Insect Diversity Project

Fort Sherman, Panama

Fort Sherman is at the wetter Caribbean end of the Canal Zone. It receives an average of approvimately 3,500 mm of rainfall annually. Its vegetation is classified as tropical wet forest. In 1997, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) constructed a canopy crane to study the old-growth forest at Ft. Sherman. In collaboration with investigators at STRI and the University of Panama, the Insect Diversity Project plans to run canopy and ground Malaise traps at this crane site in the near future.

Homoptera, egg-case, and goo

An homopteran photographed on a canopy vine at Fort Sherman. This species is being studied by Joseph Wright and Hector Barrios using the crane at Ft. Sherman. They have also observed stingless bees tending these homopterans. The white lines on the lower part of the branch are a sticky defense that is capable of immobilizing ants. Note what is presumed to be a small egg parasitoid on the branch below the white egg mass. Click on the image to get an enlargement. Be warned -- the enlargement's jpg file is 632K. [Photograph by John Pickering, July, 1997]