If you're ever tempted to think of the word biodiversity as just another of those abstract terms that scientists and environmentalists like to toss around, consider Manduca rustica, pictured here. (Is it a plant? a sea creature? a horse in fancy dress?) Or, for that matter, Elymiotis alata, Selenisa sueroides, or any of the scores of other bizarre, beautiful, and brilliantly camouflaged proto-moths and future butterflies that inhabit the Costa Rican rain forest. Remove them from the ecosystem and the cascade effect is tremendous: key pollinators are lost, plant biochemistry is disrupted, both vertebrates and invertebrates lose a vital food source. Fight to preserve them, as Costa Rica has done in the Guanacaste Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and our planet is an immeasurably richer place.