Tarantulas etc

 There are so many colourful and interesting animals in Colombia but many of them are small. Here are a few, mostly from a patch of mountain forest just east of Bucaramanga on the road to the quiet town of Tona. If anyone can help with identifications of these, I'd be very pleased.

 This taranatula was about 12-15 cm across and was walking calmly across the road. It's only the second one I've seen, the first being much larger!

These velvet ants (Mutillidae) are very common in some places. They look like very large colourful ants but are wingless wasps. Apparently some species at least have very painful stings. I know they have very tough bodies.

Very large millipedes are also common. This was perhaps 15 cm long.

I have no doubt Colombia has a huge variety of dragonflies. This one posed long enough to get some reasonable shots.

Some of the grasshoppers here have fantastic patterns. These ones seem abundant in this area.

This very large bumble bee caught my eye.

Corinna Daggerwing (Marpesia corinna)

Butterflies are much more common and varied than I'm used to in Britain. With few guides to help, it's hard to know what species are present.

This fat beetle? grub, about 12cm long was crawling across a path in the upper parts of Chicamocha canyon. I'm sure it'll grow into something impressive!