Sofía Muñoz-Tobar

Dorsal view of Panabachia species

Twenty two new species of beetles from Ecuador’s páramo and cloud forest offer a rare glimpse into ecosystems that remain largely unexplored. Species names pay tribute to sites, communities and cultural traits of the Ecuadorian Andes zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1583... #Biodiversity #Ecuador #bugs

Plate of 10 dorsal photographs of new Panabachia species, with scale bars showing each to be roughly 1mm in length. They are somewhat typical pselaphine rove beetles, short-bodied, brownish-orange, with short elytra and clubbed antennae. The species are as follows: A. Panabachia pahuma; B. P. pastazae; C. P. romeroi; D. P. salebrosa; E. P. urbana; F. P. carltoni; G. P. patera; H. P. vigilans; I. P. perdita; J. P. ambulans.

Male genitalia photos of nine new Panabachia species. Most have a thin and curved median lobe with coiled lateral accessory sclerites. Two on the bottom are more rounded with fimbriate apices, while a third at bottom right is asymmetrical with a coiled lateral plate. The species are as follows: A. Panabachia papallacta; B. P. ananay; C. P. cayambi; D. P. cryptica; E. P. caranqui; F. P. patera; G. P. vigilans; H. P. perdita; I. P. ambulans.

In her dissertation, @smunoztobar.bsky.social showed that there was a diverse radiation of Panabachia in high-elevation Andean páramo habitats (doi.org/10.3390/inse...).

Now most of these have proper names, with 22 species described in our latest paper, in ZooKeys: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Cretaceous amber of Ecuador unveils new insights into South America’s Gondwanan forests - Communications Earth & Environment Cretaceous amber from the Ecuadorian Napo region provides exceptional evidence of a resinous forest ecosystem and diverse arthropod fauna in equatorial Gondwana, as revealed by integrated analyses of ...

A groundbreaking discovery from the Hollín formation in the province of Napo- Ecuador, gives an insight into Amazonian plant and arthropods biodiversity during the Cretaceous #Biodiversity #Ecuador www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Adult of Zeus longipes

Immature of Zeus longipes

Spotted this milkweed assassin bug (Zelus longipes) on Salvia plants at Quito's Botanical Garden, hunting for flies. Here the adult and immature #Quito #bugs #biodiversity #Ecuador

The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth

"The unknown is made up of small organisms, such as insects, mites, and crustaceans. These species are the nuts and bolts of ecosystems. And most of them have yet to be identified."

www.vox.com/down-to-eart...

Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador - EFEverde Investigadores de instituciones de Ecuador y Estados Unidos describieron doce nuevas especies de escarabajos del género Bibrax (Fletcher, 1927), informó este miércoles el Instituto Nacional ecuatorian...

Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador efeverde.com/describen-do...

Here the Ecuadorian Hermit Crab (Coenobita compressus) from the coast of Esmeraldas-Ecuador #biodiversity #seashore #hermitcrab #Esmeraldas #Ecuador

#Ecuador #biodiversity #Pselaphinae #leaflitter #Clemson #INABIO

#Ecuador #biodiversity #beetles

Here's a subtropical beauty—Vanessa carye—spotted at the Quito Botanical Garden. This butterfly species ranges all the way from Venezuela down to Patagonia #lepidoptera #southamerica #ecuador #insects

Male and female of Thygater, over flowers at the Jardín Botánico de Quito

I have been enjoying watching the Andean Black Longhorn bee (Thygater aethiops) at Quito's Botanical Garden. Here the male and female over a shrubby Fuchsia (Fuchsia paniculata) #nativebees #biodiversity #insects #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito

Mica lake in Napo Province

I was really lucky to spend the day in Antisana National Park and enjoy this amazing ecosystem #paramo #Biodiversity #Ecuador

Casa de Humboldt it was a resting site that Humboldt used before trying to climb Mt Antisana

Here Humboldt's house at Antisana National Park, Province of Napo, Ecuador from our last visit #paramo #Biodiversity

Here a Narrow-banded Dartwhite (Archonias flisa) from Quito's Botanical Garden #Biodiversity #Ecuador #insects #JardinBotanicodeQuito

Glittery green weevil

Close up of the glitter

A weevil at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Easily found by following the trail of glitter he leaves behind everywhere he goes.

But really- this glitter weevil is always amazing to see and a real wonder of the world. Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.

Different varieties of potatoes

Mashua, another Andean tubercle

Here is some of the diversity of potatoes 🥔🌿 and tubercules from the highlands of #Ecuador 🇪🇨

Portrait of a purple and yellow katydid

Portrait of a purple and yellow katydid

A portrait of the charismatic Crayola Katydid (Moncheca sp) hanging out at Wildsumaco in Ecuador. Having held SO many similar (Copiphorini) katydids, it’s jarring to be met with these bright, in your face colors. Other than being purple this guy, and his green relatives, are excellent grass mimics

Xylocopa pollinating a Lamiaceae at the Botanical Garden in Quito

Happy world bee day 🐝🐝 #Biodiversity #Ecuador #nativebees #Xylocopa #JardinBotanicodeQuito

Trichoceros (Orchidacea) is an amazing example of bug mimicry #biodiversity #mimicry #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito

A fly with a blue abdomen, yellow thorax, head, and legs, red eyes, and clear wings with black markings. It has a hammerhead shaped head with red eyes at the ends of eye stalks. The fly is standing on the underside of a leaf.

Hello new followers, in addition to birds I spend the warmer months chasing bugs. Here is a fun one for #FlyWeek, a stalk-eyed fly found in the Ecuadorian cloud forest.
(Richardia stylops), El Septimo Paraiso Lodge, Ecuador

Have you stopped to appreciate a cockroach lately? Cockroaches get a lot of unjustified hate for simply existing. Species like this yellow glass cockroach (Chorisoneura sp.) from Ecuador can be charming if you take the time to view them in a positive light. I think it's beautiful!

Astylus bourgeoisi found in Parque Bicentenario, Quito Ecuador

Astylus bourgeoisi, a common soft winged flower beetle found in the Ecuadorian highlands #Beetles #Ecuador #Biodiversity #Andes

A beautiful pill scarab that I found in dead leaves in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Ceratocanthine are known for their ability to conglobate: rolling into a nearly perfect ball to avoid predators. They use the ball-mode even during inactivity - perhaps it's a way for them to rest too.

#Ecuador #Biodiversity #Beetles

Flattened orange tortoise beetle larvae ringed by bristly black projections capped with an irregular brown clump of feces & bits of discarded exoskeleton, resting on a green leaf with feeding damage.

Viewed from above, there is flattened orange tortoise beetle larvae ringed by bristly black projections capped with an irregular brown clump of feces & bits of discarded exoskeleton which has been partially raised to reveal part of the dorsal side.

Viewed from above against the leaf where it rests, there is flattened orange tortoise beetle larvae ringed by bristly black projections capped with an irregular brown clump of feces & bits of discarded exoskeleton which has been partially raised to reveal most of dorsal side.

Viewed from above against the leaf where it rests, there is flattened orange tortoise beetle larvae ringed by bristly black projections capped with an irregular brown clump of feces & bits of discarded exoskeleton which has been raised & extended beyond the rear of the larvae, completely exposing its dorsum.

If “living your best life” means hiding under a personal poopy #parasol, you might be #tortoise #beetle #larva. Predators find the look/taste unappetizing. This #Cassidinae species from #Ecuador can raise & lower their sh*t shield like a fancy man tipping his top hat to lady on the way to the opera!

💙a metallic blue rove beetle for your Monday morning💙

fantastic Plochionocerus sp seen during a 2019 trip to Ecuador - which produced some of the wildest Staphylinids I've seen 🙇

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Long tailed skipper resting horizontally on a forest leaf with green head thorax with some blue green color showing on the exposed dorsal part of the abdomen. The underside of the wing is mostly light brown and is marked with a mix of dark brown and light specks and splotches. Species is Urbanus pronta

Long-tailed skipper resting upright on a forest leaf. It has white wing tails and a conspicuous white posterior area along the wing margin.The body and wings are brown with dark brown spots and red-brown patches. Species is Cogia crameri.

Stunning orange-winged skipper with opaque tan wing windows and some linear arrays of dark spots toward the posterior and middle of the fore and hind wings. Its ruby-red eyes bulge from the head which is capped with an orange scaly flattop. Species is Euriphellus euribates

Beautiful skipper with a green head and thorax resting upright on a forest leaf. The brown undersides of its wings bear a prominent posterior white patch that seems smeared from the bottom to the middle. Species is in the Telegonus genus (formerly Astraptes)

Super Skipper Sunday. On Super Sunday (or any day of the week), tropical #skippers (#Hesperiidae) are superb. Their colors, spots, speckles & long tails put our mostly brown & boring temperate examples to shame. #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Ecuador #Insect (1/2)

A photo looking straight down at a brown moth, its wings open flat on the brown decaying wood and leaf litter of a forest floor. The wings are intricately banded and spotted with varying shades of brown and tan, with a few rows of black dots. The moth is oriented symmetrically in the frame, head down, wings straight out to the sides.

Here is your Monday Morning Moth. I love the combination of a simple color scheme and intricate pattern. Just an A+ insect. Seen in the cloud forest near Mindo, Ecuador. 🐙🌿📷

Mt. Cotopaxi before the rain

Mt. Cotopaxi after the rain

I will never get tired of these views. Spent the day in the route of the volcanoes, here Mt. Cotopaxi before and after the rain #Cotopaxi #Ecuador

Had a really nice morning collecting leaf litter in Parque Arqueológico Rumipamba. Apart from the ruins of the first inhabitants of Quito, there are ancestral pathways (culuncos) and native plants in this site 🌿 Hopefully we will find some interesting beetles 🐞 🪲 #culuncos #Ecuador