Costa Rica - Day 1

After four days travelling from our home in Kuranda, we have finally arrived at our destination at Dos Brazos in Costa Rica. Our home for the next four months is in the rainforest, near the edge of the spectacular Corcovado National Park.

During the daylight hours an incredible diversity of birdlife is visible from the front porch including Toucans, and Scarlet Macaws, and array of smaller species such as Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Gray-capped Flycatchers and Passerini’s Tanager frequent the garden plants.

Our first nocturnal foray into the field, which was literally just around the house and grounds, unveiled a great deal of wildlife. Five species of amphibians, anole lizards, five species of katydids, and several species of spiders. In a twist for us Queenslanders, Cane Toads are native here.  They are a natural part of the ecosystem and don’t have the significant impacts on other species as they do as an introduced species within Australia.

Here’s a few snaps from the first night around the property we are staying on. We have yet to get ourselves a good selections of field guides, so we cannot identify many of the species we encounter as yet – particularly the invertebrates.

Spurell's Flying Frog (Agalychnis spurelli) These frogs have significant webbing between their toes and have the ability to glide from the treetops by extending the limbs and using the webbing to act as four independent gliding membranes. These frogs can even steer and by changing the angle of their feet whilst in flight. 

The lids of Agalychnis spurelli are very similar to that of the Australian Lacelid (Nictymistes dayi).

Mudpuddle Frog, Physalaemus pustulosus

Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota)

Green spider – looks very much like a Sparassid.

These spiders are known as Wandering or Banana spiders (Phoneutria and Cupiennius spp. - Cupiennius coccineus pictured) Representatives of Phoneutria are known as Brazilian Wandering Spider, which includes reputedly the most deadly spider in the world. I found at least two species in our garden, and although these aren’t lethal, apparently the bites can cause severe pain that often requires hospitalisation. 

Cupiennius coccineus, a wandering spider belonging to the family Ctenidae

One of many species of katydids, this one was feeding on flowers.

Costa Rica...here we come!

Hola! Our posts will come from Costa Rica over the next four months. We are about to embark on a trip to produce another series of the predatory bug TV program that we worked on last year and early this year. We will be spending a great deal of time looking through the rainforest for all sorts of invertebrates, and no doubt making many surprise encounters along the way. 

The invertebrate diversity is enormous in Costa Rica, as too is the wildlife diversity in generally, so hopefully we'll be able to regularly post some of the amazing encounters we have.

We'll be living and working on the edge of the rainforest on the Osa Peninsula; a peninsula on the southern (Pacific) side of Costa Rica. For the first 3 weeks we'll focussing on collecting invertebrates, and getting our sets prepared. We'll be setting up a small studio in a little town nearby and shooting the majority of the sequences in there.

More camouflage magic

This time the master of disguise is reptilian. This is a Leaf-tailed Gecko (Saltuarius cornutus) pictured in our backyard. They are the largest geckos in our region, growing to around 220mm in total length.



Like the Lichen Huntsmen in the previous post, these geckos have lichen-like patterns and colours all over their bodies and a rough outline to break up their shape, but they also have the ability to alter their shade of colour.

Also like the spiders, they sit head-down on rainforest trees both day and night, relying on their camouflage to conceal them. They feed at night upon tree dwelling invertebrates, a diet which most likely includes huntsman spiders. Occasionally they will leave the trees to find a mate or a new feeding territory, and I have occasionally encountered them crossing roads.



The remarkable eye of Saltuaris cornutus, complete with its own camouflage.







Masters of camouflage

I've just finished putting together a presentation about huntsman spiders for the upcoming Australian Invertebrates Conference in Melbourne. One of the species featured in the presentation is the Lichen Huntsman, Pandercetes gracilis. It is the sole member of the genus in Australia, and up close, a very spectacular animal. I needed a few extra photos for my presentation so I had a quick look in the yard and to my delight found 5 no more than 10 metres from the house.

These spiders sit on the tree trunks both day and night, unlike most other huntsman which hide by day to avoid predation. Pandercetes get away with it due to their superb camouflage. Their bodies are coloured and patterned to match the patchwork of lichens that occur on the tree trunks. They also have clusters of hairs on their legs which fan out and effectively break up their outline. To the untrained eye, they are almost impossible to see until they move.

These huntsmen are fast moving hunters, and in a blink of an eye they will have caught a passing insect.

There s a great deal of individual variation in the colour forms of this species. The five I photographed in the yard are all different. Some predominantly green, others shades of brown.

Velvet Assassins

In the last couple of weeks we have encountered several velvet worms (Onychophora); primitive predatory invertebrates which are though to have originated over 500 million years ago. They are believed to be the forerunners to arthropods, but unlike today's arthropods, the velvet worm has no hardened exoskeleton.

This velvet worm is about 30mm in length

Its skin is composed of a membrane of dead cells covered in tiny hairs, which are in themselves covered in tiny scales that give it the appearance and feeling of velvet. These hairs function in a sensory capacity and respond to touch. This covering is also water-repellent, which makes it perfect for living in a very moist environment – seconded by its inability to regulate water loss. It is therefore very easy for a velvet worm to succumb to desiccation, and as such, it is only found in tropical and temperate rainforests.

A close up of the face; a 'nozzle' for spurting the sticky liquid can be seen just beneath the eye.

One of the most remarkable things about this minute predator is its method of attack. It shoots twin streams of a sticky liquid at its prey from nozzles either side of its mouth. The liquid transforms to a bonding gel on contact with the prey as a chaotic mix of proteins within the substance combine and react. The result is dramatic, the prey is usually securely bonded to the surface it is on, and all the velvet worm needs to do is wander up and consume it at its leisure.  The one in the photo below actually shot glue on my finger when I first picked it up. I noticed an immediate chilling sensation as the liquid hit and reacted; I then spent a minute or so picking off all the sticky material!

Elusive Arachnids

After years of looking and hoping I have finally encountered some Australian Amblypygi. This group of bizarre looking arachnids are known as ‘whip spiders’. They superficially resemble true spiders but are very different in many ways. Australia has a handful of species in the tropics, but they are neither common nor easy to find.

Charinus pescotti from Kuranda

Amblypygids are found throughout the world, primarily within tropical and subtropical habitats. Australian Amblypygids are relatively small compared to some of their overseas relatives. This species Charinus pescotti only grows to a body length of around 10mm, with a leg span of around 25mm. The giant African Euphrynichus amanica can attain a leg span of up to 400mm.

Amblypygids have two distinct body parts and four pairs of legs, so at a glance they are a little spider-like, but that is where the similarity ends. The abdomen is flattened and has 12 segments, and they lack spinnerets and cannot produce silk. The first pair of legs are antenniform; very long and delicate compared to the other legs, and extremely sensitive to chemical and vibrational cues.

The first pair of legs are antenniform and are important sensory tools.



One of the most striking features of these animals are the palps. They are raptorial; they have become adaptations to snatch and impale their prey with. The palps have rows of spines on the inner edges, and while not in use the palps are tucked up in front of the face giving them a fearsome appearance. The chelicerae (mouth parts) are fang-like and are similar to those of mygalomorph spiders, but Amblypygids lack venom. Prey, usually insects, is captured with a lighting fast strike using the palps. The animal is the drawn back to the front of the Amblypygid where the chelicerae begin to tear it open while digestive juices are expelled into the opening. The resultant semi-digested fluids are sucked back up in the same manner as spiders do.

The spiny raptorial palps are held in front of the face when not in use.

A true leaf insect

For those interested in Australian phasmids there are several species on the must see list. Up there would be such species as the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect (which was considered extinct until 2002 when it was rediscovered on Balls Pyramid, a small rocky outcrop off the coast of Lord Howe Island. Another on the list would be the true Australian Leaf Insect (Phyllium monteithi). This species is known from only a handful of male specimens, which have been found between Innisfail and Mossman. A female was photographed in the Cairns Botanic Gardens, but the specimen was not collected. Recently we were lucky enough to encounter a live male which turned up on David Rentz's light sheet.

Leaf Insects are truly masters of disguise, both sexes are broad and flattened like leaves as juveniles, but only the female remains so as an adult. They are believed to be canopy dwellers which explains the lack of encounters, and may feed on the foliage of Cryptocarya mackinnoniana. They will also feed upon Guava which this specimen certainly did. When we first moved to Kuranda we planted several Guava trees just in the hope of attracting these illusive insects.

The genus Phyllium is represented by over 30 species throughout southern Asia. The biggest, Phyllium giganteum is a common representative within live insects displays around the world. They are also commonly kept by insect enthusiasts throughout Europe and the USA.



The mature male Phyllium monteithi. Males have fully functional wings and are excellent flyers.



Peeking over a leaf - note the extremely hairy antennae.

The underside of the abdomen reveals the segments hidden by the wings when viewed from above.

   

This specimen readily fed upon Guava, one reason we inspect all Guava trees we see with great interest.

A close-up of the male feeding.

While most male phasmids have some flight capability, this one would readlily take to the air and was quite agile on the wing.