Bilsa reserve, Ecuador

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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pbertner
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Bilsa reserve, Ecuador

Post by pbertner »

Leaf-mimicking katydid (Orophus tesselatus):
A rare genetic mutation called 'erythrism' confers the pink colouration.
usually these individuals are picked off young, since they lack the camouflage typical of the species which is normally variable but mostly green, brown and yellow. The mutation is akin to albinism in humans.

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Leaf-mimicking katydid (Orophus tesselatus) yellow colour variant:

Image

Blue and purple hunting centipede (Scolopendra sp.):

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Scorpion with prey under UV light:

Image

Orange huntsman spider with frog prey:

Image

Green anole:

Image

Glass frog (Proseblon sp.):

Image

Image

Hairy tarantula (Psalmopoeus sp.):

Image

Thanks for looking and commenting,
Paul

Caddo
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Post by Caddo »

Nice, interesting images as always Paul. I especially like the anole and scolopendra, very nice!

Thought I'd pass on a comment for the image labeled "orange huntsman spider with frog prey" (Huntsman=Sprassidae). To me the eye pattern, position and relative front leg lengths and abdomen shape identifies it as a Ctenidae sp..

Keep up the great work, always enjoy your posts.

Caddo

Picaflor
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Post by Picaflor »

Thanks for show your photos, very interesting.

Katydid in green we have in the garden, the Scolopendra is wunderfoul with his colors.

Roger

Troels
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Post by Troels »

Wonderfull and fascinating pictures - again.

Troels
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

I followed up the red/pink Katydid - Wikipedia says it's a dominant mutation,
Someone else says it's a recessive gene like albinism.
Those pinks and reds look suspiciously different to me, though there are "over 6400 recorded species".

"Rare" here means 1 in 500 (though many may be preferentially predated). That would make it a mutation - to be a "morph" (same gene, different allele or expression) it would have to be more than 1%. At least it would for frogs which I've been reading about - (also Paul B's fault!).
Chris R

Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

All of these are interesting but I really like the Glass frog and the Green Anole. :)

pbertner
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Post by pbertner »

Thanks for the comments and encouragement all, much appreciated.

Thanks for the correction Caddo. Indeed a Ctenid, my mistake.

As far as I know it's a recessive gene, but I haven't kept abreast of any new research.

Jam35
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Post by Jam35 »

Mesmerizing colors, something I don't see very often! I also enjoy the positions of the frame though the last one I would put slightly more to the left... Overall love the work!

pbertner
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Post by pbertner »

Thanks Jam35. I sometimes like a little 'breathing room' around the subject. More to the left in the frame, or cropping it slightly would cut down on that. Also wanted to provide as much of the in situ environment as I could while still maintaining focus on the subject.

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

I like them just the way they are. Great work.

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