European Garden Spider - Netherlands

The Dutch refer to their country as “Nederland,” the Dutch word for  “low lands,” an accurate geographical description of the country. Less than 50% of the country exceeds an elevation of 1 meter. Throughout its history, the Netherlands have been engaged in a constant struggling in keeping the sea from flooding their country.

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Araneus diadematus - The European garden spider is an orb-weave spider found in North America and Europe. Orb-weave spiders are the most common of the web weaving spiders and are known for building their spiral-wheeled shaped webs. Individual coloring for the garden spider can vary, but they do have four distinct markings across the upper abdomen forming a white cross. Some orb-weave spiders will consume their web in the morning or evening and sometimes before thunderstorms; new webs are quickly rebuilt as needed.

Windmills - Netherlands

A small wind powered device was constructed by Greek engineer Heron of Alexandria in the 1st century. Windmills were first put to wide use in Persia during the 9th century. The Netherlands made extensive use of the windmill with its most important function being land reclamation. Windmills created new agricultural fields and kept established fields dry from the encroaching sea. In 1850, over 10,000 windmills were in use throughout the Netherlands; today, less than 1,000 remain standing.

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The “Golden Age” for the Netherlands spanned much of the 17th century. The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company established trading colonies stretching from New York to Indonesia and as far south as the Cape Colony of South Africa. It was a nation of seafarers having over 16,000 merchant ships flying the Dutch flag. Growing competition from England and internal political strife brought a spiral of decline to the Dutch Republic in the late 18th century.

Hedge Cactus - Aruba

Aruba is an island where the cacti far out number the palms; it is dry, arid, and has no rivers. There is little rainfall and few sources of fresh water. The process of producing potable water by thermal desalination began in 1932; now it is done by reverse osmosis to supply a much larger population and a thriving tourist industry.

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Cereus repandus - The hedge cactus is endemic to several islands of the Caribbean. Seedlings of the hedge cactus rely heavily on nurse plants. These are usually mature trees with established canopies acting as host by providing micro-habitats for smaller non-competitive plants. The shade, ground moisture, and rich soil support the germination of seeds rooting near the base of the host. The new arrival reciprocates by providing additional moisture, nutrients from litter, and as a cactus, limits potential grazers from getting too close..

Smooth Trunkfish - Bonaire

Bonaire has been producing salt since 1499. The process has been modernized; water from the Caribbean flows into Pekelmeer and is pumped into condenser ponds where it is crystallized. The salt remains are washed, slurried, cleaned, and dried before being exported. From Pekelmeer to export can take over a year. 

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Lactophrys triqueter - The smooth trunkfish has a triangular shaped body when viewed from the front; narrow at the top, wide at the bottom. The body has a dark background and is covered with white boney scales laid out in a hexagonal pattern. It inhabits areas along coral reefs or muddy bottoms not exceeding 50 meters and tends to forage alone. The mouth resembles a short snout and features thick protruding lips. When searching for food along the sandy bottom, the mouth shoots out streams of water to uncover buried invertebrates.

Field Cricket - Curaçao

Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, and the country of Trinidad and Tobago are located on the South American continental shelf. In geological terms, this makes these islands part of South America and not the Caribbean. The three Dutch holdings lie in the western section of the Lessor Antilles and are rarely subjected to hurricanes.

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Gryllus bryanti - Young field crickets, nymphs, shed their exoskeleton several times before emerging as adults. Crickets and grasshoppers are often misidentified. Crickets have long antennae and rub their wings together to produce their chirping sound; grasshoppers have short antennae and produce their singing by rubbing their legs against the wings. Gryluss btyanti is a large field cricket, dark brown in color, with a reddish tint along the head area. Unlike other crickets, when chirping, this species produces only one pulse per stroke.

Ruddy Daggerwing - Saba

Saba has the distinction of having the smallest population and territorial size of the six Dutch holdings in the Caribbean, but the tallest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands is located on the island of Saba. Mount Scenery is a dormant stratovolcano; the last recorded eruption and pyroclastic flows occurred in 1640. 

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Marpesia petreus - The ruddy daggerwing is a common sight in lowland forest settings extending from Mexico to Brazil and from Florida to many of the Caribbean islands. A medium-sized butterfly, it has a wingspan of about 9 centimeters. The dorsal side is a rusty orange color with three black stripes running from fore wing to hind wing. The ventral side is a mottled brown and black to give the appearance of a decaying leaf. Daggerwings resemble swordtails and swallowtails; their hind wings also end in long dagger-shaped tails.

Incised Halberd Fern - Sint Eustatius

In 1954, the Netherlands organized its six holdings in the Caribbean into a “constituent country” known as the Netherlands Antilles. This entity was dissolved in 2010 with Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius becoming special municipalities; Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten each became a separate “constituent country.” 

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Tectaria incisa - The incised halberd fern is found throughout the Caribbean region and from Florida to Northern Argentina. It prefers moist gullies, ravines, wooded hillsides, hammocks, and oolitic rock formations; hammocks are dense strands of trees and oolitic rock is a sedimentary rock of spherical grains. The halberd fern is typically terrestrial, but on rare occasions can be seen growing as an epiphyte, a plant growing on the surface of another plant and taking needed nutrients from the air, rain or decaying debris found near its base.

Venus Girdle - Sint Maartin

Saint Martin was discovered and named by Cristóbal Colón during his second voyage to the Americas. Spain’s lack of interest in the island provided opportunity for the Dutch and French to establish settlements. Spain briefly expelled the intruders, but in 1648, the Dutch and French returned and agreed to share the island.

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Cestum veneris - The Venus girdle, a comb jelly, is the only species contained in the Cestum genus. The ribbon shaped body glides through the sea through muscular undulation or by use of the cilia, small hairlike structures. The rows of cilia are found on one side and the mouth is located on the other. It grows to lengths ranging from .8 to 1.5 meters. The transparent body has iridescent edges and will display a bioluminescence effect when disturbed. The Venus girdle has a small set of tentacles near the mouth to assist in catching prey.

Frigate

Frigates first appeared in the Mediterranean Sea during the 15th century. They were lightly armed, fitted with oars, and primarily built for speed and maneuverability in coastal or shallow waters. The Dutch were the first to build them large enough to venture into the open seas and used them in their struggle for independence from Spain. The success of the Dutch frigate was noted by the British and the design concept was adopted by the Royal Navy. Frigates became the workhorses during the Age of Sail. They could carry several months of rations and were used extensively as fast carriers, long-range escorts, patrol vessels, and as commerce raiders. Their armament usually consisted of a single deck of guns to provide enough firepower to stand against any ship except the heavily armoured capital ships. A frigate, if necessary could easily outmaneuver and outrun the heavier ships.