Peruvian Amazon

[moloch]

... another skipper:



I will add the shot of the Arcius Swordtail (Rhetus arcius) once again. Such a beauty!



Satyrinae were abundant in the forest interior. Many had clear or translucent wings. The most interesting was Cithaerias phantoma but I only obtained a single poor photo of it. Its wings were clear with a rose-coloured patch on the lower wings. In the dark understorey of the forest, only the rose was visible.

The following species was the most common of the larger Satyrinae at Santa Cruz.
Pierella sp.




Another Pierella sp.



More satyrinae:

[Blue Nawab]

I will add the shot of the Arcius Swordtail (Rhetus arcius) once again. Such a beauty!

Wow David, what fabulous expedition you had ....the Arcius Swordtail was a real beauty..radiant colour it had. Thanks for the sharing.

[moloch]

Thanks, CherHern.

I think that Rhetus include some of the most beautiful of butterflies.



Jumping Stick Insects (Apioscelis sp., Proscopiidae): These insects have the most unusual heads and faces. Another name for these orthopterans is Horse-headed Grasshoppers. I think this these almost look like Disney characters.
grinning?




Black-and-White Monkey Hopper (Eumastacidae): These were really odd hoppers that we saw a number of times near the headquarters. I think that the monkey hoppers must also live in Malaysia. I saw grasshoppers that resembled this one at Taman Negara.




Aeroplane Grasshopper (Paramastax sp., Eumastacidae).




Leaf-mimic Katydid (Typophyllum erosum): This animal was a huge and resembled a leaf. It even had brown "damaged" areas.




One of the beautifully disguised Dead-leaf Katydids.




This hopper had interesting eyes.




... looked much like a dead leaf:




Helicopter Damselfly (family Pseudostigmatidae): I read about these on the net. Most Dragonflies/damselflies usually will eat about anything that they can catch. This family, however, is unusual and it has a specialized diet. These eat mostly spiders that they pluck from webs. The insects apparently learn the location of the the spider webs in their territories and then visit these at times to "harvest" the spiders. This family is only found in the neotropics.

In the dark interior of the forest, the yellow spots on the wingtips were conspicuous but the remainder of the damselfly was hard to see. It looked odd to see these yellow spots in motion and not see anything else.

[moloch]

Pink Millipede: This millipede was quite colourful.




I really like the flared hind legs of this Hemipteran, Anisoscelis foliacea (Coreidae)





Another Coreidae:




Avicularia sp.




The Margarita Tour ended all too soon and we headed back to Iquitos for a day.



My friends and I had a look at the city of Iquitos and also returned to the viewing areas of the Rio Itaya to scan for birds.





That evening, we had a final group dinner and the following morning, most of the participants flew home.

[moloch]

My friends and I arrived in Iquitos four days before the start of the Margarita Tour and we also stayed an extra day after the completion of the tour. We spent most of these extra days out in the white sand forests of the Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve. This reserve was located approximately 45 minutes by taxi from Iquitos and along the Nauta Road. Allpahuayo Mishana was one of the few places near Iquitos that supported primary forest although this was stunted due to the nutrient deficient sands.

While the trees may not have been all that impressive, the bird life was superb and quite different to what we found at Madre Selva or Santa Cruz. The reserve was particularly good for forest birds and many of these were white sand specialists. Some of the birding highlights included our first Paradise Tanagers, Swallow Tanagers, Swallow-wings, Black Caracaras, Gould's Jewelfront, Brown-banded Puffbirds, Yellow-billed Nunbird, White-necked Puffbirds, Paradise Jacamar, Yellow-billed Jacamar, Ancient Antwren, Yellow-browed Antbird, Plain-throated Antwren, Zimmer's Antwren, Dwarf Tyrant Manakin, Sulphur-bellied Tyrant Manakin, Spangled Cotinga and many more.

Especially memorable to me was the incredible call of Screaming Pihas. We heard them repeatedly but never actually saw these drably coloured birds. For those of you unfamiliar with this amazing sound, have a listen to the recording by Don Jones at this site. To me, it is one of the defining bird songs of South America.

http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php...screaming+piha


There was basic camping available in the park but we found it more comfortable to stay in Iquitos and arrange a taxi pickup at 5am for the trip out to the reserve. Our taxi was not expensive and the driver was reliable and always returned at the designated time.


Vegetation along the trail included many myrmecophytic melastomes. Ants that lived within the melastomes were tiny but they could sting! I experienced their stings a few times when I was careless about where I walked while chasing antbirds.






The sand forests were the home of an absolutely stunning amphibian, the Red-backed Poison Frog (Dendrobates reticulatus). These frogs were usually seen as they sat atop leaves or fallen logs. They were tiny animals that also were wary. I was surprised at how far they could jump and I lost them often when then jumped a time or two and then plunged beneath the leaf litter. One afternoon, Ted spotted one of these several meters up in a tree. The frog hopped downwards from leaf to leaf and soon reached the leaf litter. These little frogs could obviously ascend into the canopy when they so desired.




The habitat along the side trails was rich with orchids and bromeliads.

[moloch]

We all had a good laugh when we found these flowers. We were told that the name of this flower is "Hot Lips". I wonder why?



Ted and Percy, our Peruvian bird guide, in the stunted forest.




... terrestrial bromeliad:




We found this impressive Buprestid beetle while we walked here. It crashed down from the canopy and thumped onto the trail in front of us. I was told that this is a Ceiba Borer.





Streams in the forest were heavily stained with tannins:





The band in the wing of this damselfly matched the colour of the flowering bromeliads:




Scarlet Peakcock (Anartia fatima) -- common along edges of roads or the periphery of the forest.




White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) -- another common roadside butterfly.

[Leopard Lacewing]

Thanks for sharing, David! Beautiful records

Cheers!

[Painted Jezebel]

The Helicopter Damsel appears to be Mecistogastor ornata, having checked on www.Neotropic-Dragonfly.net. There are a few photos of the species there, but not of the quality of your picture, and none from Peru. The other Damselfly species, the one with the delightful pink patches, is not shown at all on the entire site.