blue weevil!
Last weekend we went for a walk to the Bosque da Ciencia. It was a short visit but we found a beautiful beetle, a blue weevil! It is a broad-nosed weevil (Curculionidae: Entiminae) with some blue on its legs and antenna.
Peixe-boi
Amazon or South American manatee (Trichechus inunguis) is commonly hunted for meat and oil along the Amazon River. I don’t know how people manage to find them, but they do, and it is common that little ones are left without their mothers. They also get hurt by the boats. There are programs to help manatee populations recover and to reintroduce them in some areas with support of the local people. Researchers at INPA are also working on this. This photograph was taken at the Bosque da Ciencia where some manatees are brought in for recovery.
Bosque da Ciencia, Manaus, Amazonas
Three-toed sloth Bradypus sp.
Since I’ve moved to the tropics, I’ve learned that there are two-toed sloths and three-toed sloths. I just recently found out that they each belong to a separate family, Megalonychidae (two-toed sloths) and Bradypodidae (three-toed sloths) and they are not closely related.
Sloths are arboreal mammals, the live up in the trees and their limbs are adpated to hang from trunks and branches where they sleep or rest for about 20 hours a day. I find it very interesting that they have to go down from the trees to poo about once a week. It’s also quite interesting that they have algae living on their fur.
There are four species within Bradypus, two of which can be found in this area, Bradypus tridactylus (pale-throated sloth) and Bradypus variegatus (brown-throated sloth). The pale-throated sloth (Bradypus tridactylus) has a more resticted range east of the Andes and south of the Orinoco River, occuring in the Guyana Shield region including northern Brazil south to the Rio Negro-Rio Solimoes region (where Manaus is located). The brown-throated sloth (Bradypus variegatus), on the other hand, can be found all the way from Honduras to northern Argentina.
A week ago, we went for a walk at Bosque da Ciencia, and we saw a sloth eating young leaves up on a tree. I’m still not sure which species we saw, the pale-throated sloth or the brown-thrated sloth. Can you help me identify it?
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
alguns insetos
A few insect photos taken during my most recent visit to Bosque da Ciencia, INPA.
Algumas fotos de insetos tiradas durante a minha mais recente visita à Bosque da Ciencia, INPA.
Algunas fotos de insectos que tomé durante mi más reciente visita al Bosque de Ciencia, INPA.
ants!
On the last visit to the Bosque da Ciencia of INPA (about a month ago), I saw some ants new to me. I think one belongs to the genus Dolichoderus, which are usually associated with honeydew producing insects and, based on a post on the Myrmecos blog, I believe it is the “long-necked ant of the Amazon” Dolichoderus attelaboides.
- Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
- Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
- Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
And when we were heading out, I saw another interesting ant, also new to me. Daceton armigerum, classified as one of the most beautiful ants in the Myrmecos blog. Daceton armigerum has a nice honey coloration and a heart-shaped head with large jaws which caught my attention. Although I didn’t find them in the canopy where they are known to be found, they were in the ground with other species of ant, much smaller, which I still haven’t been able to identify.
- Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
- Bosque da Ciencia, INPA, Manaus
El escarabajo azul 