Paper wasp

I was up high on a chair shooting pictures of a vanilla vine in bloom when I came face to face with this beautiful wasp. There were times when it stared at me, but it didn't seem too worried about having to pose for my camera.

Insect 217

Hum, anyone know what it is? The first and last time I've seen one of these.

Black ant and hole

Hey, anybody down there?

Ipê trees

Some weeks ago I posted images of our ipê trees in bloom. Shortly thereafter, all the blooms fell to the ground making for a carpet of yellow (top Image). In more recent times we were shuffling our feet through layers of seeds (the bottom two images). There are many species of ipês in Brazil. The big trees cut for lumber are found in the high forest of the Amazon. Then there others to be found in the tropical savanna. Small dwarf trees, which knock your eyes out when they are in bloom. And there are others, some used for decorating our streets. According to Guilhereme, we have at least four different species at the Fundação. The genus is Tabebuia. The family is Bignoniaceae. Another common name for ipê is pau dárco, bow wood.

Fungi, continued

And this one could be named "bat fungus under rain".

Fungi

Hum, this one could be named "bulls-eye" fungus.

Insects 3167

Arteriosclerosis is blocking my memory. I can't remember the name of these insects. Tree hoppers, or something like that. I'll remember later to make the correction. I've identified them before, but I found this image to be better than older posts.

Dr. Pedro Pardal

The IV Congress of Butantan Amazônia is taking place in Santarém, October 20-30. The theme of the encounter this session is "Biodiversity and Research of Poisonous Animals in the Amazon". Presentations and workshops are taking place at most universities in Santarém in Santarém, plus field research in Belterra. I had planned on participating in most of the evening sessions, but a aggravating cold and cough kept me away from these events. One presentation I wouldn't miss for anything was scheduled for Friday evening at UEPA. The keynote speaker was Dr. Pedro Pardal (attached image) from the School of Tropical Medicine at the Federal University of Pará in Belém. He comes to Santarém quite often for speaking engagements and field research in his specialty of poisonous animals. I came to be introduced to Dr. Pardal via my wife, Áurea, who was his student when she was a medical student at the Federal University. Friday night's presentation was entitled "Poisonous Fish of the Amazon". Great stuff!

Wild passion fruit flower

A wild passion fruit flower makes it debut. What appears to be a log on the lower right is actually the main vine. It's huge!

Guaraná

Guaraná (Paullina cupana) plant in bloom.

Theobroma

Top image, environmental management student from Antioch College taking pictures of the inflorescence of wild cacao. Bottom image, the flowers. Picture taken last Saturday.

CEPES flowers

Flowers in bloom at CEPES, our school of professional education.

Pau Brasil, continued

Although I'm happy to have a piece of Pau Brasil wood, it's a very poor quality sample. It's a reject because of the knot. It's also faded in color because I had left the board out in an open area, where it suffered from the elements, including rain.

Pau Brasil, continued

My two Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia echinata) trees. The images of flowers and seed pods were from the one on the right. This picture was taken nearly two years ago, so the trees are a bit larger now.

Pau Brasil, continued

Seedlings of Pau Brasil. Germination rate is very high for the seeds.

Pau Brasil, continued

Mature and dried seeds from the Pau Brasil pods. As I remember it, there are around 4 seeds to a pod. Nope, no thorns on the seeds!

Pau Brasil, continued

The first seed pods produced by one of my two Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia eschinata) trees. Notice the immature thorns on the bean pods. Pau Brasil is a very thorny tree! They're to be found on the main trunk of the tree, on stems and even the bean pods.

Pau Brasil

Pau Brasil (Caesalpinia eschinata) is probably the most famous of all the trees in Brazil. As a matter of fact, the country gets its name from this tree. It's not from the Amazon, but the Atlantic Forest. In previous posts I reported on history of Pau Brasil (Brazil wood), so I won't repeat the story. I came by three of the seedlings a few years ago. One died, but the other two are doing quite well in the area next to the Bosque Santa Lucia reception center. One of the trees has flowered time and again, but it never produced fruit until this year. Image, inflorescence of Pau Brasil. More coming.

Hybiscus

As long as they get food and water, they just keep knocking our eyeballs out. They also require a lot of sunshine, which they are getting this time of the year.

Invisible spider

These spiders are real artists at becoming invisible.

Insect 2741

I would assume from the fly family. Not common. First I've seen.

Long horned beetle

Not a very good picture of this long-horned beetle, but it was a one-shot affair. I've never been too keen on using nets, but I can understand how the practice facilitates photography.

Tucumã fruit

Something took a liking to this tucumã fruit (Astrocaryum vulgre).

Yellow wings

Leftover beauty from a former butterfly.

Duranta repens

The mature fruit of pingo de ouro (Duranta repens).

Chacrona

Chacrona (Psicotria virodis) leaves and fruit. The leaves are one component for making ayahuasca tea.

Red leaves

The younger set showing off!

Lacre leaf

A newly forming lacre (Vismia sp) leaf.

Lacre, flowers and leaves

The lacre trees (Vismia sp.) are now in bloom. This tree is noted for two-colored leaves, green on the top and copper brown on the underside. In the attached image, you can see both colors.

Tarantula nest

This picture of a tarantula was taken with a flash. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen the spider in the very dark hole. That's a fairly elaborate entrance to the nest, one designed for catching the prey by suprise.

Skipper 84

Another skipper of perhaps the same species, this one with complete wings. Taken within minutes of the other skipper shown below.

Skipper 8

Looks like this skipper met up with an accident, maybe a hungry bird. The missing part of the wing didn't seem to slow it down.

Assassin bug

I've never seen this species, but I believe it to be an assassin bug. Maybe it was looking for the characters who ate up this leaf.

Cocoon

I found this cocoon very interesting in more than one way. First of all, it was attached to a board on the ground next to a small wooden house we recently constructed. The roof of house extends out from the walls about 50cm, so it was more or less protected from any possible rain. I have no idea what material was used to build the cocoon. It looks very much like fiberglass filaments. After taking the first photograph (lower image) I lifted the cocoon from the board. It was empty. Whoever had occupied the neat little womb, had left. In the top image, the space inside.

Wasp nest

It's amazing how things appear out of nowhere. Some weeks ago I was hanging an orchid from a timber on the porch when I noticed this wasp nest neatly place under an imbê vine. It's really quite large, maybe 6 inches in diameter. And full of wasps. It's high enough that it shouldn't present any eminent dangers to me or visitors.

Wild flowers, continued

I thought these flowers were from a young tree, but now I'm not sure. Maybe there were from a vine climbing up a young tree. Regardless, beautiful.

Neighbor's dog

Although I entitled this blog entry the "neighbor's dog", I have to say that in reality, I've become the owner. Not that the legitimate owner has transferred the rights over to me. It's that the dog made the decision. She adopted me and refuses to leave the Bosque Santa Lucia reception center. You see, it's a question of something basic, called food. When she showed up at our place she was still a young pup and on the verge of starving to death. I could count every bone in her body. You guessed it. She's now older and fattened up, so to speak. She's also a good watch dog. Anything that moves, gets barked at, which might explain why wild animals aren't seen around the center. Man's best friend!

Frog in palm

This little frog was safely tucked in behind an old sheath of a palm. It's a way of staying in the dark .. and away from the snakes.

Brazil nut pod

Sunlight filters through the trees to light up the stage around a Brazil nut pod.

Fungus, continued

So called "widow's fungus" because an infestation of the same is certain death for the hosts.

Palm leaf

Dead center of the universe.

Fungus

First time I've seen a fungus of this format.

Ferns on palm

I took this picture of the ferns on the Inaja palm back during the rainy season, when things were still green and fresh.

Red sawdust

I'm not really sure what's going on here. I assume termites eating the remains of this tree trunk, but I'm not sure why the large amount of sawdust coming out of the piece, or why it's red.