OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Near Panama border, Costa Rica (2017)

Costa Rica (2017): The Tropical Biology course team

Palo Verde Biological Station, Costa Rica (2017): The Tropical Ecology study team. The only one without any understanding of spanish jumped at ‘dos’.

La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica (2017): Comparison of bait solutions (detergent vs. beer) used in pit-fall traps; beer performed better!

Monte Verde cloud forest, Costa Rica (2017): It’s a digital temperature measuring instrument.

2nd SpiderIndia meet organized at the Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary by WE Foundation

Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India (2017): 2nd SpiderIndia meet. (left to right- Ayan Mondal, Debomay Chanda, myself, Satyen Mehta, Pravalikha Gunti and Atul Vartak.

During fieldwork at Makunda Campus, Assam, India with an excellent local spider enthusiast.

Fieldwork somewhere in India

Citizen science initiative (2015): School students conducted a bioblitz recording ~40 spider species from Makunda campus, Assam, India. This also led to the discovery of Platythomisus octomaculatus spider from India. http://diversityindianews.blogspot.com/2017/02/rare-spider-spotted-in-remote-hospital.html

Introduction of SpiderIndia initiative and India Biodiversity Portal to the north-east Indian states (2014)

Citizen Science Initiative organized by Makunda Nature Club, Assam, India (2015-16). School students sorted spiders from the biodiverse Makunda campus.

Female crab spider Platythomisus octomaculatus discovered during the citizen science initiative to document spiders in Assam. Photo: Vijay Anand Ismavel.

The name bird dung spider comes from the web and body coloration that imitates bird dung. Photo: Vijay Anand Ismavel.

Fighting males of bird dung spider Phrynarachne species from Assam, India. They are known to compete for female. Photo: Vijay Anand Ismavel.

Female bird dung spider Phrynarachne species from Assam, India. Note the colour variation within the same species. Photo: Vijay Anand Ismavel.

Some place in the Western Ghats, India

Masai rocky outcrop, Western Ghats, India (2014): Amphibian and aquatic beetle biogeography study

Panchgani Table Land, India (2014): sampling aquatic beetles from ephemeral pools on rocky outcrops. Jane Akerman, Plymouth University, United Kingdom taking notes. (left)