than I should have, I leave it in the hands of my readers in the hopes that one of you will recognize it and provide a name.  Only when we have a name will it be possible to know something more about how this beetle lives (and if my placing it on a dead palm frond was a truly artificial setup).

Photo Details: Canon 50D w/ 100mm macro lens (ISO 100, 1/200 sec, f/16-18), Canon MT-24EX flash w/ oversized DIY concave diffuser. Typical post-processing (levels, minor cropping, unsharp mask).

Update 01/24/11: Thanks to Henry Hespenheide (via Facebook) and Art Evans, who clued me in to the genus Homalinotus (subfamily Cholinae).  I found a key to the 21 known species of this exclusively Neotropical genus (Vaurie 1973) and consider this individual to represent H. coriaceus – broca do cacho do coqueiro (black coconut bunch weevil).  This species breeds in the stems of old leaves of several native palms; however, it has adapted to the introduced coconut palm and apparently become a limiting factor in the commercial production of coconuts.  Thus, I can breathe easy now knowing that my photographs of this individual on the stem of a dead palm frond represent an entirely natural setting.

REFERENCE:

Vaurie, P.  1973.  The weevil genera Homalinotus and Ozopherus of the Neotropical Cholinae (Coleoptera, Curculionidae).  Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 152(1):1–49.

Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011

Brazil Bugs #2

/ Ted C. MacRae / 24 Comments

A few more photographs from this past week in Campinas, Brazil.  It rained during the afternoon but stopped by the time I arrived back at the hotel, allowing me to stroll the lavishly landscaped grounds during the mild evening hours.  There is a pink-flowered shrub forming a hedge row in back of the hotel that is highly attractive to many types of insects.  The identity of the shrub remains a mystery to me, and most of the insects I’m finding on it I can recognize only to family – I’m hoping the hotel staff will be able to name the former and that the readers of this blog might be able to provide IDs for the latter.

Calycopis sp. poss. origo (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). ID by Dave Hubble and Chris Grinter.

It took a bit of effort to find an unobstructed view of this hairstreak butterfly (family Lycaenidae) as it visited the flowers within the shrub.  Every time I tried to move foliage out of the way to get a good view, the butterfly became alarmed and flew to another part of the hedge row.  My antics drew the attention of a hotel worker, who was apparently interested enough in what I was doing to act as a spotter whenever the butterfly flew to help me relocate it.  Eventually I got a few shots that I was happy with, including the above.

A flesh fly (Diptera: Sarcophagidae).

I presume this to be a type of flesh fly (family Sarcophagidae) based on the stout bristles and color pattern that seems typical for the family.  I like the striking contrast in coloration between the fly and the flower.  There are a few fly bloggers who I’m hoping might be able to give a better identification.

A potter/mason wasp? (Hymenoptera: Vespidae).

This appears to me to be some kind of potter or mason wasp (family Vespidae, subfamily Eumeninae) – it was a bit smallish at only about 12mm in length.  I hope one of the knowledgeable wasp bloggers out there (ahem… Eric?) can at least confirm this level of identification and perhaps the tribe or genus as well. 

Azya orbigera (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). ID by Tucker Lancaster.

Every ladybird beetle (family Coccinellidae) I’ve ever seen is some variation of black and red/orange/yellow and has a smooth, glabrous appearance.  This beetle is cobalt blue with a dense pubescence over the dorsal surface, but it still seems to me to be some type of ladybird beetle.  It was a tiny little thing, so I suppose it could be one of the multitude of small beetle families with which I am unfamiliar.

Quedas sp.? (Hemiptera: Cicadidae).

This cast cicada exuvium was not on the shrub, but on a nearby tree at about eye level.  I really wish I could have seen the cicada that emerged from it, because this is certainly the biggest cicada exuvium I have ever seen.  I was about to simply label it “family Cicadidae” but seem to recall that cicada higher classification is in a bit of flux these days.  At any rate, given its great size I wonder if it might represent one of the giant cicadas in the genus Quesada.

I still have many more insect photographs from the past week and will certainly increase that number over the next week as well.  Stay tuned!

Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011

Rain Over Campinas, Brazil

/ Ted C. MacRae / 4 Comments

It has rained every day in Campinas, Brazil since I arrived here earlier this week.  Clear morning skies give way to towering cumulus clouds as the heat and humidity build, releasing their torrents by mid afternoon.  Today brought a small respite from this pattern, with the day staying sunny and only scattered thunder showers moving across the landscape by early evening.  This view from my hotel room shows one such shower directly over the city of Campinas.

Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011

Brazil Bugs #1

/ Ted C. MacRae / 10 Comments

ID Challenge #3 update: I knew this would be a hard one, and so far nobody has figured this one out (only one commenter got the right order!).  I’ve released the comments gotten so far so you can see where things stand, and maybe with the additional information (and my pointing out an important clue) it will be enough for one of you to arrive at a full ID.  Further comments are still being moderated until I decide to close the challenge.  Right now the points are there for the taking!

This past Monday I embarked on an extended business trip to Brazil.  “Wow, Brazil!” – you say, and while getting to travel to an exotic tropical locality on my company’s dime definitely rocks, I do have to justify the trip by actually working.  Add that to the time involved with planes, automobiles, and hotel transfers, and there is precious little time for more esoteric activities such as photographing insects.  It is Brazil, however, and summer at that, so whatever time does become available over the next ten days, I’ll be on it!  I’m stationed in Campinas, about 2 hours north of São Paulo, and this evening I had my first opportunity to break out the camera and do a little exploring around the hotel grounds during the waning hours of daylight. I’m not normally one to take short walks just looking for any random insect to photograph, but hey – it’s Brazil!  I also don’t normally like to post photographs of insects without knowing much about them – especially their identity. But hey, it’s Brazil!  I think I’ll be lucky to figure out most things to family, although I might be able to drill down a little further on occasion.  With that prelude, I hope you’ll indulge me these random postings over the next 10 days or so, primarily photographs but perhaps accompanied by a little bit of text.

Coreidae?

At first I thought this was a member of the hemipteran family Pyrrhocoridae (red bugs), as some North American species have similar coloration; however, members of that family apparently lack ocelli, which this insect clearly possesses. This would seem to indicate instead some species of Lygaeidae (seed bugs), but the forewing membrane with numerous veins arising from a transverse basal vein and presence of what appears to be a distinct metathoracic scent gland opening suggest instead some “unleaf-footed” species of leaf-footed bug (Coreidae). Whatever its identity, I would imagine it is quite distasteful, based on what clearly seems to be aposematic coloration and the fact that there were numbers of these bugs hanging out quite conspicuously on these flowers.

Same species?

This individual was differently colored than the others, but otherwise it seemed structurally and behaviorally identical.  Is it merely a highly melanized individual?  Maybe a case of sexual dimorphism, and I only saw this one individual of one of the sexes?  Maybe it truly is a different species – it is Brazil, afterall!

Pseudoplusia includens?

Daylight began to slip away much too soon, and I was about to pack it up when  I noticed some blurs at the flowers.  I realized that moths had begun to visit the flowers in the obscurity of dusk and became determined to photograph one, despite the fact that they never actually landed on the flowers but hovered in front of them instead.  It was quite difficult to even get them framed in the viewfinder, and on those few occasions when I managed to do this it was all but impossible to spend any time trying to focus – I used the lamp on the flash unit to help me see the moth, then just framed and quickly took the shot.  This one actually turned out not too bad – a little bit of blur in the wings but otherwise acceptable enough to let me tentatively identify it as Pseudoplusia includens (soybean looper).  Brazil is well on its way to becoming the world’s largest producer of soybean, and the caterpillars of these moths are enjoying the bounty!

Family Crambidae, possibly Herpetogramma phaeopteralis (ID by Chris Grinter)

I saw one last moth before the final traces of daylight disappeared – I don’t have any idea about its identity, but it’s a pretty picture nonetheless.  It has the generic look of the large family Noctuidae, so that’s what I’m gonna go with until somebody tells me differently.  Edit 1/20/11 – Somebody just told me differently!  According to Chris Grinter, this is a species of Crambidae, possibly Herpetogramma phaeopteralis (tropical sod webworm).  Thanks, Chris!

I don’t know the name of the plant whose flowers these insects were visiting, but the hotel staff has promised to ask their gardener in the morning and let me know – now that’s service!

Copyright © Ted C. MacRae 2011