While this might not be a blog for everyone’s tastes, if you can move past the fear and the shivers, you will experience an often unseen piece of jungle life: the weird and wonderful mini-beasts that rule the rainforest understory.
As children, we receive mixed signals about invertebrates. While we fearlessly explore the places in which they live, climbing in caves and under logs, catching them and keeping them as pets, unfortunately for many, as we grow up, our thoughts on the matter shifts. For some, they become yet more enthused by these small creatures; but for others, they become a subject of disgust, “creepy crawlies”, to be feared and not reckoned with.
Here at the Manu Learning Centre, there is an amazing biodiversity of all things small and that inner child will often resurface upon their discovery. For some, they delight in finding, collecting and bringing back all manor of invertebrates to photograph and show other members of camp. For others, they recoil in fear.
Below is a list of 10 of the most striking invertebrates that I have encountered at the Manu Learning Centre Reserve – and hopefully, at seeing these incredible invertebrates up close, I can also put to rest some of the fears we’ve learned in association with them!
1. The Tailless whip-scorpion with its spike-equipped pincers and long legs is a viscous looking invert to say the least, but it is, in fact, harmless to humans. This tiny subject seems to be one of the most feared by new visitors and can often be seen scurrying through leaf litter on trails or near camp. In the eyes of many volunteers, no rainforest experience is complete without having this species placed on their face for a photograph. One one-month volunteer who recently visited us from Australia, saw one of these whip scorpions on her first night a the MLC and ran across to the other side of the room. By the last night of her stay, she not only held it, but had it walking all over her face!
2. These usually diurnal moths resembles flies, wasps and bees and many species are pests of fruit and other trees and shrubs. This species was photographed on a tomato plant.
3. The Amazonian Leaf-footed Bug, a type of true bug, are named as such because of the leaf-like expansions some species have on their legs. They can be found throughout South and Central America, Mexico and the southwest of the United States.
4. Jumping Spiders are aptly named as they can spring more than 50 times their own body length to land on unsuspecting prey. They hunt actively rather than catching prey in a web and they have excellent vision, with four big eyes in front and four smaller eyes on the top of their head. The 5,000 species of jumping spider (salticids) make up one of the largest families.
5. Primarily nocturnal, many katydids exhibit mimicry and camouflage, most commonly taking on the shape and look of leaves. This species, above, integrates the look of a dead and diseased leaf into its disguise. Katydids eat leaves, flowers, the stems, and fruits of many plants; a few species of katydids are also predators and will eat other insects.
6. Many tropical fulgorids are notable for their bizarrely shaped, bulbous heads and are also known as lantern flies, as the head was once thought to glow. The head mimics that of a juvenile caiman with toothlike markings down the sides and large eye spots on the hind wings.
7. Here in Manu, we have many different species of mantid including leaf, stick and moss mimics, with praying mantis’, such as that pictured above, being one of the most delicate species. The common name “praying mantid” is derived from the distinctive way in which mantids hold their front legs up and together as if in prayer.
8. This butterfly is a member of the family Riodinidae which are the least-understood of the butterfly families in the Neotropics and are possibly the richest in colour, shape, and marking. They tend to resemble other butterflies, so are often misidentified. This species is found in rainforest and humid deciduous forest at altitudes between about 200-800m above sea level.
9. This unidentified yellow hairy caterpillar was found at camp here at the Manu Learning Centre. Unlike other hairy caterpillars, this one is non-toxic and mimics that of a toxic caterpillar. I have never seen a caterpillar that is so extremely hairy – it was impossible to distinguish which end of the caterpillar I was photographing or where its feet even were!
10. Finally, the farmers of the insect world: leafcutter ants grow their own food in underground fungus farms. Pieces of leaves are carried hundreds of metres in impressive processions, with each ant carrying a piece up to 50 times its own body weight. Here at the Manu Learning Centre, colonies of leaf cutter ants are absolutely everywhere and can be seen around camp and on the trails carving roads and motorways through the forest floor.
