Agra sp. (Carabidae), Ecuador
It’s Friday, I have new photos, so let’s resurrect the Friday Beetle!
Agra is a tree-dwelling predator found from Texas south to Argentina. It belongs to the family Carabidae, the ground beetles, which is unfortunate as most Agra are canopy species found nowhere near the ground.
Agra is one of those sprawling hyper-diverse tropical genera that readily yields new taxonomic discoveries. See, for instance, these examples by Agra expert Terry Erwin. With so many novel species, Erwin has become rather playful with his nomenclature. Agra vation Erwin 1983 remains one of my favorite names.
I photographed this handsome specimen at the Maquipucuna cloud forest reserve on Ecuador’s western Andean slopes.
photo details:
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro lens
Canon EOS 7D camera
Indirect strobe in a white box
(top photo) ISO 250, 1/160 sec, f/16
(bottom photo) ISO 400, 1/125 sec, f/14
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Agra smurf haha!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mike Quinn, Alex Wild. Alex Wild said: Friday Beetle Blogging: Agra http://j.mp/hPZ5gA [...]
Yeah for the Friday Beetle! — another one of my favorite groups of critters. I love the sculpturing on this one. So cool. thanks so much.
Thanks so much for bringing back the Friday beetle! Like God (probably our only similarity) I have an inordinate fondness for them.
Until you get a specific ID on this one, you can call it Agra nonymous.
I never thought the Friday Beetle was dead, only hibernating.
I hope we will someday have Agra sp. (a grasp, haha, I’m sooooo hee-lar-ious) of the diversity of this awesome-looking genus.
Agra smurf, also a cute (real) name of one of Erwin’s species.
I happy to see the Firday beetle, too.
Possibilities:
Agra phobia
Agra culture
Agro nomy
Agra viagra
and on it goes…
[...] seeking illustrations for this post, I also discovered on the web the blog of Alex Wild, with his Friday Beetle posts. If you like ants and similar critters, Alex’s blog is a goldmine of beautiful photos. [...]
[...] – Friday Beetle Blogging: Agra: “Agra is a tree-dwelling predator found from Texas south to Argentina. It belongs to the [...]