Book Review: Hidden Kingdom is More Than "Eye Candy"

The latest offering from scientist, author, and photographer extraordinaire Piotr Naskrecki is sure to surprise and delight even the most seasoned tropical naturalist, student of entomology, and globe-trotting eco-traveler. Hidden Kingdom: The Insect Life of Costa Rica (Comstock Publishing Associates, Cornell University Press, 2017) represents one of the best introductions to arthropods in general, regardless of the geographic limitations noted in the title.

The centerpiece of this book, like his previous works, the critically acclaimed The Smaller Majority and Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine, is Naskrecki's mind-blowing imagery of creatures easily overlooked in the natural landscape. He literally renders his subjects larger than life, but then explains how the impact of these invertebrates far exceeds their diminutive stature. So, the magnified macro-world in pictures is simply a reflection of the unheralded, underestimated import of insects, spiders, other arachnids, and crustaceans to the rest of life on Earth. He further communicates this with clear, assertive prose that elevate any reader's understanding of the natural world.

The organization of the book makes it all the more inviting to those who might be unfamiliar with insects (the first chapter asks "What is This?"), or even downright afraid of them. He addresses the intimidation factor head-on in the chapter "Is it Dangerous?" He deftly explains why appearances like "Horns, Spines, and Claws" can be deceiving, but tiny sand flies and mosquitoes can put you in the hospital because of the tinier-still parasitic microbes that they inject when they bite you.

Remaining chapters discuss how insects survive through camouflage, chemical defenses, advertisement of those chemical defenses, and mimicry of other species with chemical defenses, as well as how insects communicate and how those devices for talking to each other allowed some insects to ascend to the truest societies in the animal kingdom.

Scientific terms are generally explained in context, with their first usage in the text, though the book might still have benefited by a glossary, even in place of the index. Some of the taxonomy (scientific classification) differs from what I have come to know, but there exist differences even in scientific circles and these discrepancies cannot be considered errors. Yes, there are a couple of grammatical errors, but I have yet to read a contemporary book without any.

Naskrecki refrains from preaching about the imperiled ecosystem that is tropical forests, and considering that he no doubt witnesses deforestation and other destructive practices every time he goes afield, this restraint is admirable and refreshing. If anyone ever asks "what's the big deal" if we cut down the Amazon, hand them a copy of Hidden Kingdom and ask them to get back to you. This book is a testament to exactly what is at stake for not just the healthy functioning of our planet, but for the future of advances in medicine and other human endeavors.

I would not hesitate to recommend Hidden Kingdom as a textbook for any college-level introductory entomology course. The initial chapter alone informs all the major orders of insects, independent of Costa Rica; but, those professors who teach classes in tropical natural history would do well to assign this book in advance of field trips to the New World rainforests, and dry forests.

Naskrecki has made advances in tropical biology of a magnitude comparable to Darwin, Wallace, and other heroic naturalists of a bygone era. One can scarcely believe that Piotr has the time to write and illustrate books, share his findings on social media (Facebook in particular), lead film crews into the forest (PBS Nature's six-part "Gorongosa Park: Rebirth of Paradise"), or mentor other photographers (BugShot macrophotography workshops), but he accomplishes all of this and more. His is a brilliant mind and generous spirit that are a rare combination. Naskrecki is without question one of the most publicly accessible scientists of our time, even considering that the digital age makes nearly everyone "followable."

Hidden Kingdom is a paperback book of 208 pages. Forgive the awkward dimensions (10 X 10 inches), as it dramatically amplifies the impact of the magnificent photos. Reward and promote excellence in science and art by treating yourself, your family, and friends to a copy of this most outstanding reference.

Pantropical Jumping Spider

This week, if you live pretty much anywhere north of Mexico, a tropical vacation sounds pretty appealing. Well, if you were a Pantropical Jumping Spider, Plexippus paykulli, you would probably be enjoying yourself right now. This species is a world traveler, now dispersed to most tropical and subtropical climates across the globe. Envious?

Male

The Pantropical Jumper is pretty easy to find, too, since it hangs out on the exterior of buildings where it can be quite conspicuous. The only problem might be telling it apart from the Gray Wall Jumper which is often seen on buildings, too. Both species are of similar size. Adult females of the Pantropical Jumper are 10-12 millimeters in body length; males average 9.5 millimeters.

Female

Plexippus paykulli is also sexually dimorphic, meaning that the male gender looks radically different from the female sex. In fact, it would be easy to assume they are two different species. This is typical of many jumping spiders: the males are adorned with colorful scales, or tufts of hair on their legs and/or pedipalps which are used to communicate with the female through elaborate displays, often accompanied by vibrations carried through the substrate (surface on which the spiders are sitting).

Male

Pantropical jumpers don’t sit on the beach sipping fruity drinks. Nope. They actively seek prey by day, including small moths, flies, flying ants, and even other spiders. They have the typical behavior of most jumping spiders in the family Salticidae, running a short distance, pausing, pumping their pedipalps up and down, and turning to face whatever piques their curiosity (or perceived threat).

Mated females of this species spin a small, flat egg sac about nine millimeters in diameter that contains anywhere from 35-60 eggs. A larger silken envelope, 25-35 millimeters around, covers the egg case and serves as a retreat for the female to guard her future offspring. Look for these nurseries under eaves of buildings, in cracks and crevices, or under boards and other objects.

Female

Here in the United States, Plexippus paykulli can be found year-round in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the Gulf Coast states, and south Texas. Outlying populations in New Mexico, and north along the Atlantic seaboard are probably the result of accidental introductions. You are also likely to see this spider in such exotic locales as Hawaii, Hong Kong, India, Greece, and parts of Africa. It is assumed that the species is native to southeast Asia.

The Pantropical Jumping Spider should be considered an asset to any resort, hotel, or motel, for they are literally a mobile pest control service. They are known to hunt mosquitoes and small cockroaches among other pests. I guess you would call that a “working vacation.”

Male

Sources: Bradley, Richard A. 2013. Common Spiders of North America. Berkeley: University of California Press. 271 pp.Edwards, G.B., Jr. 2002. “Jumping Spiders,” Featured Creatures. Division of Plant Industry and University of Florida.
Gaddy, L.L. 2009. Spiders of the Carolinas. Duluth, MN: Kollath+Stensaas Publishing. 208 pp.
”Pantropical Jumper,” iNaturalist.

Wasp Wednesday: A Tropical Social Wasp

Attention: You. Yes, you. I welcome your images of mystery insects and spiders from anywhere in the world, and will blog the answer to share with others if I have your permission to publish the images. The following is one example of how this might appear.

I often receive inquiries through my private e-mail, asking if I could identify this insect or that spider, sometimes from other corners of the world besides the United States. This is always a welcome challenge, but the emphasis is usually on “challenge.” Not long ago, my friend Paul Kaufman sent me three wonderful images of a social wasp taken by Pablo Yoder, a missionary in Nicaragua. At least I recognized it as something in the family Vespidae, but there is a vast number of genera and species in the neotropics.

© Pablo Yoder

Thanks to Google image searches, I eventually pinpointed the wasp as the species Polybia emaciata. It is one of the few social vespid wasps that builds its nest of mud instead of paper. The more durable nature of the mud envelope allows the wasps to “hunker down” or flee when faced with a potential attack by a vertebrate predator. Contrast this behavior with the violent attacks launched by social wasps that build relatively flimsy nests of paper.

Enclosing a nest helps protect the eggs, larvae, and pupae that inhabit each cell in the horizontal layers of combs made by social wasps. Exposed combs are more vulnerable to predators and parasites since the adult wasps cannot be everywhere at once guarding each member of the brood.

© Pablo Yoder

So what is the wasp in two of these images doing with a big drop of water in its jaws? It is essentially bailing out the nest, keeping the mud from becoming saturated. It rains hard and often in the jungle. Even though the nests of wasps are usually ensconced beneath foliage in the rainforest canopy or understory, a good quantity of water still reaches those nests. The workers begin drinking the water, then walk to the edge of the nest and regurgitate droplets. The thick mud walls of the nests of this species take longer to become saturated than do paper nests of other species, but there is still cause for concern on the part of the nest inhabitants.

Nests of Polybia emaciata are typically inhabited by a small number of adult wasps. Colonies usually number between 100 and 500 wasps, while other species would have a much larger number. The nests vary in size from roughly nine centimeters to 22 centimeters in length, as least in one study in Panama (O’Donnell & Jeanne, 2002). The nests may also persist for several years due to their durability.

© Journal of Insect Science

O’Donnell and Jeanne elicited nest defense responses by tapping on the exterior of the nests, or blowing into the entrance hole. Most wasps would respond by rushing out of the nest and either attacking immediately or adopting an agonistic (warning) posture while perched on the exterior of the nest envelope. Not so with Polybia emaciata, which either flew away (though not abandoning the nest), or took refuge inside. Only sustained, escalated provocation resulted in the wasps exiting the nest, then pummeling and attempting to sting the researchers. Natural predators of tropical social wasps include birds, bats, and monkeys.

© Pablo Yoder

The diversity of wasps in the tropics, their survival strategies, and their relationships to other organisms is fascinating. I hope to one day see some of these remarkable insects for myself, but in the meantime I appreciate my readers sharing their own experiences and images.

Source: O’Donnell, Sean and Robert L. Jeanne. 2002. “The nest as fortress: defensive behavior of Polybia emaciata, a mud-nesting eusocial wasp,” J Insect Sci 2.3. 5 pp.

More Magic

One of the most magical things about the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory and Gardens in South Deerfield, Massachusetts is how so many butterflies can manage to virtually disappear before your eyes. You have to be very observant just to find some of these masters of “crypsis,” another word for camouflage.

Butterflies are generally pretty obvious and colorful when they are flying or feeding at flowers. Those at rest, wings closed over their backs, are often colored in earthtones of browns, grays, or greens on the underside, making them so inconspicuous as to be easily overlooked altogether. Even an entire cluster of individuals, like these common crows, Euploea core, dangling from a vine, can be easily dismissed as dead, drooping leaves. Native to India, crows are in the same family as our Monarch butterfly.

Some butterflies take hiding one step further by resting on the underside of leaves. This is also how butterflies shelter themselves from downpours and other inclement weather. Hanging beneath foliage in the butterfly house, this Malachite butterfly, Siproeta stelenes, easily avoided detection by visitors not accustomed to having to hunt for such beauties. The neotropical Malachite actually makes its way into the U.S., occurring in extreme southern Florida and Texas as well as Central America and northern South America.

The ultimate in true camouflage is demonstrated by yet another butterfly known as the Indian leaf, Kallima paralekta, one of several tropical Old World species known collectively as “leafwings” or “dead leaf butterflies.” Not only are the closed wings of the insect shaped like a leaf in profile, but the markings on the underside even include a “midrib,” vaguely visible on this tattered specimen.

Magic Wings also displays some other insects that defy efforts to describe the extent of their cryptic appearance. Enormous tropical walkingstick insects of several varieties are so nearly invisible as to cause one to question whether there is anything other than plants inside the cage. This close-up of one specimen confirms that this is indeed an animal rather than a vegetable, complete with a visible eye, antennae, and legs.

Walkingsticks still pale in comparison to their relatives the “walking leaf” insects of southeast Asia. Yes, the yellow object in this image is an insect, viewed from the side. These members of the genus Phyllium seem to literally be what they eat, as they are vegetarians that consume the pigments of their host plants. Not surprisingly, in the autumn when leaves are losing chlorophyll and more colorful pigments that are normally masked come to the fore, the insects get a dose of bright oranges, yellows, and reds. Voila! The insect’s built-in fashion sense doesn’t miss a beat.

Magic Wings

Saturday, November 7, dawned as a bright, sunny day, unseasonably mild for western Massachusetts. I decided it was high time I visited one of the major local attractions here, the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens. The following day the facility was celebrating its tenth year anniversary, and it is no wonder they are still going strong.

Open year round from 9 AM until 6 PM, Magic Wings is well worth your time. Besides the free-flying butterflies in the tropical greenhouse there are also birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other insects on display both inside the greenhouse and in an exhibit area that serves as the anteroom before you enter. Everything is colorful, including this red-eyed tree frog from Latin America.

The butterflies really do steal the show, though, and I personally observed at least eighteen different species flitting around, feeding at flowers, perched on foliage, or courting each other in magical, amorous displays. This male birdwing butterfly, Ornithoptera priamus, native to Papua New Guinea, finally paused during his pursuit of the opposite sex.

Much smaller butterflies of the genus Heliconius were more camera-friendly, and no two specimens seemed to be alike, let alone the different species. This “cydno,” Heliconius cydno, seemingly a subdued, dull black in natural light, positively shimmered under a camera flash. Meanwhile, the “postman,” Heliconius melpomene, exhibits a mind-boggling diversity of color patterns such that they resemble different species. Only when courting does it become apparent that they belong together.

The morning light streaming through the glass roof definitely offers you the best opportunity to observe and photograph the butterflies, but hang around awhile longer. You can take your lunch break in the café, or go to the Monarch Restaurant next door, then return (showing the stamp on your hand) for an afternoon encore. At dusk, you will be treated to the crepuscular flights of the enormous “owl” butterflies, Caligo eurilochus. They will likely even alight on you while you are looking for other butterflies. What a way to end your day.

I’m not earning anything by endorsing this place, I just found it a pretty enchanting place to spend a day. Where else can you hear biker dudes and women and children all making exclamations of delight over insects? There is something to be said for any enterprise that can have such an effect on people, bringing out all our best qualities in a shared experience with nature, however artificial the environment.

Learn more about Magic Wings online at MagicWings.com.