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Back from Honduras

The last week on March I was at the Pico Bonito nature lodge in Honduras. There were plenty of birds, but what really kept me busy was all the bugs! The lodge kept a moth light on all night, every night. Guess where I spent my nights until I was too tired. I photographed tons of insects, spiders, tailless whip scorpions and other things that are now posted on my website. Everything is sorted out and I identified what I could, but could use whatever help I can get with beetles, pentatomids, true bugs, diptera with a couple of really neat mosquitoes, hemipters, mantids and many others. Thanks in advance for any help.
Honduras bug pictures.

Spiders
Here is what I can guess...

IMG_0397 - Anyphaenidae - Ghost Spider
IMG_0751 - Lycosidae - Wolf Spider
IMG_8275 - Deinopidae - Ogrefaced spider
IMG_7927 - too cool, must be Thomisidae
IMG_7911 - Ctenidae - Wandering Spiders
IMG_7898 - Ctenidae - Wandering Spiders
IMG_7692 - Ctenidae - Wandering Spiders
IMG_7685 - Ctenidae - Wandering Spiders (maybe Cupiennus salei) I'm not sure that name is current
IMG_0280 - Pisauridae - Nursery Web Spiders
IMG_0214 - Lycosidae - Wolf Spider
IMG_9925 - Pisauridae - Nursery Web Spiders
IMG_8266 - Araneidae - Orb Weavers, Eriophora sp.
IMG_0453 - Araneidae - Orb Weavers, I'd guess Araneus sp.
IMG_0449 - Araneidae - Orb Weavers
IMG_0434 - Tetragnathidae - Longjawed Orb Weavers, close to (if not) Orchard Orbweaver (Leucauge venusta)
IMG_0186 - Salticidae - Jumping Spiders
IMG_0255 - Salticidae - Jumping Spiders, nice one
IMG_0391 - Lyssomanes viridis?

 
Great!
Lynette, thanks for all the spider id's. The one you think is Cupiennus salei was a huge spider, but not quite as big as a tarantula.

 
Huge spider
Cupiennus salei, Levi says it can get up to 1.3 inches. That's pretty big.

 
Cupiennus salei
That's probably it. It was definitely in that size range.

Dobsonflies
The non-yellow dobsonflies are members of the genus Corydalus, as there are just three genera in that family in the New World (Tree of Life--Corydalinae). The genera are Platyneuromus, Chloronia, and Corydalus, and the other two are distinctively different.

 
Corydalus sp.
Patrick, thanks for the info and getting all my dobsonflies identified to genus! Especially the yellow Chloronia.

Hi Tom,
I went through your beetles from Honduras and made comments. Some of your unknowns appear to be Lissominae (Click Beetle subfamily). I checked out most of your other images as well. You could get "photographer's elbow" in a place like that ;-)

 
"photographer's elbow" is okay with me
I've already gone through that for almost a year, but it didn't slow me down:-)
I'm not sure what type of light they used, but here's a picture of the set up.
Jim, thanks for the help, and your pictures are looking good.

 
That's a mercury vapor (MV) light they used.
I must respectfully disagree that my pictures are looking good but that may change very soon. I plan a major upgrade of camera and lens(es) so my Ecuador work can begin in earnest. I also plan to build a photo montage setup so I can produce specimen images at least as detailed as Jeff Guber's. I'll need a microscope objective...

Moth IDs
Can I just say wow! Incredible images... I think I need to move to Honduras now....

Here are a few moth IDs:

IMG_0011, IMG_7935 - Idalus dares
IMG_0008, IMG_7449, IMG_8067 - Idalus?, close to I. herois but not quite....
IMG_6871, IMG_7636 - Synchlora expulsata
IMG_7392, IMG_7977 - Leuciris fimbriaria
IMG_7715, IMG_6441 - Lineodes sp.
IMG_6952 - Galleria mellonella
IMG_7883 - If this is a moth, it is the best wasp mimic I've ever seen!

 
Moth ID's
Chris, thanks for all the names! That IMG_7883 looks exactly like a wasp except the antennae look like they belong to a moth.

links
You may know of these already, but just in case, here are some sites that have some tropical insect photos with IDs. Not specific to Honduras, but maybe useful nonetheless...

http://www.mbarnes.force9.co.uk/
http://www.tropicleps.ch/ (including the slideshows)
http://www.pbase.com/terrythormin/costa_rica
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artour_a/sets/72157594309308272/ (this link is Panama & Costa Rica photos, but he also has a Honduras set)

And thanks for sharing your photos!

 
Nice links!
I was able to get a ton of moths identified using the first 2 links and a few other odds and ends with the other 2 sites. John, thanks for directing me to those links!

Wasps
56+58: Polybia occidentalis
208: Mischocyttarus sp.
7725: Rhopalosoma sp.

great shots!

 
Polybia occidentalis
Sean has an image of Polybia occidentalis from French Guiana in Flickr.
George: Do you know if this species produce honey? Or is it just Polybia scutellaris?

 
Yes it does
but not as much as Brachygastra mellifica and Polybia scutellaris (but that's just from my experience, it could very likely be more). From the few nests I've tried honey from in southern Mexico, there was maybe one tablespoon worth from a softball sized nest which I collected myself. Nearly all of the locals thought I was nuts asking for "miel de avispa," which was a little surprising since nests were not uncommon.

Is Polybia scutellaris honey well known in Argentina? I'd love to try it when I eventually visit. I don't know anything about this species except its distinctive nest.

 
Wasp id's
George, thanks for sharing your expertise in identifying these wasps!

Lady beetles
Subfamily Coccinellinae, Tribe Halyziini:
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/133578545
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/133580830

The other little ones with transparent pronota are probably also Tribe Halyziini.

Subfamily Chilocorinae, Tribe Chilocorini:
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/133580105
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/133611852

 
Lady beetle id's
Abigail, you came through again with the ladies! Thanks for all the help.

 
I'm still stuck on the green ones ;)
They aren't Thalassa, which I was hoping for, because it's the only green lady beetle genus I know of. Doesn't match my Thalassa key, though. I'll keep trying!

 
Green ones
Those were common at the moth sheet every night, and the most common lady beetle I saw down there. Thanks for all the effort, but don't kill yourself trying to figure these out.

"Agami Heron" is a Tricolored
Agami Heron has a much longer bill

 
Maybe it's the angle
The 2 local guides in our boat pointed this out as an immature Agami Heron, and the other boat that went out with us saw this one plus an adult Agami. The habitat was a mangrove section of a river. It might just be me, but I thought it looked larger than a Tricolored.

 
sorry about that
I was confused by the angle in the photo and didn't study it carefully enough

 
No problem
I had another bird identified as a Social Flycatcher but it got pointed out to me that it was really a Great Kiskadee.

 
I actually saw Agami Heron last month in Belize
so know the bird in life, where it is distinctively large as you point out, but as is often the case I posted before thinking carefully enough.

Typo
It is Hymenoptera, not Hemiptera; I am sure it is just a typo.

 
Hymenoptera
Beatriz, thanks for catching the mistake. That must be one of the ones I did at 2:00am:-)

some great shots
IMG_7340.JPG isn't a scarab though [antenna]

 
indeed; a teneb

Apoica Sp.
I noticed the eyes on this wasp were unusually large:
http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/133680897

So I did some research and it turns out to be in the Apoica Genus, which is primarily nocturnal
I only wish I could see these in person! They are some of the most fascinating wasps in my opinion, famous for forming those sleeping arrangements during the day that look like a bunch of bananas

http://www.americaninsects.net/hy/apoica-sp.html

 
Same or similar in Yasuni, Ecuador.
I got stung by one of them that showed up at the light. It crawled inside my clothing in front of the UV light setup during a very light drizzle.

 
And note
And note that that image you linked to is from the same sheet at the same Pico Bonito Lodge! (Probably not the same individual, though :>)

Thanks to Dr. Ascher, who identified the wasp in that photo. I couldn't decide if I should put "det. by" on each page; instead I put an acknowlegements page for Hymenoptera. Maybe the "det. by" would be better.

Anyway I look forward to seeing your Honduras images, Tom, but I will wait until I am at the office and not on dial-up!

----------Update: Just looked at your Honduras collection, great shots! Since no one has seemed to gravitate to our beloved roaches, I would comment on 6866 that it is Panchlora sp., and the one labeled "4 inch long cockroach" is Blaberus sp.

Keep up the good work Tom, beautiful pictures!

 
Another Pico Bonito visitor
Stephen I see now that I'm not the only one here on bugguide that's been to the Pico Bonito Lodge. When did you go there and how was your experience?
Thanks for the help with those lovely cockroaches. I'm amazed at how much help you and many others in the bugguide community have been helping me identify what I photographed in Honduras. A big thanks to everyone!

 
Pico Bonito
I was there in May 2009, then went to Cuero y Salado refuge for a couple of days and Lago de Yojoa for several days. I loved Pico Bonito, though it was out of my usual price range! I still have a great many unidentified insects from that trip. Still, if we all post our images somewhere, and some of them get identified, and we learn from each other's postings, we will all have a good time no doubt, and maybe shed some light and learn some things along the way!

I too am awfully grateful for the people like Dr. Ascher and the homoptera folks in Wales, who are willing to make their expertise avaiable. (& Thanks Tom for posting that Wales link; I saw that site a while ago when it was still getting started--but you sent me back there and it has so many pics now!)

 
Pricey but,
We booked the 5 day birders package at Pico Bonito, and were planning to stay the last 2 nights somewhere less expensive. My wife got talking with the manager and he let us stay the last 2 nights in one of the research cabins for less than half the regular cabin price. And that cabin was just as nice as the regular one.

 
Nocturnal
That makes sense, since the only times I saw these wasps was at the moth sheet at night. Thanks for the id Vespula!

Elaterids
I may be able to get names on some of the elaterids, at least genus. Looks like you have both males and females of a Dicrepidius, probably D. ramnicornus (but not sure about other neotropicals).

 
Chalcolepidius
Looks like C.rugatus Candeze based on the key and photos in Casari (2002) (See figure 72). Seems to be a highly variable species and some individuals have all-white pubescence like in Tom's photo. Has been recorded from Honduras according to this 2010 checklist by P.J. Johnson.

Good to have you back
Your contributions have slipped to "only" 1/17 of BugGuide- you'll have to really pick up the pace... ;-)

 
If only I could add my tropical bugs:-)
In the last week I posted close to 1,500 Honduras bugs on my site. And so far I only have about 100 identified.

Impressive!
Great album, thanks for sharing it. It makes you yearn for the day Bugguide goes global. Doesn't it?

 
More bugguide areas
That would be nice. It isn't easy finding resources for identifying bugs outside North America. I did get this one site for Tropical Sharpshooters that's helping me get quite a few identified. And I have a butterfly book for 1,700 species in Mexico and Central America.

 
The Winged image IMG_9964.JPG
The Winged image IMG_9964.JPG is a male Neivamyrmex army ant. Can't tell the species from these images. A head shot of the mandibles would help a lot if you have one.

 
No head shots
Those were the only 2 pictures I took of the male army ant. But at least now I know what genus it is. Thanks for the help Gordon!

 
Glad to help. Have posted a f
Glad to help. Have posted a few other names over at the site.

 
Army ants
I didn't realize there were different genera of Army Ants. Thanks for all the help Gordon!

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