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A leaf-mimic katydid

A type of longhorn beetle (Family Cerambycidae)

A weevil

A kind of stick insect

A leaf-mimic katydid

Damselfly

A strange moth that came to the sheet at night

The insect in the center is a 'mantidfly', a very neat group that parasitizes spiders.

A click beetle (family Elateridae). The yellow spots behind its head glow in the dark.

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A country with a tropical climate that varies greatly from beach to mountain, Costa Rica features abundant and diverse insects. Return to the 2011 Costa Rica expedition page.

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Looking for aquatic beetles in a small stream at Tapanti National Park

We use a bright light to attract insects and night-- in the morning, our sheet is still covered with moths and other insects

Collecting insects at lights in Tapanti

A flight intercept trap (FIT) is used to collect dispersing insects, that fly into the screen and fall into the pans below, which hold a preservative fluid

A kind of trap for soil insects called a berlese funnel.

Taro looking for small insects from sifted leaf litter

Collecting insects requires a variety of different methods. For example, trapping insects at night might require different equipment than during the day. Some insects live in the soil, in or near water, on small plants and on trees, so collection methods change depending on the type of habitat, too. These photographs show some of the collection methods used by Andrew Short, entomology curator, during a 2010 expedition in Costa Rica. Return to the 2011 Costa Rica expedition page.

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The country is dotted with breathtaking waterfalls, as well as the insects that populate the watery habitats.

A shield-backed mantid

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Curator Andrew Short looks for insects in streams, under rocks and even in rainwater puddles.

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Curator Andrew Short collected aquatic insects in the rain forests of Costa Rica in 2010, and will return to the country with a research team in July 2011. To follow the group's work, visit the Costa Rica 2011 expedition page.

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Why mosquitoes?  Of all the amazing and beautiful rain forest animals to study, why would anyone want to work with this lowly, annoying bug that drives us crazy while sitting on porches on summer evenings?  They spread disease, too.  Why would anyone want to mess with that?

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My side project for this trip was to study arthropod diversity in two species of heliconia plants.  I worked on the project with Riley and Tom.  In both species we looked in leaf rolls and in inflorescences of the plant.  We unrolled the leaves and dissected the flower. It was interesting as with each opening it was exciting to see what kind of animals we would find.  We ended up seeing about 10 species repeatedly, but we had some surprises too.

By Bethany Christiansen

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We are all now back home, having arrived on Monday, bleary-eyed. It's been a long few days, full of travel, packing, unpacking, repacking, and airport-sitting.

We woke early to catch the boat from the CICRA field station to Laberinto, then a bus to the airport, followed by a flight back to Lima. We spent a day and a half in Lima as we pleased, and then we prepared the specimens for their flight back to the U.S.

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Just prior to leaving for Peru, I was told of the exceptional cuisine that Lima had to offer.  Before, I learned about cuy (pronounced “coo-ee”) – guinea pig.  I imagined it as the staple dish that would be on the menu of every high-end Peruvian restaurant.   It’s apparently not that meal and is, in fact, an Andean animal and is served in restaurants nearer the mountains.  Instead, I’ve found that there are a lot of other amazing tastes this country has to offer.