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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar

@smunoztobar.bsky.social
327 followers 267 following 36 posts

Ecuadorian Entomologist | Love the Andes & beetles | Alumni: PUCE, University of Kansas and Clemson University Currently at Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INABIO) #Andes #beetles #Ecuador

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Reposted by Sofía Muñoz-Tobar
Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Clemson University Arthropod Collection is 100 years old and still going strong! Grateful to the university for helping us celebrate this milestone. news.clemson.edu/a-century-of...
news.clemson.edu
A century of insects
The Clemson University Arthropod Collection turns 100 this year, and the data it contains is more valuable to the University's land-grant mission than ever. The Clemson University Arthropod Collection...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Happy to share our latest paper! We’ve described a brand-new species discovered in the high-altitude Ecuadorian páramo 🏔️🌱 doi.org/10.1649/0010...
doi.org
A New Brachypterous Species of Lebia Latreille (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from the Ecuadorian Páramo, and Description of the Male of Lebia paramicola Moret, 2005
Se describe e ilustra una nueva especie del género de carábidos Lebia Latreille, 1802. Esta representa la segunda especie de Lebia conocida para el páramo en Ecuador, después de Lebia paramicola Moret, 2005, cuyo macho también se describe por primera vez. Ambas especies son braquípteras, un rasgo único entre las especies descritas del género Lebia.
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Nancy 🪲SciBugs🪲 Miorelli @scibugs.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Alexander Humboldt noted that several of these headlight beetles in a perforated gourd make an acceptable reading lamp. In the western slopes of Ecuador, instead of the typical green color usually associated with these beauties- these guys glow cigarette orange.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Excited to share our new paper in @nature.com Scientific Data: Barcoding Megadiversity! 🦟🧬 We compiled 25 datasets spanning 1–7 years of arthropod sampling across 10 sites in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Galapagos & Cocos Islands—complete with DNA barcodes & geo-data 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Barcoding Megadiversity: An Arthropod Database from Sites in the Neotropical Eastern Pacific Bioregion - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Barcoding Megadiversity: An Arthropod Database from Sites in the Neotropical Eastern Pacific Bioregion
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Thrilled to share this open access paper that represents the bulk of the work done during my 2024–25 sabbatical work at INABIO in Quito! 18 new genera, 339 new species, and the species accumulation curves still headed for the sky! doi.org/10.11646/meg...
doi.org
Scraping the surface of a hyperdiverse group—new genera and species of Ecuadorian Pselaphinae (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae), with an emphasis on the cloud forest fauna | Megataxa
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Happy to share our latest paper documenting the distribution and predatory habits of the rove beetle Platydracus buquetti #Coleoptera #Ecuador #Biodiversity doi.org/10.1649/0010...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
#Biodiversity #invertebrates #Ecuador
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Happy to share this new publication describing a new genus and species from Ecuador #Biodivesity #Beetles #Ecuador #INABIO peerj.com/articles/211...
peerj.com
Aequatobolbus, a new South American genus of Bolboceratinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea: Bolboceratidae) from Ecuador
Aequatobolbus otongachi, gen. et sp. nov., the new South American genus and species of Bolboceratinae, are described from Ecuador. The new genus and species are diagnosed and illustrated, and an updat...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
#Biodiversity #Ecuador #Invertebrates #INABIO 🕷️https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/science/spider-cordyceps-fungus-zombies.html
nytimes.com
‘The Last of Us’ on Eight Legs
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
A nice, extended piece on species discovery in Ecuador, featuring many of my sabbatical colleagues: youtu.be/CuO5iACpVso?...
youtu.be
Ecuador suma 84 nuevas especies - Día a Día - Teleamazonas
YouTube video by Día a Día - Teleamazonas
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
New spider species discovered that mimics the Cordyceps fungus - Taczaniwskia waska #Ecuador #Biodiversity #Invertebrates #Araneidae #INABIO mapress.com/zt/article/v...
mapress.com
“The Cordyceps spider”: Taczanowskia waska sp. nov. (Araneae: Araneidae), a new spider species and a novel case of mimicry of an araneopathogenic fungus (Cordycipitaceae: Gibellula ) | ...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
#Biodiversity #beetles #Ecuador
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
Please welcome to the world: Metopiellus palamaku and M. chasqui, new species of neotropical Pselaphinae, written with friends/coauthors from INABIO. These are the 8th and 9th species of Metopiellus known, and the first ones from Ecuador. doi.org/10.3897/zook...
Habitus photos of new Metopiellus species. A–C. M. palamaku sp. nov. (female dorsal, female lateral, male holotype ventral); D–F. M. chasqui sp. nov. (male holotype dorsal, female paratype head + pronotum, male non-type head only). Scale bars: 1 mm (unless otherwise indicated). in general the beetles are quite antlike, elongate, very setose, and with very long, elbowed antennae.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
The Bosque Escuela Tena in Ecuador, children learn by exploring nature. The school was recently awarded a Global Citizenship Award - @unesco.org, which recognizes initiatives that build more peaceful and sustainable societies. www.instagram.com/bosque_escue...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
#Beetles #Biodiversity #Ecuador
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ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 04/11/2025
Twelve new species of the rove beetle genus Bibrax are described from Ecuador. Find out more about them here: doi.org/10.3897/zook... @mcaterino.bsky.social #beetles #biodiversity #newspecies ‪
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Greetings from Sumaco National Park, province of Orellana #Ecuador #Biodiversity #Insects
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Phyllophaga sumacoensis is a new species of scarab beetle from Sumaco National Park, Napo- Ecuador archive.org/details/faun... #Biodiversity #Beetles #Ecuador
Habitus and morphological characteristics of P. Sumacoensis
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Please check out my new blog: 'Value in nature'. I plan to feature the innumerable ways biodiversity benefits us - ecosystem services in the widest sense. The punchline to nearly every post: our future flourishing depends on preserving as much biodiversity as we possibly can. mscaterino.pika.page
Banner image from mscaterino.pika.page. The background image is a pineapple growing at the tip of a bromeliad against a tropical forest backdrop. In the lower left is the caption 'Value in nature'.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
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
Dorsal view of Panabachia species
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
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...
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.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
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...
nature.com
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 ...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
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
Adult of Zeus longipes Immature of Zeus longipes
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ZooKeys @zookeys.pensoft.net · 05/09/2025
"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...
vox.com
The search for Earth’s most mysterious creatures is turning up extraordinary results
We still haven’t documented 90 percent of animals on Earth
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Michael Caterino @mcaterino.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Describen doce nuevas especies de escarabajos en Ecuador efeverde.com/describen-do...
efeverde.com
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...
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Here the Ecuadorian Hermit Crab (Coenobita compressus) from the coast of Esmeraldas-Ecuador #biodiversity #seashore #hermitcrab #Esmeraldas #Ecuador
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
#Ecuador #biodiversity #Pselaphinae #leaflitter #Clemson #INABIO
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
#Ecuador #biodiversity #beetles
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
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
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
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
Male and female of Thygater, over flowers at the Jardín Botánico de Quito
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Here Humboldt's house at Antisana National Park, Province of Napo, Ecuador from our last visit #paramo #Biodiversity
Casa de Humboldt it was a resting site that Humboldt used before trying to climb Mt Antisana
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Here a Narrow-banded Dartwhite (Archonias flisa) from Quito's Botanical Garden #Biodiversity #Ecuador #insects #JardinBotanicodeQuito
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Nathan Harness @nathanharness.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
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.
Glittery green weevilClose up of the glitter
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Here is some of the diversity of potatoes 🥔🌿 and tubercules from the highlands of #Ecuador 🇪🇨
Different varieties of potatoes Mashua, another Andean tubercle
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Nathan Harness @nathanharness.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
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
Portrait of a purple and yellow katydidPortrait of a purple and yellow katydid
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Happy world bee day 🐝🐝 #Biodiversity #Ecuador #nativebees #Xylocopa #JardinBotanicodeQuito
Xylocopa pollinating a Lamiaceae at the Botanical Garden in Quito
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Trichoceros (Orchidacea) is an amazing example of bug mimicry #biodiversity #mimicry #Ecuador #JardinBotanicodeQuito
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Jen Cross @jencross.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
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
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.
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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
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!
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Astylus bourgeoisi, a common soft winged flower beetle found in the Ecuadorian highlands #Beetles #Ecuador #Biodiversity #Andes
Astylus bourgeoisi found in Parque Bicentenario, Quito Ecuador
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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
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.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
#Ecuador #Biodiversity #Beetles
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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
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!
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.
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Thomas Shahan @tshahan.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
💙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...
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Joseph Spencer @talkingrootworm.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
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)
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 euribatesBeautiful 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)
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Tom Astle @tjalamont.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
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. 🐙🌿📷
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.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
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
Mt. Cotopaxi before the rain
Mt. Cotopaxi after the rain
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
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
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Gil Wizen @wizentrop.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
A rainbow katydid (Vestria sp.) from the Ecuadorian Amazon advertises its bad taste to predators with bright colors. I love the red "socks" and the blue lips (someone clearly has a blue slushy addiction). When provoked, it deploys its chemical defense and releases a very bitter smell.
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Sofía Muñoz-Tobar @smunoztobar.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
If you see this, quote post with flowers from your gallery 🌿 #nativeplants #PNCotopaxi #Ecuador #Bombusfunebris
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