![\"The](\"http:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/06\/MITS-team-in-Costa-Rica.jpg\")
<\/a>The MITS team includes (L to R) Dr. Shear, Dr. Paul Marek and grad student Jackson Means (Virginia Tech), Dr. Jason Bond and grad student Rebecca Godwin (Auburn), Dr. Petra Sierwald (Field Museum) and Carlos Viquez (INBio).<\/p><\/div>\n
The picture below shows a species of Platydesmus<\/em>, a common millipede under tree bark at La Selva. \u00a0This is the only genus of millipedes known to show subsocial behavior. \u00a0The young are brooded and cared for by the males.<\/p>\n We found the tarantula (Psalmopoeus<\/em> sp.) below in a tube on a tree trunk.<\/p>\n The picture below shows the Strawberry Poison Frog, very common at La Selva. \u00a0The frogs are poisonous to touch, but do not produce their own poison. \u00a0Instead, they eat ants that contain toxic alkaloids and transfer them to their skin. \u00a0Frogs raised in captivity on other insects are not poisonous.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Shear has returned from the rain forest of Costa Rica, where he and the MITS team spent a week collecting millipedes at La Selva Biological Research Station, one of the facilities of the Organization for Tropical Studies. La Selva … Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>One of the biggest millipedes we captured was Nyssodesmus<\/em> python, about four inches long and 3\/4 inch wide. \u00a0This species is found throughout Central America.
\n<\/a>One of our goals was to get live material of the genus Epinannolene, since the defensive chemistry of the whole suborder has been worked out only for one species, which produces a molecule that is new to arthropods. \u00a0As you can see below, we got plenty!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>The trip was highly successful and sequencing is proceeding in the labs at Auburn. \u00a0Oh, and jaguars did not really rip my flesh. \u00a0That was just to get your attention.<\/p>\n