Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

15th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Traps in the darkness

It was just a common Thursday in Ibitipoca State Park. Cloudy sky and a soft rain falling over the mountains. As any curious biologist and nature photographer, I was looking for scenes that could bring me nice stories to tell. Some years before, I had visited a small cave in that same place, and I decided to come back and check it up. For my surprise, I found in the darkness of that cave something I was looking for many years: glow worms. Theses fantastic creatures are Diptera larvae (insects like moskitoes and flies) which have a very interesting hunting mode: they produce threads of a sticky substance that acts as traps for small flying insects. The larvae then moves through the threads and attack the stucked prey. Isn’t it fascinating?

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 10.2016
Date Uploaded: 11.2017
Photo Location: Lima duarte, Brazil
Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Copyright: © Augusto Gomes