#artour_a

STICK GRASSHOPPER - Male Proscopia luceomaculata by artour_a

Stick insect? Nah, it's a grasshopper There are upwards of 130 species of stick grasshopper belonging to the family Proscopidae. They belong to the Orthopteran group of insects which includes grasshoppers, katydids and crickets. They can easily be mistaken for phasmids (stick insects) at first glance. On closer inspection the form of the head and mouthparts together with the mid and hind leg arrangement lead the trained observer to a different conclusion regarding their classification. Description and life History Stick grasshoppers are restricted to the forests and nearby scrubland of South America. Most species live amongst low vegetation at the edge of the rainforest where there is some air movement. Here they will perch and sway enjoying air currents. Proscopids cannot fly and whilst they can jump their hind legs are not well adapted to jump great distances. Nymphs are more likely to propel themselves into the air than adults when disturbed. In the wild the usual defence mechanism is to freeze still and if touched or molested further, they will often throw themselves to the ground where they may be perfectly camouflaged in the jumble of leaf and stick litter on the forest floor. Stick grasshoppers have weird head shapes with onion shaped mouthparts and bulbous eyes mounted high on the apex of the head, topped by tiny stub like antennae. The shape of the head has led to the common name of “horsehead grasshopper” for certain species. For reasons given above they are also sometimes refered to as “false stick insects”

Source: http://www.bugnation.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=399&t=2244&start=0&view=print

Other posts:

Stick Grasshopper (portrait)

Feather mantis

LEAFY SPINY SEED MIMICKING BUG Pephricus livingstone  by artour_a

There's not a lot I could find on the net about this insect family. Similar photos are tagged alternately as a weird African Assassin Bug and a True Weevil, but the most common name I could find was the Leafy Spiny Seed Mimicking Bug which hardly sounds official. An old book text Google pulled up, stated that they were nearly always found in Ethiopia, this on was photographed in Madagascar. I believe that they are smaller than an inch and this is a macro shot. The one thing that is certain is that they mimick a decaying leaf as a passive defense against being eaten. Other than that, it's just very cool looking.

If you can find anything more on the Pephricus family, please shoot me the link. I did like that Google search kept insisting I must mean the Hungarian dish paprikash. :)

Other posts:

Spanish Walking Stick

Dead Leaf Butterfly

BLUE SOLDIER FLY Family: Stratiomyidae © artour_a

Shot in Guyana

The soldier flies (Stratiomyidae, sometimes misspelled as Stratiomyiidae. From Greek στρατιώτης - soldier; μυια - fly), are a family of flies (historically placed in the now-obsolete group Orthorrhapha). The family contains about 1,500 species in about 400 genera worldwide (I couldn't find any as pretty as this one but it was photographed by artour_a in Guyana).

Adults are found near larval habitats. Larvae can be found in a diverse array of situations mostly in wetlands and damp places in soil, sod, under bark, and in animal excrement and decaying organic matter. They are diverse in size and shape, though they commonly are partly or wholly metallic green, or somewhat wasp-like mimics, marked with black and yellow or green and sometimes metallic. They are often rather inactive flies which typically rest with their wings placed one above the other over the abdomen.

Fact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratiomyidae

Other posts:

Stalk-eyed Fly - pushing eye distance from the head to new limits (also video)

This Film Interference

BANNER OR LEAF-FOOTED BUG Anisoscelis sp. Panama ©artour_a

Coreidae are a large family of predominantly herbivorous insects that belong in the hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. There are more than 1,800 species in over 250 genera. They vary in size from 7 to 45 mm, making the larger species some of the biggest heteropterans. The body shape of coreids is quite variable, with some species broadly oval while others are slender. Coreids are found throughout the world but most species are found in the tropics and subtropics.

In North America they are colloquially called "squash bugs", because some species, such as Anasa tristis, are pests of squash plants and other curcubits. They are also called “leaf-footed bugs” due to the leaf-like expansions some species have on their hindlegs.

Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coreidae

Other photos you may like:

Mallotus Shield Bugs

Iran Coleptera

ELECTRIC BRITTLE SEA STAR (Ophiothrix sp), Great Barrier Reef, Australia ©artour_a

Brittle stars, or ophiuroids, are echinoderms, closely related to starfish. They crawl across the seafloor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The ophiuroids generally have five long slender, whip-like arms which may reach up to 60 centimetres (24 in) in length on the largest specimens. They are also known as serpent stars.

Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittle_star

Other photos you may like:

Bat Star

Royal (Purple and Orange) Sea Star

Blue Horseshoe-Shaped TREEHOPPER (Sphongophorus ballista) ©artour_a

Sphongophorus ballista - a very tiny treehopper which mimics a dry leaf - Insecto pequeñito que se aparece a una hoja muerta; Parque Nacional Santa Fé, Veraguas, Panamá

Other photos you may enjoy:

Horned Treehopper

Ball-bearing Leafhopper

IRREGULAR SEA URCHIN (Clypeaster cf humilis) ©artour_a

Egyptian Red Sea

Sea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from 3 to 10 centimetres (1.2 to 3.9 in) across. Common colors include black and dull shades of green, olive, brown, purple, and red. They move slowly, feeding mostly on algae. Sea otters, wolf eels, triggerfish, and other predators feed on them. Their "roe" (actually the gonads) is a delicacy in many cuisines.

Like other echinoderms, sea urchins are bilaterans. Their early larvae have bilateral symmetry but they develop fivefold symmetry as they mature. This is most apparent in the "regular" sea urchins, which have roughly spherical bodies, with five equally-sized parts radiating out from the central axis. Several sea urchins, however, including the sand dollars, are oval in shape, with distinct front and rear ends, giving them a degree of bilateral symmetry. In these urchins, the upper surface of the body is slightly domed, but the underside is flat, while the sides are devoid of tube feet. This "irregular" body form has evolved to allow the animals to burrow through sand or other soft material.

Fact Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_urchin

Other Photos you may like:

Bubbletip Anemone with Clownfish

Lettuce Sea Slug