Weevil (Curculionoidea)
Selvatura Park in Monteverde
Costa Rica holds a very
special place in my heart for many reasons. It’s a place of breath taking tropical
landscapes, friendly people, and incredible wildlife including lots and lots and
lots of BUGS! Bugs are omnipresent in many of the world's tropics and if you’ve
never been in one of these regions you’ll be stunned at the many shapes,
colors, and sounds you’ll hear when visiting.
Rio Penas Blancas
Photo taken on the way to Arenal from San Jose.
Photo taken on the way to Arenal from San Jose.
For the most part the
little critters keep to themselves and with a little bug spray you should be
fine but if you're into bug catching, entomology or macro photography, Costa Rica
is an incredible place to explore.
Monteverde National Park
Costa Rica has more
then 750,000 species of insects including 20,000 species of spiders, roughly 40,000
different types beetles and 10% of the world's butterfly population. To me this
seems incredible given the fact that Costa Rica only makes up 0.03% of the
world's landmass. I assume one of the reasons for this amazing biodiversity is
the countries typography. At it's narrowest point only 75 miles separate the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean, yet the mountains
in the middle of the country reach an astonishing 12,500ft. This means there’s
hundreds if not thousands of micro climates where creatures can specialize and evolve
to fill niches.
Monteverde National Park
Cicada (Cicadoidea)
Arenal Volcano National Park
Often heard but rarely seen, Cicadas fill the jungle at times
with an almost deafening rasping/ buzzing sound. They'll often synchronize
their sounds creating a rhythmic harmony for what I can only assume is
predatory avoidance.
This Cicada emerges from its molt and was allowing its exoskeleton to harden.
This Cicada emerges from its molt and was allowing its exoskeleton to harden.
It often takes time and a bit of knowledge on where and how to look for bugs but in the end if you find a really cool bug it’s worth the effort.
Curi Cancha Wildlife Refuge in Monteverde
To be honest
you don’t need to go much further then your door step to find them and there
are many places in the country that make seeing and photographing them very
easy.
This photo of a Sphinx moths (Bombycoidea) was taken in the hallway just outside of our hotel room.
Arenal
Arenal
Eco zoos and butterfly gardens are a few of the places you’ll find very cool looking insects without having to look too hard.
Panoramic view from one end to the other of the butterfly garden at Selvatura Park in Monteverde.
Hali'a holding one of many Blue Morphos butterfly's inside the garden. We saw many of these in the wild but they were extremely hard to photograph and near impossible to hold.
For me, however, there’s nothing like grabbing my camera, a good macro lens and flash and going
out at night or in the early morning in search of interesting things to
photograph which 3 times of 5 means bugs!
A few more of my favorite bug photos from this trip.
Python
Millipede (Nyssodesmus python)
Selvatura
Park
Selvatura Park
Shag-carpet caterpillar (Prothysana felderi)
Selvatura Park
Giant Swallowtail
Caterpillar (P. cresphontes) exhibiting a threat display.
Selvatura
Park
Royal Walnut Moth (Citheronia regalis)
Selvatura Park
Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis decoris)
Selvatura Park
Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis decoris)
Selvatura Park
Morpho butterfly egg
Selvatura Park
Butterfly chrysalis
Selvatura Park
Moss Moth (Lepidoptera spp)
Selvatura Park
Unknown Moth
Selvatura Park
Unknown fly (Diptera spp)
Manuel Antonio
Black and White jumping spider (Phiale formosa)
Arenal Volcano National ParkHarvestmen (Opiliones)
Arenal Volcano National Park
Although it looks like a spider this Harvestmen is actually more closely related to mites and scorpions then to spiders. The 2 eyes instead of the normal 8 gives it away. Oddly enough this specimen as well as a few other subjects I shot while in the jungle had red parasitic mites attached to them. It seems the food chain never really ends.
Golden Orb Spider (Nephila spp)
Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge near the border of Nicaragua
Rhinoceros Katydid (Copiphora
rhinoceros)
Arenal
Volcano area
Photo prints and licensing options are available for most of the images seen here.
For more information please visit trevoradlerphotography.com
All images and content © 2015 Trevor Adler | Photographer /
Filmmaker