Spot the leaf insects!

The pictures of leaf insects below come from a cool science story in the New York Times about this fabulous family of fantastic mimics (Phylliidae). The story has a lovely twist, as the females look like leaves while the males look like sticks, and for many years scientists thought the sexes were members of different … Continue reading Spot the leaf insects!

Spot the antlion!

Matthew sent this tweet which shows a cryptic antlion—the predatory larva of a neuropteran insect in the family Myrmeleontidae, whose flying adult looks like a lacewing. (The adults are much less well known than these predatory larvae, which I used to keep as pets as a child). This is rated very easy, but we haven’t … Continue reading Spot the antlion!

Spot the insect, from Piotr Naskrecki

Here are two lovely photos of a mimic taken by photographer/biologist/naturalist Piotr Naskrecki in Gorongosa Park in Mozambique. These appeared on his Facebook page, and I asked for permission to reproduce them. I give his captions below. I’ve also turned this into a “spot the. . .” quiz for those who want a not-too-hard puzzle. … Continue reading Spot the insect, from Piotr Naskrecki

Readers’ wildlife photo: spot the katydid

As I’m occupied today, there will be one wildlife photo, and it’ll be a “spot the. . . ” picture. It comes from reader Siegfried Gust, who sent other photos that I’ll include in the reveal. For now, spot the katydid, As Siegfried notes: Greetings from Costa Rica. I came across a lichen mimicking katydid … Continue reading Readers’ wildlife photo: spot the katydid

Here’s the katydid!

Did you find it? Here’s the original picture by Siggy, followed by the reveal, and then a photo of the insect on the lumber where he found it and on the lichen it seems to mimic. Original: Reveal: On a board: On lichen: Siggy added this: I found this PDF that seems to describe the same … Continue reading Here’s the katydid!