Archaeoprepona demophon centralis

Thanks goes to our great friend and national Lepidoptera expert, Isidro Chacon, for helping me to identify this butterfly, photographed feeding on papaya in the garden at LCO. It is Archaeoprepona demophon centralis (Nymphalidae: Charaxinae). The distribution of this species ranges between Mexico and the Amazon Basin, 0 - 1,600 meters above sea level, and in association with all forest types and old second-growth habitats.

Insy Winsy Tarantula

Having said that we known nothing about the taxonomy of Arachnids, we know enough to be able to identify this beastie - that I very nearly put my hand on, when opening the kitchen door one night - as a small Tarantula.

Charlotte's Web

We know nothing about the taxonomy of Arachnids, but here's an image of a beautiful silver metallic-backed spider. This species is common at Los Charcos. Normally, these spiders weave the central area of their web in a much thicker stitch, and in the shape of an "x", but, one evening recently, I happened to spot that this spider had woven her web in the shape of a heart.

Hamadryas laodamia saurites Part II

This image shows the female of Hamadryas laodamia saurites. It can be easily distinguished from the male of this species by the broad white bands on the fore wings.

Hamadryas laodamia saurites Part I

One of my favorite butterflies visiting Los Charcos, Hamadryas laodamia saurites. Reminiscent of Van Gogh's starry nights. This is the male of the species. This species ranges from Mexico to the Amazon Basin, from 0 - 1,000 meters above sea level, and is associated with all forest types, but most commonly those of the Atlantic lowlands.

Smilisca sordida

Here's what I think (?) is a cute little Smilisca sordida (Hylidae), commonly known as "rana de río".

Smilisca phaeota

Here's a gorgeous frog, the Masked tree frog, Smilisca phaeota (Hylidae). We found this beauty sharing a Heliconia leaf near the house with an individual of the much smaller species Smilisca sordida

The Terraces

Work has begun to install a series of terraces on the lower slopes of the garden, which will help to make better use of the space available in that area. Progress will surely be slow, as all "earthworks" at LCO are done by hand.

Ananas ananassoides in flower

Reinaldo took this photo of Ananas ananassoides (Bromeliaceae), which is flowering now in the LCO native plants garden. This plant is one of what may possibly be the only two remaining individuals of this species on the entire Osa Peninsula.

Bilbergia macrolepis

Last week, Reinaldo discovered Bilbergia macrolepis (Bromeliaceae). His discovery represents yet another new register for the flora of the Osa Peninsula. Until now, this species was known to Costa Rica on the basis of a single specimen collected by the celebrated swiss born botanist Henri Pittier (1857-1950) more than a century ago , from the vacinity of Buenos Aires in Coto Brus. Bilbergia macrolepis is easily distinguished by its characteristic and unusual bulb-like rhizomes, as can be seen here.

Fruits of Ananas ananassoides

This image shows the very attractive fruit of Ananas ananassoides (Bromeliaceae), which belongs to the same genus (Ananas) as the classic edible pineapple.

Ananas ananassoides

Bromelia plumeri is not the first species Bromeliad to be hit by beach front development in the town of Puerto Jimenez. A critical patch of Ananas ananassoides (Bromeliaceae) once existed in town. Reinaldo happened to have photographed it in 2005, but these majestic plants are now gone and in their place is a beach front concession, a cafe. This was the only example of this species known to us on the Osa Peninsula. Fortunately, we managed to rescue two individuals, these plants are currently flowering in the LCO garden, and we're hoping that they might reproduce.

An important wildlife habitat

One might think - as Costa Rican government officials (from the municipality of Golfito and... believe it or not... the ministry for energy and the environment) overseeing the said development at Preciosa and Platanares beaches clearly did - what difference do a bunch of outsized spiny pineapples make? Well, apart from their intrinsic natural beauty, and the fact these plants help to buffer the coastline, Bromelia plumieri (Bromeliaceae) forms dense, at times almost unpenetrable stands, creating a micro-habitat that provides shelter and protection to a variety of local fauna, such as this fabulous Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis) known locally as "Garoba", that we found amidst one of the mountains of now destroyed bromeliads.

Flowers of Bromelia plumieri

This is a gorgeous image showing the bright magenta inflorescence and dusky pink flowers of Bromelia plumieri (Bromeliaceae). This plant is known locally as “Piñuela” or “Piro”.

Bromelia plumieri

The battle to get to the bottom of what happened last week at the Preciosa and Platanares beaches continues. For our part, we are developing information about the flora of this unique habitat and hope to make this, and other site-based ecology files, available via our official LCO website. This is not going to change the unnecessary damage that has already been done, but could help to prevent similar ocurrances elsewhere in the future. This image shows the impressive stands of Bromelia plumieri (Bromeliaceae), which are a distinctive element of the coastal ecosystem in this particular location. It is just one of a number of plant species that were affected last week, when the Municipality of Golfito cleared out vast swathes of the local vegetation in order to make way for what, from the size of it, looks to be a future highway on the beachfront.

Dacnis cayana

On a more joyous note... Providing that it's not pouring down with rain, the LCO garden is filled with the sounds and colors of so many birds right now, with the highlight being at around 7am. The Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) also known as the blue honeycreeper, and locally known as "Mielero azulejo" is one such jewel that is visiting currently. The bird in the image was documented drinking from the liquid-filled inflorescences of Heliconia latispatha. A clear example of the benifits that planting native species has for local wildlife!

No tan preciosa!

We spent the day checking out the damage done by the municipality of Golfito during the past couple of days at Playa Preciosa, an important wildlife habitat and one of our favourite beach spots on the Peninsula. We hope to follow this post with more information shortly, so watch this space!

Heliconia irrasa

Just so it's clear that we do have a hand in with plants (and not just with reptiles and amphibians!) here is a recent shot of Heliconia irrasa (Heliconiaceae), a small growing (to ca. 70cm tall) member of this much-loved and highly ornamental genus. This species is flowering currently in the LCO native plants garden and throughout its natural range on the Osa Peninsula.

The big one!

The bushmaster (Lachesis muta) is the largest pitviper in the New World tropics and confined to tropical lowland wet forest, ranging from southern Central America to northern South America. It is a pale fawn color with some fairly distinctive black triangular markings. Check out the webpages of Digimorph at UT Austin (under the all too aptly named "Deep Scaly Project") for some sobering craneal models and more information relating to this species.

The Bushmaster Lachesis muta

... and this was what was coiled in waiting at the base of the plant! A near 3 meters long Bushmaster pitviper (Lachesis muta) known locally as "Matabuey" (meaning "Bull killer") or "Plato Negro" ("Black Plate" - pressumably in reference to the coloration of the head). This is the only individual of this species that Reinaldo has seen in his 20 some years of field work, and we hope that's how it will stay!

On the road to San Juan

Back to the year 2002. I was pregnant with Nilo, so stayed home (at that time home was a very civilized second floor apartment in Santo Domingo de Heredia) whilst Reinaldo was in the field in Osa for 3 weeks. During that trip, whilst he was on the road for San Juan (arriba), he spotted Heliconia irrasa (a small, attractive understory forest species, which happens to be in flower currently in the LCO native plants garden and elsewhere on the peninsula). The red arrow in this image shows the position of the individual plant in question, on a steep roadside embankment ....

Los Mogos

Inspite of the fact that the rainy season is well underway, yesterday was just like a Summer's day. We were out in the field, collecting near Los Mogos. Here, several excellent miradors exist (such as the one featured in the image above) overlooking the Golfo Dulce and other parts of the Osa Peninsula.

"Bioalphabetizacion" - Dictionary of Biodiversity

Recently, Reinaldo received a great gift from an old friend and colleague, Dr. Maarten Kappelle, a copy of the newly published book Diccionario de la Biodiversidad (Editorial INBio, 2008). Nilo claims the gift as his own, and since it arrived has not been able to put it down! The book provides straight forward definitions (in Spanish) for hundreds of words and technical terms relating to the diversity of life on Earth -- from "abdomen" to "zooxantelas" -- and includes fascinating photographic illustrations, as well as many beautifully executed line drawings by other talented friends of ours, such as Francisco "Pancho" Quesado-Q. We recommend this book to nature enthusiasts, both young and old!

Heliconia longiflora

This image shows an inflorescence of the highly ornamental Heliconia longiflora (Heliconiaceae), which is flowering right now in the LCO native plants garden, as well as in its natural environment throughout the Osa Peninsula.

Eye eye!

Here are the gorgeous Gladiator frogs (Hyla rosenbergi) up close.

Catch of the day

Nilo with two Gladiator frogs, also known as Rosenberg's tree frog (Hyla rosenbergi).

See how s/he shines!

This image shows the rainbow-petroleum like sheen of it'sskin. Perhaps s/he had recently moulted. We are very pleased to have spotted a few of these magnificent beasts at LCO over time as they are becoming increasingly rare. The problem being that, at a glance, their pattern might be confused with that of a venemous snake species, such as the Fer-de-Lance viper (and local people take no chances!)and also that they have an unfortunate habit of eating people's chickens!

Beautiful Boa

This is a beautiful Boa constrictor that Reinaldo found on one of the LCO forest trails on Sunday afternoon.

Rice Fields

A recently planted field of rice (Oryza sp. - Poaceae) can be seen from a mirador on the edge of the forest at Los Charcos. Together with the African oil palm (Elaesis guineensis - Arecaceae) rice is one of the major economic crops cultivated on the Osa Peninsula. It easy to identify, due to its carpet-like appearance and its charcteristic brilliant emerald color.

Carnivorous wasp

Whilst the snake (Leptophis ahatulla) was eating the frog (Hyla rosenbergi) a carnivorous wasp arrived on the scene and was attempting to join in with the feast. These wasps are known locally as "Carniceros". Please contact us if you think you recognise the species of wasp.

In the process of being eaten

These images show various stages in the process of a frog (Hyla rosenbergi) being eaten by a snake (Leptophis ahatulla).

Snake eating a frog

A few days ago, I was in the garden, when I heard a stange, beeping call. It was pretty loud. It turned out to be a green parrot snake, known locally as "Lora falsa" (Leptophis ahatulla), that had managed to catch a Gladiator frog, also known as Rosenberg's tree frog (Hyla rosenbergi). As the image shows, the snake had captured the frog by its rear end, and held it there clamped in it's jaws for some time, until the frog finally died. At some point (although, we did not observe this part of the process) it managed to turn the frog, and proceeded to devour it head first. It is truly amazing that this snake, not much thicker than a adult human's finger, managed to swallow what is one of the larger frog species to be found here at Los Charcos. The size ratio can clearly be seen here.

Central American Tree Boa, or "Boa Manglar" - Corralus ruschenbergerii

A Central American Tree Boa, known locally as "Boa Manglar" (we suspect probably the same individual as visited and stayed with us last year) has recently moved from the toolshed to the house, and sits in the rafters, when not out basking in the morning sun or hunting bats by night. Apparently, Corralus ruschenbergerii is one of the longest species in the genus. Ours is ca. 2 meters. We found a nifty site about these attractive snakes at: http://www.corallus.com

The Smoky Jungle Frog, or "Rana Toro" - Leptodactylus pentadactylus

Now that rainy season is well underway and all of the little creatures of the night forest are showing up on our doorstep (!) we recently had the chance to photograph this gorgeous specimen of Leptodactylus pentadactylus, locally known as "Rana Toro", and with the fabulous common name of Smoky Jungle Frog. This is one pretty large, pretty fast frog. Too fast even for Nilo! Those markings around its mouth give it a pretty sharp-toothed look too!

"Cherepo" - The Casque-Headed Lizard

With all of these reptiles you'd never guess that we specialize in plants! Here is another fine lizard encountered in the Los Charcos forest reserve. It is Corytophanes cristatus, the casque-headed lizard, locally known as "cherepo". An expert at camoflauge and a little on the vicious side, this lizard can - and most likely will - give you a nasty nip! Both sexes of this genus are crested, but only on the head, unlike the closely related Basiliscus lizards (now I'll have to get a shot of one of those posted!), which display developed crests on the head, dorsal and tail regions, but only the males.

A Red Herring... A False Chameleon!

We heard from Chris Anderson at UCBerkely (California) that our recent squamate visitor was not in fact a chameleon but a false one! Polychrus gutturosus . Our friends, Costa Rican expert herpatologists Mamoot Sasa and Frederico Bolaños, tell us that these are essentially arboreal lizards, which pass their time in the tree canopy and are therefore little known. Their distribution ranges from Honduras to Ecuador and Amozonian Peru. Here is another photo, this time showing a darker skin cast.

The Happy Herper

Nilo is wild about ALL lizards, so he was naturally delighted by this jewel!

The Changling!

It's been a few days since we've posted any news because we are working on development of the image gallery pages for the official LCO website (as well as there being some serious grant writing underway!). Whilst I was watching some birds from the balcony of the house - that has to be one of THE best nature viewing spots on the whole Peninsula - Something in the bushes caught my eye. A dead leaf? A snake? Wait... it's a strangle looking lizard. Reinaldo came up from the lower garden and managed to lure the creature down from it's perch on the end of a long stick, and it turned out to be a truly gorgeous chameleon! After more than a decade of field work in the region, Reinaldo has never seen or heard of one of these creatures, and we suspect that they must be rather rare.

Butterfly - Eunica pomona pomona

A new record for Los Charcos, Eunica pomona pomona (NYMPHALINAE). Of all the plants we have on offer, this gorgeous black and electric blue winged butterfly came visiting a cardboard box!

Glorious morning!

A friend writes after reading the Los Charcos blog, "Too many snakes! I doubt I will ever step out of the balcony if I were there". And with a view like this, why would you want to? I took this photo of the mist filled valley at the foot of Cerro Rincon at 5am this morning.

Venomous or non-venomous?

Ok, here's a good opportunity to compare venomous and non-venomous snakes. The image on the lefthand side depicts a juvenille Terciopelo (Bothrops asper), this is a deadly venomous viper and, as you can see, the head scales are uniformly small and the head itself is distinctly arrow-shaped. The image on the righthand side is of a False Terciopelo (Xenodon rabdocephalus) a non-venomous snake, and as you can see, the scales infront and just behind the eyes are larger than the other scales on this snake's head. The head is rounder (although, many non-venomous snakes inflate their cheeks to look more viper-like). My advice to you is, respect all snakes. Never harrass them to perform. It's better to assume that a snake is venomous. And remember, even non-venomous snakes can bite, and many of these bites cause allergic reaction or infection.

False Terciopelo - Xenodon rabdocephalus

This afternoon, whilst clearing up the workshop, Reinaldo found this False Terciopelo (Xenodon rabdocephalus) under black plastic bag and clearly having had a good meal recently. It would be easy to be fooled by this non-venomous mimic, and when it inflates its cheeks it looks distinctly viperish. But in the False Terciopelo, the head scales are variable in size (both large and small). A true, deadly venomous, Terciopelo has consistently small scales on its head (all the same size). Infact that's how to distinguish between venemous and non-venomous snakes. But the rule is, don't get close enough to any snake to inspect the size of its head scales! Reinaldo nearly stepped on an adult Terciopelo (ca. 2 meters!) on a forest trail this morning, at around 9am. So they seem to be out and about now, with the onset of the rainy season.

Cyclanthus bipartitus

This series of images follows the progress of the opening of the inflorescence of Cyclanthus bipartitus (CYCLANTHACEAE). A clear demonstration of the advantages that a field botanist has when they live side-by-side with their study subjects. Image times, (from left to right): 6pm (7th May 2008), 9:30pm (7th May 2008), 7am (8th May 2008), 10am (8th May 2008). You'll be hard pushed to find images of this plant, nevermind fresh and in flower. These gorgeous ones were taken by Reinaldo. Of course! Cyclanthus bipartitus is one of my favorites in our native plants garden. Infact, the genera Asplundia, Carludovica, and Cyclanthus are all represented in the garden at this time and make very attractive regional ornamental species.

Little Hermit - Phaethornis longuemareus

This is not a great photo that I have taken this afternoon, but I was so pleased to even get this hummingbird, or Colibre, in the picture. (I plan to keep trying for a better shot, though!) It's Phaethornis longuemareus, the Little Hermit, or Ermitaño enano. It's feeding from Calathea lutea, which is proving a popular plant with both hummingbirds and butterflies. A mere 9cm, this miniature bird weighs in at just 2.6g. It's distribution is from Costa Rica to western Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.

Larvae of Rhino Beetle - Cornezuelo

Nilo (then aged 3 years) holding the larvae of a rhino beetle.

Rhino Beetle - Cornezuelo

Nobody got much sleep last night with this fella dive bombing the metal roof laminas every 5 minutes. Somebody told me that the Rhino beetle (DYNASTIDAE), or Cornezuelo, spends as much as 18 years in the larval stage. We found a larvae of this species a couple of years back. It was impressive (and would have made quite a feast!) I will try to dig out the photos of it and post one here. Sadly, people like to rip the horns off and have it dipped in gold and made into a necklace charm... charming!

Butterfly - Eurybia lycisca

Using Reinaldo's (!) copy of the book Butterflies and Moths of Costa Rica, (I. Chacon & J. Montero, Inbio, 2007) I was easily able to identify this butterfly (LYCAENIDAE - Eurybia lycisca) that I photographed here in the garden yesterday, on Calathea lutea.

Look again!

When Reinaldo went back to photograph the Terciopelo that I had nearly stepped on, he realized that it's male partner was just a few feet off (above center of image - would you have spotted this?). We hadn't seen it the first time. Our neighbors say that October and November is mating season and that's why these snakes come onto the forest trails . Maybe there is truth in this. They also say that you must kill Mussurana, or Zopilota (Clelia clelia) snakes as these mate with Terciopelo and make more Terciopelos, which is clearly not true! Perhaps this local falacy came about when someone witnessed a Mussarana - a blue-black, non-venomous snake, of up to ca. 3 meters - eating a Terciopelo, which the species is famed for doing. For a great photo and account of this surprising behaviour, check out Jack Ewing's page at: http://www.travelblogs.com/articles/a-terciopelos-nightmare/

Femme fatal

This morning, a juvenille Fer-de-Lance viper, or Terciopelo, (Bothrops asper) struck at me on one of the forest trails. Luckily, it being only 12" long, and me being about a meter away, it missed! Last November, we were cleaning up the trails and I narrowly missed standing on this deadly beauty, which was coiled right on the edge of the trail. A pretty impressive photo taken by Reinaldo and a sobering reminder of why it is forbidden to enter the LCO forest trails in sandals or sneakers!

Amazing Growth

This picture gives a good idea of how much re-growth has taken place in the gardens during the past 2 years. Basically, everything you see here except for the Palms!