Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Picture time
I'm back from Panamá and very tired, but will re-start the flow of photos now that my internet connection is more reliable. These are from Ciudad de Panamá's Parque Natural Metropolitano. First of all, a typical footpath in this urban oasis:
The next two photos show three things about one plant that can make you go "ouch". Fortunately, none of them actually inflicted any ouchies on me. Below is a bullthorn acacia. If you look closely, you can see not only the fierce-looking thorns, but the Pseudomyrmex ants that live there. They are reputed to have a potent sting, but my aspirator was too fast for them.
And third is this bell-shaped nest of Polybia wasps. I actually collected a few of these ladies as well, by waiting patiently with a net and nabbing them as they left or returned, but without actually jostling the nest. Unlike the Parachartergus on Barro Colorado, they weren't successful at finding my nose.
The next two photos show three things about one plant that can make you go "ouch". Fortunately, none of them actually inflicted any ouchies on me. Below is a bullthorn acacia. If you look closely, you can see not only the fierce-looking thorns, but the Pseudomyrmex ants that live there. They are reputed to have a potent sting, but my aspirator was too fast for them.
And third is this bell-shaped nest of Polybia wasps. I actually collected a few of these ladies as well, by waiting patiently with a net and nabbing them as they left or returned, but without actually jostling the nest. Unlike the Parachartergus on Barro Colorado, they weren't successful at finding my nose.
