110222 - Costa Rica, Area de Conservacion de Guanacaste (ACG), Volcan Cacao, Sendero Circular by Alex Smith

110222 - Costa Rica, Area de Conservacion de Guanacaste (ACG), Volcan Cacao, Sendero Circular

Walked up from the truck in 25 minutes to the Malaise trap at Sendero Circular. Traps out and bait down at 9:15am. At 9:20 something very large, and black/gray moved past the far side of the Malaise trap. I thought tapir, and Manuel later agreed. Unfortunately however, no photo. GigaPan was 22x48 at Bait Station 1 and the Malaise trap. Appeared over exposed and flat colours. 16-20 C today. Leaf litter is dry. Many large, ambulatory ponerines around (video). Also video of the small myrmicinae at bait 6. This bait station was raided for two tubes (photo) and the tuna can and all the tuna. Perhaps a Collared Peccary was the culprit. Traps up at 3:00pm after 5hrs of sampling.

Check out the panorama using the GoogleEarth browser plugin: bit.ly/g7JDay 
Tiny yellow myrmicines - attending cookie at the bait later raided by a large (or medium sized) mammal. Some at 200x www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwHPpYBwRuI 
Large black Pachycondyla that was the most commonly collected and observed ant at this location. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFHQAapSeN8 
Explore the trip website: sites.google.com/site/acgantcollectionsfeb2011 /