Observations by ricardodeycaza

Psychotria poeppigiana is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae; a common name is Sore-mouth Bush,though it is not very often used.
It ranges widely in the tropical Americas, from Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz in Mexico to the very north of Argentina. It does not occur on the Pacific side of the American cordillera however, and is thus absent from El Salvador and Chile. It is probably also absent from Uruguay and Paraguay.
P. poeppigiana is a large shrub. The inflorescences are carried upright or semi-erect and are surrounded by large bracts, colored a conspicuous red, that attract pollinators. The flowers themselves are inconspicuous, with the small yellow petals and sepals forming a narrow corollar tube. Pollinators are mainly hummingbirds, namely small hermit (Phaethornithinae) species like the Black-throated Hermit (Phaethornis atrimentalis), Straight-billed Hermit (P. bourcieri) and Reddish Hermit (P. ruber). They do not insert their bills deeply into the small flowers, and thus the pollinators of the Sore-mouth Bush include curved- and straight-billed species alike.

Argiope argentata is a member of the Argiope genus of spiders and is also known as the Silver Argiope.
As with most members of the Argiope genus the female of the species tends to be much larger than the male. The body of Argiope argentata tends to be primarily silver with brown and orange colorations further back on the abdomen on the top, with a primarily brown underbelly. The legs have bands of orange, black and silver. The female can be up to 35mm in length whereas the male tends to be 20mm or less.
Argiope argentata is found from southern California to Florida extending down as far as Argentina, though preferring to stay in warmer, dryer areas. They can often be found on prickly pears in the fall.
The bite can be stingy and itchy during the first approximate hour, then the pain usually passes away. However, it may have several health repercussions on children, seniors and physically weak people.

The veined tree frog or common milk frog (rana lechera común in Spanish), Trachycephalus venulosus, is a species of frog in the Hylidae family. This species was previously within the genus Phrynohyas, which was recently synonymized with Trachycephalus. It is found in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, urban areas, heavily degraded former forest, water storage areas, and ponds.

Dendropsophus ebraccatus, commonly known as the hourglass treefrog or pantless tree frog, is a species of frog in the Hylidae family. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, pastureland, plantations, heavily degraded former forest, and ponds.
The hourglass treefrog reproduces differently than do most other frogs. It can lay its eggs on land or in water, depending on the environment. If it has shade, it will lay them on leaves of plants above the pond. If it has little or no shade, it will lay them in the water, usually attached to submerged vegetation. It is the only vertebrate known to be capable of this. Like many frog species within the Hylidae, the tadpoles of D. ebraccatus show predator-induced plasticity in their tail colour when exposed to dragonfly nymphs.
This species is threatened by habitat loss.

Native to the West Indies and from Mexico to Panama, Queen’s wreath (or purple wreath) is a fast-growing, twining, woody vine or rounded shrub that produces wisteria-like erect to drooping axillary foot-long racemes of star-like purple flowers (15-30 flowers per raceme) in late spring to early summer. The showy parts of each flower are the 5 narrow petal-like calyx lobes which persist long after the darker purple corollas drop. Oblong-elliptic, dark green leaves (4-9” long) are rough above, hence the sometimes common name of sandpaper vine. In its native habitat, this plant can grow rapidly to 25-40’, but in cultivation is more often seen as a much smaller vine or trained as an espalier or standard. The genus name honors Robert Petre, 18th century English botany patron.