Saturday, March 28, 2009

Phorid (Scuttle) Flies






These flies belong to a large family called Phoridae or Scuttle Flies. They are parasites on many different invertebrates. These photos are of two species (Pseudacteon obtusus and P. tricupsis) attacks the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta). They quickly lay an egg in the thorax of the ant, then the larva hatches and migrates to the head of the ant where it eats out the head capsule, which eventually falls off!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Cats at Sirena


Margay, originally uploaded by Abbott Nature Photography.


Ocelot, originally uploaded by Abbott Nature Photography.


Mountain Lion or Puma, originally uploaded by Abbott Nature Photography.

In February of 2007, I spent some time at Sirena Biological Station on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. This is a magical place with lots of wildlife. I setup my trap camera and had amazing success capturing tapirs, white-lipped peccary, many small animals and the three cats above. Capturing all of these animals in a single month is a testimony to not only the diversity of this special place, but also the density of the wildlife.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Diving Beetle



These are aggressive predators, both as larvae and adults. They feed on other insects as well as small fish and tadpoles. The full series of shots can be viewed in the galleries at my website.

New Website

I have moved my old www.aeshna.com photographic site to www.abbottnaturephotography.com and enhanced it in many respects. I'll be adding lots of photos in many galleries over the coming months.

About Me

My photo
John is Curator of Entomology at the University of Texas at Austin. Kendra is a Professor at St. Edwards University in Austin. John has focused on dragonflies and damselflies in his career. He has two books Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-central United States and The Damselflies of Texas. He is currently working on the Dragonflies of Texas. John and Kendra are also currently both working on revising the Peterson Field Guide to Insects of North America. We have had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Latin America, Africa and other parts of the world where we enjoy taking photos of pretty much anything that will allow us to capture its image. We are lucky enough to be able to teach students about the amazing biodiversity we see and to travel and photograph together.