Posted August 03, 2020

	Butterflies with “owl eyes” are well known around the Americas. The evolution of this owl eye is to scare off predators. While doing research for an upcoming FLAAR report on owls of Mesoamerica I came across this photograph in our ethnozoology photo archive, so I would like to post it now because I noticed the snake-like face (with “reptile scales’ at the top back of it’s wings.
Click to enlarge image

	I turned the wing 90 degrees so you could more easily see the two eyes of the snake (and it’s “nose”). To understand the third eye I would need to find this butterfly again elsewhere and photograph from an extra angle.
Click to enlarge image

This was photographed at Auto Safari Chapin, a park with lots of interesting local plants and insects (plus animals). I was able to identify it as the Yellow-fronted Owl-Butterfly, Caligo telamonius.

There are lots of other butterflies with owl eye tricks on each lower wing. As soon as we return to continue fieldwork in the Caribbean area of the Municipio de Izabal, Guatemala, we will see how many butterflies we can find, photograph, and identify.

Posted June 16, 2020

	We highly recommend these books. The identification guide is a super helpful checklist. We are sending each of our flora-and-fauna scouts a copy of this essential book. This way they can more easily identify insects in areas so remote there is no Internet to search on Google. We thank Jiichiro Yoshimoto for providing these books for our team.

Posted May 26, 2020

While doing research on a species of Howler Monkey that in Guatemala is only found in Izabal (not far from Honduras) I found a list of endangered endemic species that listed two frog species that are barely known outside the Santa Cruz Mountain area of Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala.

• Craugastor trachydermus, family Craugastoridae
• Ptychohyla santaecrucis Chinamococh stream frog, family Hylidae

So as soon as the coronavirus travel shutdown in lifted (hopefully by July), we will keep our eyes open for these two species of endangered frogs when we return to accomplish more field work in remote areas of the Municipio de Livingston.

In the meantime, Juana Lourdes Wallace Ramírez already in March 2020, found a Heliconia in Chocon Machacas that had a bright colored frog Metasesarma aubryi.

David Arrivilaga, María Alejandra Gutierrez and I photographed it (see lower down on the NEWS posts on this home page).

Posted May 26, 2020

The rare Mantled Howler Monkey, Alouatta palliata, is not in Peten nor Alta Verapaz. The “rust colored back” Mantled Howler Monkey, Alouatta palliata, is in the Municipio de Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala. More are on the east side of the Rio Motagua (towards Honduras, where Alouatta palliata it occurs from Honduras through the rest of Central America, and through South America to northern Peru).

Alouatta palliata is also in Veracruz, Chiapas, and Tabasco, Mexico. But no longer in adjacent Peten. Wikipedia is totally incorrect in a copy-and-paste error claiming Alouatta palliata is in Chiquimula, Guatemala. No, sorry, only in two areas of Izabal: along one segment of Rio Dulce and east of Rio Motagua.

We will work to find, photograph, and publish flora and fauna of the Caribbean area of Guatemala, the Livingston area, from July or August onward (as soon flights from USA are allowed back into Guatemala, hopefully in July).

The popular Alouatta pigra, known as the Guatemalan black howler monkey, is easy to see, and hear, at Tikal and especially at Yaxha. This Guatemalan black howler can also be seen and heard at Las Guacamayas biological research station, Rio San Pedro (Peten). This howling monkey is also present in northern Alta Verapaz and well known for forested areas of Izabal (so there are two species in Izabal; but one in Peten and Alta Verapaz).

Posted May 21, 2020

When a tasistal with thousands or savanna with clusters of tasiste palm trees is set on fire all the bird nests, all the turtles, and lots of mammals are killed. It would be a great thesis topic, or topic for a peer-reviewed journal article, for a zoologist to study the Acoelorrhaphe wrightii tasiste palm tasistal areas in the Petexbatun area, Municipio de Sayaxche, Peten, Guatemala, Central America. With their results it could be easier to initiate programs to save these fragile ecosystems.

We visited, photographed, and documented the principal plants in these areas but to study the animals best if a zoology or ecology team spend a plenty of time at the comfortable local Hotel Ecologico Posada Caribe. This hotel is less than a kilometer from the larger of the two tasistal areas; and about an hour or so from the second tasistal area (perhaps 40 minutes by boat and then by foot 20 minutes, keeping in mind that access to the Faisan area tasistal is not as easy due to annual flooding, or in dry season no boat can pass there). But the larger Arroyo Petexbatun Tasistal is reachable all year easily.

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Tasistal Arroyo Petexbatun, photos from ground level part I

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Tasistal Arroyo Petexbatun, drone photos part II

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Tasistal Arroyo Faisan, photos from ground level part I

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Tasistal Arroyo Faisan, drone photos part II

Posted May 13, 2020

This is to download the 6MB version
This is to download the 27MB version

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This series of photographs of ecosystems of Izabal and Peten is available in two formats, 6MB and 27MB. You can post this, share it, use in in your classrooms presentations (no permission required).

The Spanish original (with video and voice) is already available below. The PowerPoint (in .pdf format, above) is updated with additional written text.