During May 2022 field trip in Peten, Guatemala, we found a black insect wandering around the fresh open flower of a wild Vanilla insignis orchid vine. This insect was not a bee. Since wild vanilla orchid flowers bloom only 3 hours once a year, to have an orchidologist or entomologist in front of the flower and see this insect is statistically unlikely.
We are preparing FLAAR Report on this orchid where the insect can be seen on the outside and on the inside of the open flower. By late June the report should be ready.
I saw this “owl face” while hiking along a dirt trail through the seasonally inundated bajos that surround the tasistal savannas we are searching for. Fortunately seasonally inundated also means seasonally bone dry, so hiking these many kilometers was realistic in late March this year. FLAAR has a 5-year project of cooperation and coordination with CONAP to study flora, fauna and ecosystems of the entire Reserva de la Biosfera Maya. We are focusing on studying all the varieties of savanna: low grass savanna, high sawgrass savanna (cibal), and tasiste palm savannas (tasistal). Also are making lists of all of the wild plants in these habitats that are edible (which means the Classic Maya had these plants available as food thousands of years ago).
Is this a buho or lechuza or tecolote? Those are the words in Spanish to distinguish between kinds of owls. Tecolote is derived from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Lots of towns including in Guatemala are named Teculutan (which I assume means place of the tecolotes). I drive through the town of Teculutan (Zacapa, along CA-9) a dozen times each year to reach where we are doing field trip research to find interesting flora and fauna. (ps, the shape of the area around the eyes is more like that of a buho than a lechuza).
Next step is to learn what causes these tumor-like growths to form on this particular tree. I usually see galls on trees in the Maya Highlands. On this trail we are in the Maya Lowlands. Hope this “owl face” was entertaining for you.
Join us for our "Livingston Biodiversity Documentation" where you can learn more about our projects and the achievements obtained by our team during our field trips.
This presentation will be in Spanish starting 6 PM on Thursday, 17 March.
The adventure of Biotopo Protegido San Miguel La Palotada El Zotz begins when you leave Flores, Petén. On the way you cross several communities, municipalities and towns which are very curious to know. Dos Aguadas is the last place you pass before arriving.
The Biotopo El Zotz staff was very kind and directed us to the entrance of the area, then we transferred all our luggage to the PickUp that they gave us and a 6x6 PickUp, since these cars are modified for this type of road. The camp where we were based is 20 kilometers from the main entrance. Just minutes after we arrived we saw the sky. Lots of bats were flying! They came from El Peñon de los Murciélagos. The whole team was amazed.
Our main goal on this visit was to get to Peñon de los Murciélagos to document the bats. This is an incredible place for its greatness and what lives in it. The Peñon is part of the natural escarpment that limits the Buenavista Valley. It is a limestone formation that has a large number of cracks and fissures. Bats inhabit these, most of which belong to the Pteronotus genus and 39 species have been identified.
CHIROPTERA order. Bats on El Peñón de los Murciélagos, El Zotz. Photo by David Arrivillaga. February 17th.
Did you know? The shape of the cracks causes air currents called chaltun, which contribute to the erosion of the rock.
It is worth visiting this place, since every evening thousands of bats go out in search of food, causing an impressive ecological phenomenon.
El Peñón de los Murciélagos – El Zotz. Drone Photo by Haniel López. February 16th
Caimans are related to alligators; crocodiles of course are related to crocodiles (the most famous of which are in Africa).
Guatemala and Mexico have three species: two crocodile species and one caiman (alligator relative).
Each live in slightly different eco-systems; all are endangered (their rivers and swamp eco-systems, and their own skins!).
We at FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala) are continuing our long-range project to study these remarkable reptiles. We are preparing new scientific illustrations to significantly improve the standard profile and “from above looking down” view which are in dozens of books and scores of articles and web sites.
On the walk we did in Tapon Creek Reserve in a tree, our photography assistant Randy Norales observed a reptile. At first we thought it was a salamander but when we observed it well we realized that it was an Orox (lizard). This lizard was near an opilion and in its mouth you can see some legs similar to those of this arachnid, so we think that it could have fed on it. It was easy to photograph it, as it was hardly moving.
Norops es el género que incluye alrededor de 150, anteriormente este mismo género se llamaba “Anolis”. Pertenece a la familia IGUANIDAE.
Their diet is based on invertebrates in forest litter or low vegetation. In which they include spiders, grasshoppers, larvae, eggs of other insects, pupae, termites and cockroaches. A curious fact is that they also feed on their own skin when after molting.
