“Mama, I wanna be a toxic caterpillar,” says the little bird. “Okay,” mamma answers, “but first you gotta study your Batesian mimicry.” Meet the cinereous mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra), an ash-colored, Amazonian bird that looks rather hum-drum compared to many other birds found in the region (hence it’s name ‘cinereous’ which comes from the Latin meaning […]
Tag: moths
Butterfly wings inspire cosmetics and bomb detectors
A tropical butterfly might not be the first place to look when seeking inspiration for the latest bomb sniffing technology for the US military, but the brightly coloured iridescent wings of a blue morpho provides one example of a promising branch of science – bio-inspiration. Other varied applications inspired by the South American butterfly’s shimmering […]
Moths migrate too, sometimes.
I started getting a bit bored with a lack of things to photograph a little while ago because it was blah and gray outside, so I started taking my headlamp and my macro lens outside at night to see what I could find. Insect friends! The only one I can identify is the last one, […]
Insoluble Mucilage – Australian Glow-Worms
While the slimy presence of the Australian glow-wormArachnocampa flavamay not be on everyones fascinating list of things to observe in the tropics at night. It is fascinating to know, that the natural entrapment by its blue green emitting light, encircled by the sticky crystal like dew drops, proves to be deadly to nocturnal flying insects. […]