Harlequin Beetle - Costa Rica

Pre-Columbia spheres dated to 600 AD were discovered near the Diquis River of Southern Costa Rica. The diameter of these stones vary from a few centimeters to several meters, with the largest weighing several tons. The maximum circumference error of a typical 2 meter sphere was only 1.25 centimeters or 2%.

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Acrocinus longimanus - The harlequin beetle is a large tropical insect native to the Americas. An average adult is 7.5 centimeters in length; the males have forelegs as long as their entire body. These legs are used primarily during courtship and mating. Both sexes have pseudoscorpions, tiny insects resembling scorpions, but without the stingers, living under their wings. This benign relationship is referred as phoresy, a relationship between organisms with one relying on the host primarily for transportational purposes.

Papaya - Costa Rica

Carica papaya - Papayas are the fruit of the carica papaya plant, a tree native to Mexico and Central America. It was first cultivated in Mexico long before the rise of the classic Mesoamerican period. Papaya plants consist of three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. The male can only produce pollen, but no fruit. The female can only produce small and inedible fruit. Most of the cultivated papaya are of the hermaphrodite variety since it has the ability to self pollinate and produce edible fruit.

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There are several countries in the world without an army. Costa Rica was the first nation in the world to abolish its army. The constitution of 1949 provided an article forbidding the country to have a military. It does maintain a police force to handle internal defense and law enforcement. Costa Rica and the other Central American states did not actively fight against Spain to achieve independence. Losing control of Mexico in 1821, Spain also divested itself of the Central American colonies without a struggle.