Stridulations

There's no ruler here to show the scale. There are also no tricks of perspective here. The gecko on the ceiling and the katydid just below it on the wall are indeed roughly the same size. I'm guessing about four inches in length for each.

Things that I saw today that refused to pose for the camera (links available through other sites):

* Two poison-dart frogs.

* Blue morpho butterflies. They keep buzzing me in the field, in fact.

* Leafcutter ants. Well, actually, I see them every day. I'll get a good picture of the little buggers yet.

For the entomologists aboard: I've been trying to collect parasitic phorid flies from the vicinity of ant colonies, so I tried sweeping over a leafcutter trail today. Didn't get many phorids, but nabbed quite a few parasitoid wasps. In fact, I was actually bemoaning not having gotten enough bugs today when I found a eucharitid wasp in the midst of my ant sweep. For those who think it looks like a scary invader from outer space: That's nothing compared to how it makes the ants feel!