Jesus Christ lizard and the bugs of Costa Rica

Everywhere in Costa Rica, all the time, there's something interesting to look at or hear.  One of our days was spent on Rio Frio, watching some of the incredible wildlife, including this basilisk lizard, better known as the "Jesus Christ" lizard because of the way it walks on water.

My kids and other travel companions are always embarrassed with the way I seem to be constantly taking photos, so this photo wasn't so much a "lucky shot" as it was just one of the hundreds I was taking.

And here's a Hercules Beetle that was given to us by a store keeper in the Poas Volcano area, when she saw how enamored my son is with all things entomological:

Insect invasion

Eric LaGasa, State Entomologist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture was the speaker at last night's Scarab meeting.  Boy does this guy know his bugs!  He had a very detailed and enjoyable presentation discussing various new pests that have been discovered over the past few years, mostly new invasive creatures here to eat our apples and enjoy our lawns. Ugly critters like the European Cranefly, the European wireworm, and the Apple Clearwing Moth -- all new to our area in the past few years and, lacking natural enemies, terribly hard to control.  Yuk.

I was surprised to hear that new bugs are discovered basically by accident.  There is no funding for a systematic statewide survey.  Instead, entomologists hear about new invasive insects appearing in other places and rely on chance reportings from affected people.

One disappointment in his talk was his frequent, irrelevant diatribes against international trade.  He says, bizarrely, that apple growers (of all people) refuse to spend money to find invasive insects out of concern that their exports will suffer if other countries hear we are plagued by pests.  I guess farmers just sit back and hope the problem goes away since new pests would cost them, oh, only a few billion dollars--a small price to pay to keep those exports going.   Hopefully his future presentations will stick to entomology instead of trade bashing.

Bug Jam

Last night we went to the Bug Jam, sponsored by the Scarab Society and hosted at the University of Washington Burke Museum  I was surprised at the turnout: about 25 people of all ages, about half kids half adults.  Many of them are obviously regulars, and some of the older adults are seriously hard-core.  One woman (a teacher) came from Federal Way; another man (retired) drove from Enumclaw just for this. 

Entomologist Sharon Collman (recently profiled in the Seattle Times) led the discussion, with informal presentations by attendees showing off their latest prized finding.  There were plenty of experts on hand to identify various mysterious creatures people had with them.

One collector showed off some of his prizes, the smallest beetles on earth, captured at his home.  We also saw a wasp-like thing (I can't remember the name) that is attracted to wood fires, of all things, so it can lay eggs in places like forest fires where its young will grow up surrounded by fresh vegetation.  All-in-all an interesting event, and not to be missed if you are fascinated by the insects of the Northwest. Held the fourth Monday of each month.