Happy New Year 2010

2009 was especially a great year for me and for my blog Krishna Mohan Photography. Blog visitors for this website went up by so many folds during the year that I had to change the server midway through the year to cope up with the traffic. All thanks goes to you who are my readers, friends and guides. It is you, who have encouraged me to blog and post almost twice a week. I have clocked century as this is the100th blog post of 2009 which itself is a record of sort for a lazy person like me. This year marks another milestone as my blog was featured in Alltop Photography page.

On the photography front I got my first full frame DSLR camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II at the beginning of 2009. I also acquired some of best lens I was dreaming of buying. Both these made a vast difference to the quality of pictures. The results speaks for themselves. Even though the gears themselves do not produce good photos, they help creating better photos . Encouragement I received through your comments and mail is the one which kept me getting these photos and writing these blogs. Let us hope 2010 brings more such fun and joy for all of us.

I thank all of you for the great support given to me till now. Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010.

Potter Wasp Giving Finishing Touches

When I was doing a shootout for the review of Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM I found this potter wasp at my garden building its nest. Unfortunately when i noticed she had built most of the nest and has gathered caterpillar to be served as food for her new born larvae. I was only able to take photos of her closing the beautiful nest. All these photos were taken using Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM on Canon EOS 7D using Canon Speedlite 580EX II with Rayflash adapter.

Potter wasps, also known as mason wasps, are very interesting insects that are named for the way and the form in which they build their hives. They are truly pottery artists and create unique and beautiful pot-like homes for their off-springs. There are many things about the potter wasp that makes them stand out from the rest and here are some interesting facts that you may not know about these unusual insects.

It is the female potter wasps that do all the construction on their homes, rather than the males.Possibly the simplest of the potter wasp constructions is made with mud and has tiny cells between the layers. The female will either gather droplets of water soon after rain fall mixed with her own saliva to make the mud. It is truly an amazing process!

Potter Wasp

Another of the homes that the potter wasp creates is made with mud like the first, but the shape is different. Rather than being a plain round shape, these are round with a thin neck at the top, much like a cork bottle or special vase.

The common potter wasp is primarily black in color, but it also has yellow or red markings on the thorax or abdomen. There are also some interesting tropical species that can have green or blue markings.

Female potter wasps take less than one day to completely build a nest. There are some female potter wasps that will make their nests out of pre-existing holes, but this is not as common as the lady who will start from scratch.

Potter wasps hunt for Beetle larva or caterpillars and paralyze them with their sting. They fly these paralyzed caterpillars to the hive they created. They lay their eggs on these larvae inside nests, one egg in each cell. and then seals off the cells to protect the babies. The sealed caterpillar lives till the eggs hatch and becomes food for the newly hatched wasp baby.

Paralyzed Captive Caterpillar inside The Nest

The potter wasp’s nest is rumored to have been the original inspiration for the Indian pottery that it so strongly resembles.

The diet of potter wasps consists primarily of nectar, spiders, beetle larvae, and young caterpillars.

Some potter wasps build their nests underground, but most have them hanging from a branch or limb above the ground. This is where you can look for one of your own to keep as a decorative piece. Be sure, of course, that it is an empty one or you may have one very angry wasp to deal with!

Gastropacha Species of Lappet Moth

Lappet moths are a very interesting group of moths. As we saw in the first part of this 3 part series called Lappet Moth – Trabala Species. We also noticed in the second part Trabala in Trouble. Now let us see the adult version of a species from this group. This fascinating moth resemble a dried leaf when at rest. This moth belongs to Gastropacha species of Lappet moth (Lasiocampidae) family. I found this at night under Mangalore tile roof my house staying motionless like a dry leaf. When I picked it up to get closer look it excreted a smelly liquid from its caudal end probably to startle me. It remained motionless despite all the disturbances like a dry leaf. they have a snout which resembles the stalk of the dry leaf, combed antenna is fold back on the body.

Predators of this moth are the bats, and they do not see these moth like we do. They see them through sound waves by echo location. In fact the scales of this moth is so modified that ultrasonic signals used by bats to locate these moth just fails as the scale in this moth absorb those signals. The wing scale cover reduces the potential of the ultrasonic signal reflected from these moths of Gastropacha species. Absorption of a considerable part of the reflected signal decreases the sound pressure. This property of the wing scale cover enables the moth to prevents bat from finding the moth in the night. It is invisible to us as well as bats by this great camouflage.

Gastropacha resting on a stick

Camouflage, whereby animals seek to look inanimate or inedible to avoid detection by predators and prey. There are many examples of rainforest species which are cryptically colored to match their surroundings. For example, the Uroplatus geckos of Madagascar are incredible masters of disguise and are practically unnoticeable to the passer-by. An even more amazing group is the katydids, a group of grasshopper-like insects found worldwide. Katydids are nocturnal insects which use their cryptic coloration to remain unnoticed during the day when they are inactive. They remain perfectly still, often in a position that makes them blend in even better. Katydids have evolved to the point where their body coloring and shape matches leaves?including half-eaten leaves, dying leaves, and leaves with bird droppings?sticks, twigs, and tree bark. Other well-known camouflage artists include beetles, mantids, caterpillars, moths, snakes, lizards, and frogs.

Some species appear to have conspicuous coloration when they are not in the proper surroundings. For example, among the brilliant butterflies of the forest, the magnificent electric blue Morpho, has iridescent blue upper wings and a seven-inch wingspan. However, because the underwings are dark, when the Morpho flies through the flickering light of the forest or even out in broad daylight, it seems to disappear. Other forest species, especially mammals, have spots or stripes to help break up the animal’s outline. In the shade created by the canopy, large mammals like leopards, jaguars, ocelots, and okapi are surprisingly difficult to see with their disruptive coloration.

Gastropacha from top

There is a strong evolutionary pressure for animals to blend into their environment or conceal their shape; for prey animals to avoid predators and for predators to be able to sneak up on prey. (Exceptions include: large herbivores without natural enemies; brilliantly-colored birds which rely on flight to escape predators; and venomous or poisonous animals which advertise with bright colors.) Cryptic animals include the tawny frogmouth (feather patterning resembles bark), the tuatara (hides in burrows all day; nocturnal), some jellyfish (transparent), the leafy sea dragon, and the flounder (covers itself in sediment).

The distinction between camouflage and mimicry is arbitrarily defined in that mimicry requires that the “model” be another organism, rather than the surroundings; the arbitrary nature of this distinction between the two phenomena can be seen by considering animals that resemble twigs, bark, leaves or flowers, in that they are often classified as camouflaged (a plant does constitute the “surroundings”), but sometimes classified as mimics (a plant is also an organism). Either way, the animal is considered cryptic.

Gastropacha on a paper

Camouflage is usually most effective when an animal is still. Cryptic animals that forage during daylight may be ambush predators, taking advantage of their ability to blend into their background. Alternatively, cryptic animals may be active predators in darkness and use their crypsis while inactive. Some cryptic animals also simulate natural movement, e.g., of a leaf in the wind. This is called procryptic behaviour or habit. Other animals attach or attract natural materials to their body for concealment.