Rainforest insects…

Have just been travelling in Western Kenya on fieldwork. Spent a few days in the wonderful Kakamega forest, where the heady mixture of rain and sunshine has seen an explosion of insect life. Here are some of the pictures of the amazing and beautiful forest creatures.The strangest creatures I came across were these very cool bugs, flatid bug nymphs, who sit together in gregarious ‘nurseries’. They are very touchy and hop off like little rockets at the slightest disturbance so I had to move like a chameleon in order to photograph them! Their fluffy tails are waxy filaments that serve as a means to clog up the mouth of any would-be predator while the little nymph escapes!     There were some interesting flies around – including this ‘Daddy-long-legs’ – a species of cranefly, who came along to sample some of the mashed banana mix that I was using to attract butterflies…  The butterflies eventually showed up – among the most striking was a pair of ‘Lurid Gliders’, as they are known – the female is the brown and white-spotted one, the male is the one with the golden yellow wings…   Some butterflies preferred the edges of puddles to sip from… And some had tastes running to less appetising things! There were a lot of ants around too. Among my favourite ants in the forest are these lumbering gentle ants, Polyrachis, who move slowly along the trunks and leaves of trees. They spend a lot of time seemingly pondering the mysteries of life, while basking in the sunshine, like this one was…   More from the wonderful world of insects soon – thanks to everyone for your kind comments and interest and sorry for not posting more often!