Mount Totumas Cloud Forest

Here at Mount Totumas we get up front and intimate with the bugs we encounter on the trails.

Hot Pizza, Mojitos and Breaking Bad on Netflix. It is not all about bugs and birds here at MTCF.

No te asustes…..Sancocho viene la semana que viene………..

A cloud forest crab inhabiting forest creeks and boggy areas here at Mount Totumas Cloud Forest. Far from the sea at 1900m, this is no crayfish and looks marine but it is a bonified resident of the cloud forest.

Picking and processing coffee with Albertine, Siegfried, John, Anne, Deklin, Adian, Kian, Jose, Reinaldo Jr and Sr, Olga, Alma and Jeff.

Drucina leonata

A beautiful cloud forest species, a member of the tribe Pronophilini of the Nymphalid butterflies. The larvae feed on Chusquea sp. of bamboo found predominately from 1900 to 2600 meters here at MTCF. First time we found this species here and Devries mentions it as rare and restricted to cloud forests.

Peter Peeters with Maxillaria sp. in the foreground.

Epiphytes are abundant here at Mount Totumas. Big gaudy bromeliads and abundant orchids can be found throughout the region, especially in the micro climates created in the areas more exposed to the Bajareque mists. To a casual observer the larger species already reveal an abundant diversity. It is when we start to focus on the diminutive that the true dimension of epiphyte diversity begins to reveal itself.

Peter Peeters, a Belgium Botanist, and his wife Else, visited MTCF for a couple of days and Peter introduced us to his specialty; The Pleurothallidinae, a neo-tropical Sub tribe of orchids that are estimated to have around 4000 species.

Taxonomy Family: Orchidaceae
Sub Family: Epidendrodae
Tribe: Epidendrae
Sub Tribe: Pleurothallidinae

Lecanthes sp.

These are tiny orchids, blossoms are a few milimeters in size, once introduced to their existance, you suddenly realize there is a micro botanical garden of orchids growing on the same trees as the larger bromeliads and orchids.

Lecanthes sp.

Lecanthes sp.

Peter introduced us also to the value of small pastures in the higher elevations of MTCF and La Amistad NP. In closed forests these micro species of orchids can be found mainly in the bright light of the canopy. Old pastures with scattered trees bring bright light down to the lower trunks and branches where these tiny orchids can be found with relative ease. We discovered such a pasture around 2100m, a still active homestead within La Amistad NP. And here we discovered many species of orchids, including members of this remarkable sub tribe of Pleurothallidinae.

Pasture at 2100m inside la Amistad NP

Scattered trees in the pasture have epiphytes down to the base of the tree due to the open bright light

Peter P. surveying the pasture

Macro lens required for photography of micro orchids

Maxillaria sp.

Specklinia sp.

Telipogon sp. This species is restricted to the cool climates of high elevations and grows on moss.

Goodyeara sp.

Goodyeara sp.

Pleurothalis sp.

Epidendrum sp.

Arpophyllum sp. ?

Peter was kind enough to go through our MTCF gallery of orchid photos and identify many of the species.