More cool insect tricks

This leaf-mimicking mantis lurked inside the lampshade in our cabin in the Selva, stalking prey that was drawn to the light.

Kamascap - mutualism in the Selva

Just got home from a field trip to the Selva Lacandona with the restoration ecology course I'm coordinating. It was no suprise to Helda, my entomologist wife, that the coolest thing I saw had to do with social insects. I was following Adolfo, the young Lacandon milpero who was showing us around, when he suddenly stopped and hacked into a termite nest at the side of the trail. After a couple of careful chops, he reached in and pulled out...a chunk from a nest of stingless bees! As we sampled the delicious, drippy honey (immature bees and all), Adolfo explained that this kind of bees always nests inside termite nests and that the termite nests , in turn, are often on jobo (Spondias mombin) trees. When he noticed the waxy entrance to the behive emerging from the jobo trunk, he knew there was honey to be found inside the adjacent termite nest. He also assured me that both nests would recover from our depredations. The Lacandon have a name for this association, something like "kamascap," meaning termite-bee. The photo shows the bee hive in the core of the termite nest. The entrance tube is out of focus on the left side of the tree trunk.

And that is so remarkable that it inspired me to start this blog, to which I imagine I will be posting most erratically.