A Few Select Invertebrates
Bugs. Beetles. Spiders. Scorpions. Things that creep
and crawl and look scary and noxious occur by the
thousands in the Neotropics. They come in petite, small,
medium, large, extra large, double extra large, and
outrageous. They abound from treetops to leaf litter, in
closed forests and successional gaps, in field stations and
tents, and occasionally in shoes. They are out by day,
dusk, night, and dawn, and some of them even glow in
the dark. Myriad animals without backbones— insects,
centipedes, millipedes, various arachnids, worms— are
at home in the Neotropics. Seemingly innumerable
invertebrate creatures crawl, hop, slither, climb, burrow,
and fly through rain forests. In no way can this book
provide a representative sample of the invertebrate
life forms that can be found by diligently searching
rain forests and other Neotropical habitats. Many
invertebrate examples have been discussed in previous
chapters, and those included below are a mere sample
of some of the other most interesting and frequently
encountered members of this vast horde.
Social Insects
Two great insect orders, Hymenoptera (the bees, wasps,
ants) and Isoptera (the termites), have evolved species that
display complex social systems in which societies of close
relatives (genetic sisters) support a fertile queen. Both
orders are abundantly represented in the world’s tropics
and are of vast ecological influence. Workers are usually
separated into differing morphological castes, consisting
of various- size workers and soldiers. Sterile animals are
usually females, all sisters, but male workers occur in
termites. In other cases males are produced only during
mating of the queen and are otherwise superfluous.
Termites are described in chapter 6, fungus- garden
ants and army ants in chapter 10.A Mean and Nasty Giant Tropical Ant
Beware of the Giant Tropical Ant, which is also called
the Bullet Ant (Paraponera clavata; plate 16- 91). It is in
a subfamily of its own (Paraponerinae), and represents
a kind of relict species, as its last common ancestor with
other ants lived about 90 million years ago. This 2.5
cm (1 in) long black ant can both bite and sting. This
creature’s normal mode of attack is to bite hard, then,
once attached by its jaws, to twist its abdomen around
and deliver a very painful wasplike sting of substantial
potency. This unpleasant experience is reputed to be
rather similar to being struck by a bullet (hence the
common name). Bullet Ants occur throughout Central
and South America and are both terrestrial and arboreal.
They are usually seen on the forest floor but may be in
the understory, too. Not surprisingly, such a formidable
ant has its mimics. A beetle species (order Coleoptera)
resembles the giant ant when at rest, but the deceptive
coleopteran looks like a wasp when in flight. Bullet Ants
tend to be solitary, but one is quite enough.Cockroaches
It is hard to imagine a trip to the Neotropics that does
not include a sighting of la cucaracha. Most of the world’s
4,000- plus cockroach species live in the tropics, and the
Neotropics can certainly lay claim to its share. MostPlate 16- 92. Meet Megaloblatta blaberoides, a name that
translates as “big cockroach.” This species, from Honduras, is
not as large as the Giant Cockroach but, as is clear from the
photo, it is sizable. Photo by James Adams.Plate 16- 91. This is a Bullet Ant. Do not pick one of these up.
Photo by Alex Wild.
358 chapter 16 from monkeys to tarantulas: endless eccentricities