“Looking forward to see your pictures of insects of Madagascar,” my former colleague Gert van Ee said when I posted the first results from the Madagascar trip. Gert is a well-known insect expert in the Netherlands.
“I’ll see what I can find, but I’m afraid we didn’t see many insects,” I replied. “And it will take some time to go through those 15.000 pictures.”
So this is the result. A couple of insects indeed, and some other arthropods as well (arachnids)
(lead picture: Brilliant blue – Junonia rhadama)
Madagascar Forest nymph – Aterica raben
Green lady – Graphium cyrnus (feeding on dung)
Walker’s owl – Erebus macrops (Huge! Like 15 cm.)
Giraffe-necked weevil – Trachelophorus giraffa
Praying mantis ( I apologise for not always finding the exact species names – If you know them do not hesitate to mention them)
Green stick insect – Achrioptera manga
Madagascar Flatid leaf insect – Phromnia rosea. They look like flowers, but they are tiny insects (see detail)
Black & White curculionidae weevil – Rhytidophloeus rothschildi
Grasshopper – locust (pretending to be larger than life)
Madagascar black scorpion – Grosphus madagascariensis
Huntsman spider – Damastes sp. (Like 10 cm big. And spitting venom to the guides!)
Golden orb web spider – Nephila sp. (Huge female, like 15 cm. And a tiny but very brave male behind her, hoping to mate but fearing to be eaten)
Zebra spider – Viridasius sp. (Huge! Like 15 cm, and living in our lodge)
Red crab backed orb weaver – Medium wing kitespider – Gasteracantha versicolor (small but beautiful!)
Enormous, really huge wasp – Belonogaster sp.