During the spring break of 2016 I went to Ecuador with my colleague Dr. Joseph Cook from the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque), colelagues from the Museum of Southwest Biology and group of students from his tropical biology class. We flew to Quito, then spent a few days in the Yasuni National Park (about 11 hours drive from the capital) in Ecuadorian Amazonian lowland and Yanayacu Biological Station situated at a relatively high elevation around 2,000 m asl. Two Ecuadorian graduate students joined the group already in the field. The crew had collecting permits for some small mammals and amphibians so I used a chance to collect helminths from these vertebrates and at the same time introduce students to some elements of parasitology. It was an overall great little trip. Students were really motivated, willing to lear and helpful. We saw great sceneries and amazing diversity of plants. We collected some small mammals, but the greatest impression I received from the highest diversity of anouran amphibians I have ever seen in one place in one night in a stretch of some 150 meters. I also saw the highest diversity of moths in one place as well as other great animals like hummingbirds, monkeys, tapirs, trogons, quetzal, etc.

Magnificent Andes	Roads are good in Ecuador, but that can change quickly after strong rain
This is our bus crossing the river on a ferry while we took a smaller boat	Scorpions are common in the forest at night
This is a mom and baby tapir. The mom was saved by people at this station several years ago. Ever since she come back.	The young tapir
I was not too fond of the taste of this fruit, but it was refreshing	Monkeys did not approach really closely
You need to really look well under your feet, especially at night	A very large toad
A giant tarantula spider. They were awesome.	Phyllomedusa is an iconic South American frog
OK, the next few images just a gallery of frogs I saw in one evening
This is an adult frog!
	A very complex design
Pollination	Hopefully it will grow into a big tree.
I have seen these butterflies in several countries	The boat we took to cross the river
Landslide on the way to Yanuyacu	Lots of moths were waiting for us by the blacklight at the biological station
Just a moth gallery now
	OK, this one wasn't a moth
Looking for best places to set traps	There were many birds around
Male trogon trying to swallow a big moth	Resting hummingbird
Trail in the park	At the prep table
A porcupine fly?	The same hummingbir. Obviously it was his favorite perch
The young tapir was curious	There is never enough spiders
Walking sticks	Very pretty spider
This tiny gecko has already lost the tip of his tail to some predator	Woodcreeper collecting moths in the morning
Carlos Carrion feels at home in his country's mountains	Pablo Moreno is a mammologist from Quito who came to help us
This bird has amazing blue eyes	While this one is almost excessively multi-colored
One of large beetle species found in the area	It looks like they are not talking to each other today
Male trogon	Everybody had some chores to do. Joe Cook is leading by example.
A glimpse of Quito before departure. Students had much of the last day to explore Quito.