| It's possible 20 different species can look identical (needing dissection to differentiate); as such many id's here don't go to species level |
| Stat' | Notes | Thumbnails: 793. 191 native species listed, with 158 from Ellura |
| Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Giant Cockroach Blaberidae | Clear Rimmed Native Cockroach Calolampra sp | Na emar | The 1st two specimens were recorded on the same day at Ellura. Notice the 3rd specimen (Adelaide Hills) has more transparent edges, and a black streak down the side. All 3 specimens have different ventral patterns on their abdomen. We're not sure if these are different species or variations on the same species. Also notice the white face markings, these are not reflections but white pigment About 21mm long | |||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Giant Cockroach Blaberidae | Bark Cockroach Laxta sp | Na ema | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Oriental Cockroach Blatta orientalis | If a | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Shining Cockroach Drymaplaneta communis | Na ema | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Tortoise Cockroach Euzosteria cf subreflexa | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Black Cockroach Platyzosteria sp | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Small Cockroach Temnelytra sp | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | White-banded Cockroach Zonioploca cf latizona | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Cockroach Blattidae | Desert Mid-lined Cockroach Zonioploca medilinea | Na em | Thank you David Rentz for confirming the identification of this species David says in his book "A distinctive species: No other has a single midline stripe". This is the 1st record for this species in South Australia on the ALA website (www.ala.org.au). | |||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Wood Cockroach Ectobiidae | Brown Balta Cockroach Balta sp | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Wood Cockroach Ectobiidae | Western Ectoneura Cockroach Ectoneura tepperi | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Wood Cockroach Ectobiidae | Small Golden Cockroach Ellipsidion sp | Na em | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Wood Cockroach Ectobiidae | The Coulon Paratemnopteryx couloniana | Na ema |
About 22mm long | |||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Wood Cockroach Ectobiidae | Desert Para Cockroach Paratemnopteryx sp | Na a | ||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Termite Termitoidae | Termite Termitoidae sp | Na ema |
These have now been placed in the Cockroach order Blattodea. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ant-like Flower Beetle Anthicidae | Brown Ant-like Flower Beetle Chileanthicus sp | Na em | Thank you Augusto Degiovanni for identifying this species for us At only ~3.5mm these are very small beetles and easily confused with ants to the naked eye. Notice the interesting rear leg spurs; they can only be seen at certain angles. Augusto also said "This genus was created by Werner 1966, before the species of this new genus were inserted in the Formicomus = Anthelephila. In 2009, Kejval revised the genus where in addition to having redescribed existing species, he also described 30 new species many of them from Australia." | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Belid Weevil Belidae | Spotted Belid Weevil Rhinotia sp ES1 | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Belid Weevil Belidae | Red Belid Weevil Rhinotia sp ES2 | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Belid Weevil Belidae | Hairy Belid Weevil Rhinotia sp ES3 | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Belid Weevil Belidae | Sutural Belid Weevil Rhinotia suturalis | Na ema | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Large Auger Beetle Bostrichidae | Twig Borer Beetle Bostrychopsis jesuita | Na em | A cylindrical black beetle. About 13mm long, with a downward pointing face (reminiscent of a broad-nosed weevil). Distinctive 2 rows of horns on it's pronotum. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Jewel Beetle Buprestidae | Black-necked Jewel Beetle Castiarina atricollis | Na em | A small Jewel Beetle at ~12mm long. It's exoskeleton is primarily purple! There can be some variation on pattern & shading of the yellow to orange with these. Import aspects to look for at the spikes on the trailing edge of the elytra & the shape of pronotum. The pronotum is quite barrel shaped here. They also like certain plants, this one was found in Senna flowers. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Jewel Beetle Buprestidae | Chinnocks Jewel Beetle Castiarina chinnocki | Na em | A small Jewel Beetle at ~11mm long. It's exoskeleton is primarily gold, with green metallic legs & upper body! These are quite hairy underneath compared with our other Castiarina Jewel Beetle. This one was found in Sugarwood Flowers (Myoporum platycarpum) | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Jewel Beetle Buprestidae | Giant Jewel Beetle Temognatha heros | Na em | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for confirming the identification of this species | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Soldier Beetle Cantharidae | Soldier Beetle Chauliognathus sp ES1 | Na em | Possibly granulatus | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Soldier Beetle Cantharidae | Soldier Beetle Chauliognathus sp ES2 | Na em | Notice the differences between the 2 species. This one has broken black bands around the abdomen, the black marking on the back of the shield is quite different and it has orange legs (not black). This one also has orange head, not black. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Soldier Beetle Cantharidae | Soldier Beetle Chauliognathus sp ES3 | Na em | Possibly granulatus | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Striped Ground Beetle Amblytelus sp ES1 | Na em | Notice the long sparse hairs on the elytra (wing covers), pronotum (back/thorax shield) & head ... well on most of it's body actually; almost like spines rather than hairs. They also have an unusual spur on their front legs. Beetles often have spines coming out of their legs, but beetles in this tribe (Amblytelini) have an indent in the leg and a hook; as can be seen in the photos. About 10-11mm long (head & body). | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Brown Ground Beetle Amblytelus sp ES2 | Na em | Notice the long sparse hairs on most of it's body; almost like spines rather than hairs. They also have an unusual spur on their front legs. Beetles often have spines coming out of their legs, but beetles in this tribe (Amblytelini) have an indent in the leg and a hook; as can be seen in the photos. This one is a bit larger at about 13mm long (head & body) | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Crossed Ground Beetle Amblytelus sp ES3? | Na em | Notice the long sparse hairs on most of it's body; almost like spines rather than hairs. They also have an unusual spur on their front legs. Beetles often have spines coming out of their legs, but beetles in this tribe (Amblytelini) have an indent in the leg and a hook; as can be seen in the photo. This specimen has a smaller pronotum (back shield), which may make it a different species (perhaps Dystrichothorax?) | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Ant-nest Beetle Arthropterus sp | Na em |
A very distinctive honey brown beetle with very wide, thin, antennae. It also has wide thin legs and elytra (wing covers) that are shorter than the body. The are 3 pairs of protrusions around it's mouth; pincer like mandibles followed by increasingly larger adaptions (the Maxillary Palps & Labial Palps). While not seen very often, they are probably a lot more common than the low number sightings suggest. They live in ant nests excreting chemicals that trick the ants into thinking they are queens. As such, the ants actually raise their offspring, all the while the beetle is feasting on the ants. They are scientifically interesting due to the rapid rate in which they can adapt to new species of ants. Due to the complex nature of ant pheromones, etc, we can guess that there is a separate species of Arthropterus for each species of ant. Due to the size of this one, we can guess it's a parasite of Inch ants (Myrmecia sp). | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Green Ground Beetle Carenum elegans | Na emr | Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us We often find the colourful, metallic ground beeltes in pairs; with one larger than the other. We guess the smaller is the male & larger the female. There are no external visual clues as to any difference apart from size that we can detect. Here S1 was ~18mm & S2 ~22mm. While they look ferocious we found they weren't at all aggressive. We wouldn't recommend people pick them up to test the theory; if they did bite we imagine it'd draw blood and be very painful. We thought this was C. habitans. Mark said "Common and widespread species in riverland area of SA, NSW and Vic. Differs from C. habitans in more rounded prothorax, and elytra being more rounded on sides (habitans is almost parallel) and tapered much more evenly to the shoulders. Legs (particularly hind tibiae) much more slender in elegans than habitans." | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Blue Ground Beetle Carenum speciosum | Na em | We found two of these dead near the caravan when we arrived one day. Both looked identical, but quite different sizes. One being about 25mm long, with the smaller one (shown here) at about 20mm. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Green Sheen Ground Beetle Carenum subcyaneum | Na em | Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us What first grabbed our attention to this black beetle was the bright green line all around it's circumference. As it turns out, it's whole body reflects green, but the lip around it's edge makes it look like a green line. At first we thought it was a huge ant as it was moving pretty quickly across our camp ground. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Ground Beetle Chlaenius darlingensis | Na m | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Green Sheen Ground Beetle Conopterum superbum | Na em | Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us Normally we find so much of our wildlife is tiny. It makes sence that to survive in our harsh semi-arid environment "tiny" means less resources required to thrive. AND THEN we get a whopper like this! A staggeringly large beetle at about 32mm long! That's 8, yes folks EIGHT, times bigger than the Bulbous Antennae Clerid Beetle we just published .... Mark said "They are fairly widespread right across the Mallee areas from Eyre Peninsula through to Victoria." | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Australasian Panagaeitid Ground Beetle Craspedophorus australasiae | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Tiger Beetle Distipsidera cf sp | Na r | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Bombardier Beetle Pheropsophus verticalis | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ground Beetle Carabidae | Google-eyed Ground Beetle Scopodes sp | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Acacia Longhorn Beetle Ancita sp | Na a |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Slender Mallee Longhorn Beetle Aposites sp | Na em |
These two specimens were found on the same night at the outside light. Thinking they were the same, didn't photograph the second specimen as rigorously. They are probably 2 different species. The antennae length suggests both are males (ie extends beyond the elytra). The body length compared with wings & their antennae joint near the base are different. They also have slightly different markings on the thorax. Best guess is that one might be A. niger & the other A. lanaticollis. However, the few on-line photo's disagree visually, so at this stage will go with the one genus. Both are about 26mm long. Specimen 1 has antennae length of about 26mm & S2 about 28mm | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Callitris Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae sp? | Na em |
Thank you Greg Baker for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Andy Szito for helping with the identification of this species We were inspecting a recently fallen, dead, callitris tree. Marie noticed a grub inside a broken twig. Given callitris has natural invert inhibitors (often used for fence posts as it's not prone to termite attack), we were surprised. We prized it out and were *VERY* concerned it looked a lot like European House Borer (Hylotrupes bajulus); or EHB for short. We posted on the Amateur Entomology Australia facebook group and Andy Szito (WA DPIRD) suggested we contact Greg Baker at SARDI. We sent it off to Greg for confirmation, who then sent it off to Andy for DNA testing. Fortunately it wasn't EHB. It didn't match any known species in the DNA database, but was "most likely another Cerambycidae spp". This specimen was about 13mm long. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Desert Longhorn Microtragus mormon | Na em | Almost spider like with very long legs and antennae. Note the odd shaped compound eyes and 2 pair of ridges along it's back. The middle ridges start with small horn like projections. It's covered in fine hairs, not visible to the eye, which enhance the white patches on the rear ridges. We found a second, dead, specimen and thought the light colour was due to fading in the sun. But have since seen a photo of a live specimen which was also very light. So the overall colour can go from dark brown to pale grey. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Spotted Hairy Longhorn Beetle Opsidota infecta | Na em |
About 18mm long. With the 3 specimens we caught in one night there seems to be some variation in the amount the abdomen protrudes past the elytra, but not overall length. The spots on the thorax are made by hair, and so variations in colour, shape & quantity can be accounted for easily with age & wearing. The vague patterns on the elytra may be due to transparency of the underlying body (but didn't manage to see it with elytra up to prove this). These patterns are quite variable. Also note with longhorns that the antennae are often 2 dimensional. As such, some photo's of them appear thin/thread like. Others a thick heavy serrated appearance, where the antennae are at 90 deg. This is because the serrations are plate like and nearly invisible from the edge. As such, it's a good idea to get plenty of photo's of the antennae from different angles to get the correct shape of the segments. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Eucalypt Longhorn Phoracantha semipunctata | Na a | Unfortunately we only found a dead shell. Note the four trailing spines on the elytra (2 per elytron). | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Feather-horned Longhorn Beetle Piesarthrius laminosus | Na em |
About 15mm long with very long thin wide filaments on the antennae. It's difficult to determine how long the antennae are. Superficially they are a bit over 12mm long. However, the end segment has 2 filaments, of about 5mm long. So really the antennae are about 7mm, with 5mm of filament nearly doubling their length. The filaments vary in length, with the middle being the longest at about 7mm, and both edges being ~5mm. As with many longhorns, the eyes are heavily indented and wrap around the antennae base. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Braconid Mimic Longhorn Proagapete sp | Na em |
Similar Species: Red Braconid Wasp  | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Tea-tree Longhorn Rhytiphora obliqua | Na a |
~16mm head to tail & each antenna is ~22mm long. Marie found it drowning in a bird bath. We were surprised at the difference in colour between wet & dry. After a day in an insect box came back to life and started walking around, so was released. Notice the very hairy antennae. In terms of colour, it's an odd mix of chestnut to silver grey patches. It's spine placement is important diagnostically, as are it's antennae & eye shape. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Longhorn Beetle Rhytiphora sp | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Lycid Mimic Longhorn Stenoderus suturalis | Na em |
Similar Species: Lycid Beetle | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Longhorn Beetle Cerambycidae | Black-waisted Longhorn Beetle Uracanthus griseus | Na em |
At ~25mm long, this is the longest longhorn we've come across to date. It had serrated antennae that don't quite extend past the body. As with many longhorns, the eyes are heavily indented and wrap around the antennae base. This specimen got caught in a red-backs cobweb. It was lucky to survive, but we couldn't get all the cobweb off it's antennae & feet. In time it should be able to peel it off. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Flea Beetle Aporocera cf viridipennis ? | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Tiny Leaf Beetle Bruchinae sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for helping with the identification of this species Only 2mm long | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Metallic Dodonaea Leaf Beetle Callidemum hypochalceum | Na em | Similar Species: Chalcopterus Beetle Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Eboo Beetle Eboo sp | Na ema | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Dotted Paropsine Leaf Beetle Paropsis carnosa | Na em | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Tortoise Beetle Paropsis cf aegrota | Na a | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Striped Leaf Beetle Paropsisterna intacta | Na a | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us Not only did Martin supply the id for this stunning little beetle, he also very kindly supplied the specimen on his last trip to SA. While this is the usual colour/pattern, Martin has found them without any spots on the pronotum, nor strips on the back (elytra). | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Dark Brown Paropsine Leaf Beetle Paropsisterna variicollis | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Fireblight Beetle Peltoschema orphana | Na em | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae | Leaf Beetle Trachymela sp | Na em | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for identifying this species for us | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Clerid Beetle Cleridae | Spiny Clerid Beetle Eunatalis spinicornis | Na em | About 24mm long, weighed 190 mg and has hairy eyes. As with other clerids, this is a hairy beetle. It looks very similar to some longihorns, but the antennae are quite short in comparison. Longihorn antennae tend to be positioned above the body, whereas this specimen was quite intent on keeping them hidden. The antennae have a pointed tip and is possibly referenced in it's name. Ian Gibbins translated "spinicornis" for us to mean "spiny horns". Antennae are often refered to as Horns (eg long-i-horns). Ian also indicated "Eunatalis" more or less means "of true birth". It's description, by Gerstmeier & Seitner, mentions "E. spinicornis differs from all other species by the dentate elytral apices". 'Dentate', meaning tooth-like, 'Elytral' meaning of the wing covers & 'Apices' meaning tip. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Clerid Beetle Cleridae | Bulbous Antennae Clerid Sedlacekvia tanamica | Na em | Only known from the NT with a few records, this is a rare find. That's not to say it is rare, but doesn't seem to found by people very much. Very little is known about them. To the naked eye it looks just like an ant, but because it was on concrete the large antennae stood out and we thought it was a small Ant-nest Beetle. But closer inspection shows quite different antennae, bulbous rather than filamented. At only 4-5mm tip to tail, it's fairly small. Overall it is dark brown and hairy, with dark red patches on it's shoulders. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ladybird Coccinellidae | Transverse Ladybird Coccinella transversalis | Na ema | Orange lady beetle with black wavy blotches. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ladybird Coccinellidae | Large Spotted Ladybird Harmonia conformis | Na ema | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ladybird Coccinellidae | Variegated Ladybird Hippodamia variegata | If em | As it's name suggests, a very variable species. Usually with white stripes on it's pronotum, but sometimes not. Introduced from Europe and used as a biological control of cotton aphids in crops, it is now wide spread and an environmental pest. Our apologies for the moth scales interfering with these photo's. They were shed in the container by the previous occupant, not part of this species. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ladybird Coccinellidae | Ladybird Micraspis furcifera | Na em | Pale yellow lady bug with black stripes. Or is it black with yellow stripes?-) | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Ladybird Coccinellidae | Tiny Black Ladybird Serangium bellum | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Riverina Weevil Amycterus riverinae | Na em | Thank you Boris Bueche for confirming the identification of this species ~15mm long. All those dimples have a single short stiff hair coming from the middle. Almost like a spine.. They eat seeds and other plant matter. One specimen found in Feb. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Straight-snouted Weevil Brentidae sp | Na em | Tip to tail this little fella is only 2mm long! Tiny | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Broad-nosed Weevil Cubicorhynchus sp | Na em | Thank you Boris Bueche for confirming the identification of this species We thought it might have been Cubicorhynchus setosus, but Boris, on Bowerbird, said "NOT setosus (setae too short). 3 similar WA species at least. Species-level ID would need male sexual characters; this weevil assumed female (slightly convex belly)." About 14mm long, covered in short, down-curved, hairs. Notice the unusual little horns on it's face. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Eucalypt Weevil Gonipterus sp | Na ema | The larva create a faecal shield to help protect from predators. They skeletonise gum leaves. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Wattle Pig Leptopius sp | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Horse-nosed Weevil Pelororhinus sp | Na em | A medium sized weevil at ~14mm long weight ~0.1gm. The antennae point back slightly, rather than foreward like many other weevils. Covered in very short coloured scales, with long hairs around the muzzle. Very long legs and large feet what can hold onto glass, just. This specimen flew past us straight into a senna bush about 5m in front of us. Beetles fly quite differently to flies. Much slower, quite combersome, with the body hanging. Shape is very important to weevil identification; much more than colour. Notice the way the pronotum is extended over the head, and the way the head indents (in profile) to make a face and separate muzzle. Broad-nosed weevils have a straight line from the forehead to the tip of the snout. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Barrel Weevil Perperus sp | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | True Weevil Curculionidae | Sitona Weevil Sitona discoideus | If em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Skin Beetle Dermestidae | Varied Carpet Beetle Anthrenus verbasci | If ema | Similar Species: Brown Globular Springtail  A small beetle, ~3mm long, that has cost millions to protect against severely damaging the world's museum specimens. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Diving Beetle Dytiscidae | Padded Diving Beetle Eretes australis | Na em | After the heaviest rainfall since June 2019, we found a large number of these in early Feb 2020. We found 2 dead specimens in the past. The males have padded feet, shown here, used to hold onto the female when mating. The female we measured was slightly smaller than the male, with the female being ~13mm & the male being ~15mm. There did seem to be a lot of size variation in specimens we saw. They can fly, and breath air, taking a bubble of air with them when diving to the bottom of a water source. They are very fast swimmers. They have hair on their middle & hind legs that act link fins. When out of the water these hairs collapse into a row along the edge of each leg. The patterning on their elytra seems to vary quite a bit, but there always seem to be a solid black mark about midway down the elytra, along with 2 or 3 rows of small black marks (mixed in with light & dark patches) that aren't very obvious in the live specimens. Compared to other diving beetles, the head does seem more prominant/protrudes from the body. Pronotum shape is also useful to help with diagnostics. The male feet seem unusual, but are similar to some other diving beetles. The Pictorial Guide to the Diving Beetles of SA says "A distinctive species, unusual in having the surface punctuation on the prothorax much smaller than on the wing cases.", which is quite obvious here. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Diving Beetle Dytiscidae | Green Diving Beetle Onychohydrus scutellaris | Na em | Always amazes us how we find water born animals on Ellura; a semi-arid environment. Unfortunately we found this one dead, but am happy to use it to help your identification process About 30mm long, with strange "flippers" on it's front legs | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Diving Beetle Dytiscidae | Predacious Diving Beetle Rhantus suturalis | Na em | ~13mm long. Found worldwide, and the first live diving beetle we've found. One specimen found in December. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Shielded Click Beetle Agrypnus sp | Na em | About 9mm long | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Large Click Beetle Elateridae sp ES1 | Na m | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Red Click Beetle Elateridae sp ES2 | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Black Click Beetle Elateridae sp ES3 | Na ema | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Brown Click Beetle Elateridae sp ES4 | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Click Beetle Elateridae | Small Click Beetle Elateridae sp ES5 | Na em | About 7mm long | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Clown Beetle Histeridae | Clown Beetle Saprinus sp | Na em | Very metallic blue/green back/elytra and metallic yellow/gold shield/pronotum. Quite small @ 5.5 to 7mm, with large mandibles, for it's size, and wide legs clearly used for digging. Club like antennae. Notice the body is covered in scores & pits almost sculptured; these are the same on all speciemens so conclude they are not damage marks. The dirt on specimen four (S4) highlights the edge of the elytra & rear wings quite well. We have found 6 specimens in May, August, September & December. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Stag Beetle Lucanidae | Black Stag Beetle Figulus sp | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Net-winged Beetle Lycidae | Long-nosed Lycid Beetle Porrostoma rhipidium | Na emr | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Net-winged Beetle Lycidae | Lycid Beetle Porrostoma sp | Na ema | Similar Species: Lycid Mimic Longhorn | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Soft-winged Flower Beetle Melyridae | Red and Blue Flower Beetle Dicranolaius bellulus | Na ema |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Christmas Beetle Anoplognathus montanus | Na a | Thank you Ethan Beaver for helping with the identification of this species ~30mm long. The green to purple reflections is diagnostic, as are the large hooks on the feet. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Flower Chafer Diaphonia dispar | Na em |
Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us About 23mm long. The only specimen we've seen was found dead on the ground. Basically a black beetle, with 2 "flame" stripes above, 2 orange spots on the rear, along with 4 paler orange/yellow spots on each side of the abdomen. The most interesting visual aspect of this beetle is it's sculptured elytra. The legs are wide and also have abnormally large appendages. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Sandy Dung Beetle Euoniticellus fulvus | If a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Brown Chafer Melolonthinae sp ES1 | Na em |
Large hairy rusty brown beetle. There are many very similar species & genera; most likely these are in the sub-family Melolonthinae | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Red Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES2 | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Scabby Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES3 | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Beige Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES4 | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Brown Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES5 | Na em |
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| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Hairy Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES6 | Na em |
Possibly Semanopterus sp | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Red Chafer Melolonthinae sp ES7 | Na em |
Very similar to the Brown Chafer. These have different head plate; being wider at the very tip. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Scarab Beetle Scarabaeidae | Long Legged Scarab Beetle Melolonthinae sp ES9 | Na ema |
We've found quite a few of these. They look identical but range from 17mm down to about 6mm; which would indicate they are different species. We've just shown a couple of the larger specimens here. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Rove Beetle Staphylinidae | Devil's Coach-horse Beetle Creophilus erythrocephalus | If em |
While found around carrion, they feed on fly larvae on dead animals. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Rove Beetle Staphylinidae | Rove Beetle Creophilus lanio | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Rove Beetle Staphylinidae | Tiny Rove Beetle Staphylinidae sp ES1 | Na em | We can't be sure these 2 sightings are the same species. They are both tiny & we managed to measure the 2nd at ~3mm. At this size our equipement isn't sophisticated enough to get detailed diagnostic photographs, so have to settle with family level id. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Black Comb-clawed Beetle Alleculini sp ES1 | Na ema | Alleculini is a tribe, commonly called Comb-clawed Beetles and are an understudied group. There are a large number of similar looking genera in the tribe, let alone species. We have left this id at the tribe level for now until further information is more readily available. Note the very hairy body & legs, as well as large eyes. Reminiscent of the introduced Egyptian beetle, but much smaller at only 12mm long (head & body). | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Brown Comb-clawed Beetle Alleculini sp ES2 | Na em | Alleculini is a tribe, commonly called Comb-clawed Beetles and are an understudied group. There are a large number of similar looking genera in the tribe, let alone species. We have left this id at the tribe level for now until further information is more readily available. Note the very hairy body & legs, as well as large eyes. This specimen is quite a bit smaller than the previous at only 8mm long (head & body). Notice also that the legs are shorter and body more parallel than our previous specimen. The head shape, large eyes & padded feet still match. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Orange-footed Black Beetle Batessia westwoodi | Na em | Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us ~20mm long. Many of the beetles in the Cyphaleina sub-tribe can look very similar. The corners of the pronotum vary in size and shape quite a bit within species. There is another similar genus, Nyctozoilus, which has diagnostic hairs on the rear legs of the males. Hence the reason we included hind legs shots to show they are bare here. When we were wondering if it was B. championi Mark said "B. westwoodi and championi have very similar descriptions, but when placed side by side, the differences become a little more obvious. Unfortunately most of the features used to distinguish between the two are variable to an extent, thus further confusing them. This biggest difference externally is in the prothorax, and specifically the hind angles which are preceeded by and abrupt constriction in westwoodi, and by an even sweeping curve in championi. A syntype image for B. championi can be found here. Another major difference is the shape of the elytra which is somewhat tear-shaped in westwoodi (widest near apical third), and almost parallel in championi." We found one specimen in Feb. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Egyptian Beetle Blaps polychresta | If emc |
Large black beetle, approximately 40mm long (head to tail) with a projection out the rear end. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Chalcopterus Beetle Chalcopteroides sp | Na ema | Similar Species: Metallic Dodonaea Leaf Beetle Thank you Tom Weir for helping with the identification of this species Very metallic green back Highly reflective. These look similar to Amarygmus sp. Tom said "Amarygmus tend to have the elytra distinctly striate and punctate whereas Chalcopteroides tend to have only superficial striae and punctures. Also Amarygmus have the mandibles apically bifid whereas in Chalcopteroides they are apically rounded or truncate." | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Rotund Pie-dish Beetle Cillibus sp | Na a | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Honey Brown Beetle Ecnolagria rufescens | Na a | Male & female ~13mm long. To separate species within the genus the male is needed. These can be recognised by the long thick antennae bases as seen here. In SA we have two very similar species, E. grandis & E. rufescens. To separate them you need to see the antennae segments. The middle & rear leg spines also help. E. rufescens has longer middle leg spines but a slightly smaller rear leg spine than E. grandis. With E. grandis the middle antennal segments also have slight spuring (similar to the 2nd to last two, but not as exaggerated). With E. rufescens the middle antennal segments are relatively symetrical ... round, not spurred. We cannot confirm the females shown here are E. rufescens, but given the one male we found is, and they were found in close proximity it's reasonable to assume they are. We found 7 specimens, one male, in Nov, Dec, Jan & Feb. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Transparent Pie-dish Beetle Helea castor | Na em |
Thank you Mark Hura for identifying this species for us We have recently discovered the enclosed head is not a diagnostic feature of Helea sp. Notice how round this species is compared to the next (Helea waitei). It's quite unusual as it's brown plus has a transparent "shell". We're not sure if the "brown fluff" is just plain dirt, or possibly excreted by the beetle as camouflage. Another possibility is cobweb from a tiny spider This specimen was 22mm long including the flanges of the Elytra (rear shield / wing covers) and Prothorax (front shell), 18mm just the head & body without the shell. This specimen has 2 ridges starting at the front of the elytra stopping about 3/4's toward the rear, roughly where a 3rd middle ridge starts. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Large Pie-dish Beetle Helea waitei | Na em |
Notice the single, central ridge running from the front to the back of the elytra on this specimen. Also a small horn on the prothorax between the head & elytra. When threatened they tilt their whole body up on side to present the shell to the threat (protecting their undersides). They are able to move their head inside the shell like a tortoise, so can close the hole off with nearly no eyes showing, or have half the eye poking through. The body & legs are covered in short thick hair. The elytra is fused, so they can't fly. The last specimen we found is covered in a white substance. Possible fungus of some sort. But other beetles exude a fungus like substance to help with camoflage. The 2 specimens we measured were 27mm & 33mm total length. To be clear, this includes the "shell', tip to tail. The actual head to abdomen extremities were 26mm (of the 33mm). 7mm of "shell" front & back. It can be unclear what "length" means with inverts. Normally we don't include appendages, but the shell doesn't seem like an appendage. So we've included it for now, unless otherwise notified. We have now found 3 of these, all in January. | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Shiny Pie-dish Beetle Pterohelaeus sp ES1 | Na em | ||||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Darkling Beetle Tenebrionidae | Red-rimmed Blue Pie-dish Beetle Pterohelaeus sp ES3 | Na em | ~19mm long with basically thread antennae; however the segments are wide & flat. Has a white speckled/dusty look to it's surface that seems to rub off. The red-rim was easily visible to the naked eye, but held up to light here to highight it plus show the semi-transparent nature of it (you can see the leg underneath it) | |||
| Beetles Coleoptera | Gnawer Beetle Trogidae | Carcass Beetle Omorgus sp | Na emr | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Achilid Planthopper Achilidae | Vertical Wing Achilid Hopper Tropiphlepsia badia | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Broad-headed Bug Alydidae | Brown Senna Bug Melanacanthus cf scutellaris | Na ema |
There are 5 families that look similar 1. Broad-headed Bug (Alydidae; tend to be longer & thinner), 2. Jumping Tree Bug (Miridae), 3. Seed Bug (Lygaeidae), 4. Damsel Bug (Nabidae) & 5. Assassin Bug (Reduviidae; highly variable family, but have curved rostrum/proboscis tucked underneath. Easy to see in a side shot - but you have to photograph the side of it to be sure). Sometimes we take photo's that look nothing like the bug we see with our eyes. This is one case, so we've published both "naked eye" looking shots and others with more detail that we still want to share. An interesting species this, apart from the talk above, it's usual venacular name is "Brown Bean Bug" .... now it annoys us to find common names of natives that have nothing to do with natives. Here, eg, there is no native bean that we are aware of. BUT these guys love senna (and probably acacia), in fact probably any legume ... guess what! Beans are legumes. So how about we name them after a native species of plant that they love, rather some agricultural pest term. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Broad-headed Bug Alydidae | Long Broad-headed Bug Mutusca brevicornis | Na ema | Similar Species: Pacific Damsel Bug About 15mm long, with varying levels of green colours on the body. 2 specimens found in June (Ellura) & November (Adelaide Hills) | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Aphid Aphididae | Green Peach Aphid Myzus persicae | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Spittlebug Cercopidae | Spittlebug Bathyllus albicinctus | Na em | We confused this with a Cicada nymph; at least they are related. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Mottled-brown Leafhopper Bakeriana rubra | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Yellow-headed Leafhopper Brunotartessus fulvus ? | Na m | A fierce looking little hopper as an instar. Quite pretty when fully grown. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Milky Planthopper Cicadellidae sp ES1 | Na em | There are many species of these little hoppers that have the same body shape, but many different colours & patterns. Body length of this one is ~5mm. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Mottled-head Gum-leafhopper Eurymeloides punctata | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Brown Leafhopper Orosius orientalis | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leafhopper Cicadellidae | Flat-head Leafhopper Stenocotis depressa | Na em | A highly variable species. About 10mm long (body goes to wing edge) Reference Link | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Cicada Cicadidae | Subcoastal Squawker Pauropsalta cf accola | Na em | Thank you Ethan Beaver for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Dr Lindsay Popple for identifying this species for us Reference Link It's been very useful to have found 2 of the same species as you can now compare the colour variations between the teneral stage & a full coloured adult; which is much blacker. The following relates to Specimen 2: ~20mm body length with red wing veins and a bronze body. There are 3 large, red, ocelli just in front of the middline of the eyes. It has some strange green "milky" colourations on the wings and body which, on closer inspection, is the same on the pale abdomen stripes. The hind wings make a dark pointed "peak" above the abdomen. The forearms are armed with heavy set spines. Lindsay said "The specimen is still partly teneral, which makes it difficult to identify. The dorsal portion of tergite 1 is clearly visible, which actually rules out both P. confinis and P. extensa. So need to consider other alternatives. Given consideration of its size, it is most likely to be Pauropsalta accola" | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Cicada Cicadidae | Scrub-clicker Platypsalta cf sp | Na em | Thank you Ethan Beaver for identifying this species for us Female was about 15mm long Reference Link | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Lacehopper Cixiidae | Speckled Lacehopper Aubirestus semicirculatus | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Lacehopper Cixiidae | Mallee Lacehopper Ozoliarus sp | Na em | ~6mm body length. Lacehoppers have very chiselled faces which can be useful for id, so always best to get anterior shots. As well as wing venation, dorsal and alantennae & ocellii location. Notice here the ocelli below the eye in front of the antenna. Found one specimen in November. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leaf Footed Bug Coreidae | Wingless Coreid Bug Agriopocoris sp | Na a | ~10mm long, chocolate brown and very spiny. Males have a narrower abdomen than the females. Tony Daley on Bowerbird said "There are a couple of differences in the form of the abdomen to separate the wingless adults from the similar nymphs, but easiest to point to is the two pairs of abdominal dorsal scent glands down the middle which are active in nymphs and thus clearly seen but not active, and thus not distinguished from surrounding surface in colour, in adults." The scent glands Tony refers appear like 4 black lumps in the nymphs that are missing from our two specimens. These can have wings apparantly, but we haven't seen any photo's of them. We photographed 2 males in Dec & Jan. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leaf Footed Bug Coreidae | Eucalyptus Bug Amorbus obscuricornis | Na a | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leaf Footed Bug Coreidae | Eucalyptus Tip Wilter Amorbus rhombifer | Na ema | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Leaf Footed Bug Coreidae | Crusader Bug Mictis profana | Na ma | A dark grey bug with orange stripes on its back and orange antennae tips | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Water Boatman Corixidae | Water Boatman Agraptocorixa cf eurynome | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Water Boatman Corixidae | Striped Water Boatman Sigara sp | Na em | ~7mm long with horizontal stripes on the pronotum, transverse grooves on the rostrum with no ocelli. Notice the curved inside of the forewing. Found several at the night light in February. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Shield Bug Cydnidae | Burrowing Bug Adrisa sp? | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Dictyopharid Planthopper Dictyopharidae | Curved Longheaded Hopper Thanatodictya sp | Na em | We have found that all specimens have different wing venation. It's quite possible that the curved snout and wing venation are not diagnostic. We don't count these as separate species now; until some research is done on them to determine what diagnostic features separate the species. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Dictyopharid Planthopper Dictyopharidae | Longheaded Hopper Thanatodictya sp ES2 | Na em | This is the more usual type seen, with the straight snout | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Dictyopharid Planthopper Dictyopharidae | Longheaded Hopper Thanatodictya sp ES3 | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Dictyopharid Planthopper Dictyopharidae | Longheaded Hopper Thanatodictya sp ES4 | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Scale Insect Eriococcidae | Eucalypt Gall Apiomorpha strombylosa | Na em | Similar Species: Mealybug We've cut galls open before to see what's inside, but this is the first time we've found something. We thought it was a larva, but it's actually a female adult. You can see the 6 "legs", more like claws, in the photo's. Clearly not required anymore, but a left over ancestral "artifact"; living it's life inside the mutated Eucalypt stem. We're still not quite sure how the males, that live a whole 2 days outside the "casing", manage to mate with females embedded inside their "casing". We found this specimen on a very stunted, sick looking, mallee "bush". You know when you have a native plant when it's attacked by insects. Insects don't know what to do with introduced species; so generally treat them like a lump of rusty steel (ie not interested, leave it alone, so the introduced species thrives - oops!). | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Planthopper Eurybrachidae | Wattle Hopper Dardus sp | Na em | A little hopper ~4-5mm long. You'll notice our specimen has lost one of it's middle feet. With very dark specimens like these we bump up brightness to highlight details, making the background unrealistically bright. It can be considered a camera artifact and highlights the need to be careful when considering colours in photo's. Reference Link | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Planthopper Eurybrachidae | Gum Tree Hopper Platybrachys sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Flatid Planthopper Flatidae | Green Planthopper Siphanta sp | Na ema | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Lantern Fly Fulgoridae | Lantern Fly Rentinus dilatatus | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Ground Dwelling Bug Hyocephalidae | Ground Dwelling Bug Hyocephalus aprugnus | Na em | ~9mm long and flightless. These dark bugs live under stones in sandy soil & gravel. It's possible this is one of the other 2 species in this family, Maevius indecorus. We can't differentiate them, but H. aprugnus is known to occur in SA; M. indecorus isn't. They look very similar to juvenile assassin bugs, but their proboscus is straight, not curved. Also their wings are "squared off", nearly all true bug invert wing-buds are rounded. Usually the number of antennae segments is diagnostic. But you can see here one side has 4 & the other 3. A mutation perhaps? | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Seed Bug Lygaeidae | Green Seed Bug Lygaeidae sp | Na em | Similar Species: Brown Senna Bug Thank you to Fabien Piednoir for correcting our error with these He said "Lygaeidae have 4 antenna segments; 4-segmented antennae are plesiomorphic feature, not characteristic to Lygaeidae, but rather non-Pentatomoidea Pentatomomorpha : Aradoidea + Lygaeoidea + Pyrrhocoroidea + Coreoidea. Lygaeoidea are actually characterized by the low (4 max) number of wing veins in wing membrane." | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Seed Bug Lygaeidae | Red-banded Seed-eating Bug Melanerythrus mactans | Na emr | ~8mm long. This specimen seems to have an extra ocellus. We assume this is an aberant mole of sorts, as the ocelli are just above the compound eyes. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Seed Bug Lygaeidae | Rutherglen Bug Nysius cf vinitor | Na ema | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Horned Treehopper Membracidae | Acacia Horned Treehopper Sextius virescens | Na a | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Jumping Tree Bug Miridae | Saltbush Mirid Coridromius chenopoderis | Na em | A tiny bug at ~2.5mm that has striped legs & face. More like a plant hopper with it's powerful hind legs. It's severely bent wings are another obvious diagnostic feature. Notibly this genus utilises a Traumatic insemination technique to "copulate". | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Jumping Tree Bug Miridae | Green Mirid Creontiades dilutus | Na ema | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Jumping Tree Bug Miridae | Hairy Large-eyed Mirid Bug Miridae sp | Na em | Nearly 5mm long | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Giant Scale Monophlebidae | Scale Insect Icerya sp ES1 | Na em | Primarily brilliant white (which is the egg sack) with a brown cap (the actual insect). Found on saltbush (Atriplex sp) | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Giant Scale Monophlebidae | Large Mealybug Monophlebulus sp ES1 | Na em |
We are not sure why one of the group was orange; they are clearly cohabiting and have the same body shape so reasonably sure they are all one species. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Giant Scale Monophlebidae | Small Mealybug Monophlebulus sp ES2 | Na em |
It's possibly a nymph, and at 2mm body & head length is not very big. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Damsel Bug Nabidae | Pacific Damsel Bug Nabis kinbergii | Na em | Similar Species: Brown Senna Bug Like Assassin Bugs, these are predatory on other insects (ie carnivorous). Notice the strong front legs as well, to hold the prey. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Backswimmer Notonectidae | Golden-shouldered Backswimmer Anisops cf deanei | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Backswimmer Notonectidae | Yellow Backswimmer Anisops cf planifascies | Na emr | ~7mm long, didn't register on the scales, so less than 10mg. Mainly yellow with orange patch on top and black stripes underneath (which is what would normally be seen from above). A quantity (~10 or so) came to a night light in February. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Horehound Bug Agonoscelis rutila | Na em | Even though Horehound is introduced, this bug is native. Bright orange with black blotches on top and black stripes under. Black legs. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Acacia Shield Bug Alcaeus lignicolor | Na em | ~17mm long. Notice the side spines one the pronotum are very much reduced compared with A. varicornis. It's surprisingly difficult to see, but the leading edges of the pronotum also have small spines/teeth (this occurs on both Alcaeus species we have depicted here). Note though the edges of the abdomen seem less serated compared to most pentatomids, looking almost smooth edged. We have found 3 adults in Oct, Dec & Feb. We also found 3, what we think are nymphs, in May & June. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Spined Acacia Shield Bug Alcaeus varicornis | Na em | Very similar in appearance to A. lignicolor, but larger insects along with heavier/longer spines on the side of the pronotum. The scutellar spine (the body armour at the back of the body where the wings start, that curls up slightly and has the pale patch on it) appears to be thicker with these that A. lignicolor. Found one in January. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Exocarpos Bug Aplerotus maculatus | Na emr | Thank you Martin Lagerwey for confirming the identification of this species It 's possible these are A. grossi. The holotype image of A. grossi shown on Atlas doesn't match the description of A. grossi from 1984. So an error has occurred somewhere, but the original description is the benchmark we should use, assuming the digital image is in error/incorrectly labelled. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Black-spotted Shield Bug Cuspicona intacta | Na em | ~10mm long, covered in punctuations, randomly splattered with black. The black patches are not easily visible to the naked eye. Most Cuspicona are green, but turn yellow brown after death (ie Museum Specimens). Gross didn't find one during his work, and the holotype was lost. As such, he didn't realise they are yellow brown in life too. These are supposed to have 5 antennal segments, but as we have been found before with this family, this one has 5 segments on one antenna and 4 on the other. A deformation, not a lost tip. The 1st segments are very pale, with the 3rd segment turning red/brown towards the far end. The head looks quite long and pointy, yet is wider (at the eyes) than long. This is probably due to the face narrowing quickly below the eyes. Notice the transparent wings that look white, compared to normally dark/black wings. We have noted the Keels on this type of bug before. Notice here how it is definately used as a support for the proboscis; it's cupped to fit. These are known to feed on Eremophila freelingii, which is not found in our region but much further North. However it was found on a flyscreen adjacent to a patch of Eremophila longifolia. One can surmise the one we found feeds on that species of emu bush too. It does look similar to an E. longifolia drying fruit. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Long-spined Shield Bug Cuspicona longispina | Na em | Basically a green bug, ~6mm long. The one we found has an orange head, yellow go stripes that form a 'v' on it's back, with white under The main diagnostic features are the massive horns/spindes protruding up & slightly forward from it's pronotum, as well as the horizonal black band made by punctuations across the pronotum (between the horns). Of interest is the large ventral keel. While this occurs to some degree in some other shield bugs, here the proboscis is pushed to one side. It also had a habit of folding it's antennae underneath. Pinned specimens loose their striking colours, becoming a pale brown. Live photo's in this case make field recognition so much easier | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Green Shield Bug Cuspicona privata | Na a | Thank you Won-Gun Kim for identifying this species for us A mainly green bug, ~8.5mm long. Notice the lack of any horns protruding from the sides of the pronotum. Small horns would indicate C. simplex Like the Long-spined Shield Bug, this species has a keel, but is not as noticeable. You can just see it in the profile shot. The ventral shot shows the shorter proboscis & little evidence of the keel. Originally thought to be Cuspicona simplex, then C. eremophilae, then Ocirrhoe prasinata. As you can see, difficult to separate unless you study the head, pronotum & scuttellum shapes closely. Won-Gun also said "the shapes of the posterolateral pronotal margin, the scutellum, etc. For example, the posterolateral margin is relatively straight and relatively horizontal in C. privata when compared with O. prasinata. In addition, the dorsal surface of this bug is much closer to C. simplex than the species of the genus Ocirrhoe." Notice that the wings are almost clear, and the edges of the abdomen have small black tipped spines on the edges of the "laterotergites" (abdominal segments). | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Pink-rimmed Shield Bug Diemenia rubromarginata | Na a | ~11mm long, which is reasonably small. Primarily black top & bottom, with a beige to pink rim around the body. The black sometimes protrudes to the outside edge. Here they don't and used to be considered different sub-species where they did. While they generally have 4 antennae segments, you'll notice one here only has 3 on one and 4 on the other. Normally you'd consider this a loss of one tip, but the remaining tip seems longer and rounded. Possibly a malformed antenna rather than a broken one. At each antenna base, they have a large hooked spine protruding forward. This is called the "antennophore". An uncommon find. We found two one year in Jan & Feb. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Large Snouted Stink Bug Kalkadoona enchylaenae | Na em | Approx 8mm long | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Variable Shield Bug Kapunda tepperi | Na em | About 6mm long | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Variable Shield Bug Kapunda troughtoni | Na ema | Thank you Dr Mallik Malipatil for identifying this species for us This genus has a distinctively blunt snout for a shield bug; with relatively short antennae that come from under the snout, not the side or front like most others. About 6mm long | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Spiny Shield Bug Neagenor cf spinosa | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Forward-spined Shield Bug Neagenor transcontinentalis | Na r | We are really VERY excited While we love helping people and discovering the wildlife we have around us, moments like this are like the gold nugget to the prospector. In our recent pit trapping adventure we found a shield bug, a Neagenor sp of some sort. Only 2 records on Atlas, with 2 photo's of a dead specimen from 1909, which Gross eludes to in his 1971 description. The dead specimens (very damaged) match our specimen far better than Gross's drawing of N minor. So we think these are the 1st live photo's of this species we can find anywhere; and the 1st record since 1909. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Spined Predatory Shield Bug Oechalia schellenbergii | Na ema |
~8mm long. As the common name suggests it has spines (that lift up and back from the shoulders). It preys on & consumes insect larvae. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Gum-tree Shield Bug Omyta centrolineata ssp siccior | Na a | ~17mm long. These only have 3 antennae segments, which is less than most others at 4 or 5. However, the colour banding makes them look like 4 segments, so you need to pay close attention to the actual segment separtion; not just colour. Notice the spurs on each antenna base under the head. It seems some specimens have longer spines than others. Possibly a gender difference? We have photographed 9 adult specimens in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May & Nov. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Reddish Shield Bug Poecilometis alienus | Na em | About 13mm long. The 2nd specimen is much redder than the first, which is possibly caused by freshly moulting. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Shield Bug Poecilometis cf vermiculatus | Na em | Thank you Mark Newton for identifying this species for us Varies from black to light brown (tan) to cinnamon Adults are quite distinguished with white "bow tie" spot at the end of their wing shield, finishing with jet black diamond vest formed by the wing tips. Found on Senna and Beyeria opaca. Without ventral examination, we can't be sure this is the correct id. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Brown Shield Bug Poecilometis fuscescens | Na em | About 17mm long | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Long Gum-tree Shield Bug Poecilometis strigatus | Na a | ~16-17mm with 4 antennae segments. The proportion of the length of one segment to another is diagnostic. Gross gives the ratio of these as 45:95:70:65. Importantly the shoulders/pronotum are not spined with these. The binomial name of "strigatus" implies these are "longer than wide" Overal size is also important when id'ing these Poecilometis, as < 15mm involves a different subset of bugs. Notice the colour of the emerging adult is nearly white. It's easy to find different colours from very pale to almost black as they age. We have also found nymphs having a large range of colour density (pale to dark). Shown here is a dark nymph. It's only a guess that this nymph is this species, but given the large number of adults we've found in the area, and the other diagnostic features fit (antennae segments, antennae & leg colour, etc), except for size of course. Also called Stink bugs. While we've never smelt the odour they produce, some species can emit a cocktail involving cyanide as a defence mechanism. Shown here is the "efferent of scent gland" or orifice that the foul smelling odour excudes from. Also shown here are the spiracles (breathing holes), which are black, along the ventral side of the abdomen. We have photographed over 50 specimens of these in every month except December. We suspect they were about then too, just didn't photograph them. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Stink Bug Pentatomidae | Pittosporum Bug Pseudapines geminata | Na ma | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Mealy Bug Pseudococcidae | Mealybug Pseudococcidae cf sp ? | Na em | Similar Species: Eucalypt Gall Many thanks to Ken Walker at Bowerbird who contact Dr Gullan (Australia's expert in scale insect group) on our behalf. She said "Male scale insects are hard to ID, but if it has 4 simple eyes, it's probably a male mealybug (or perhaps an eriococcid). It's not really possible to go further." As such, it's not possible to know if this insect is introduced or native. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Psyllid Psyllidae | Melaleuca psyllid Boreioglycaspis melaleucae | Na em | Many small birds rely on psyllids for survival, so an important cog in the biosphere of Ellura | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Psyllid Psyllidae | White Fibrous Lerp Glycaspis brimblecombei | Na em |
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| True Bugs Hemiptera | Psyllid Psyllidae | White Clam Lerp Hyalinaspis sp | Na ema | There is a bit of confussion with the naming of these. The Lerp is the housing. The bug inside is a Psyllid that produces the lerp. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Psyllid Psyllidae | Orange Jumping Plant Louse Psyllidae sp | Na em | ~3mm long, ~7mm wingspan | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Assassin Bug Coranus sp ? | Na em | Similar Species: Brown Senna Bug | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Assassin Bug Oncocephalus sp ES1 | Na em | Interesting bugs Assassins (Reduviidae), one of the few predatory/carnivorous true bugs (order Hemiptera). Most are vegetarian. One easy diagnostic difference over the similiar Alydidae family are the large front legs as can be seen here; used to hold it's prey. Not all assassins have them, but no Alydidae's do. A more guaranteed diagnostic, but harder to see, is that Assassin's have a curved rostrum / proboscis | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Assassin Bug Oncocephalus sp ES2 | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Assassin Bug Oncocephalus sp ES3 | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Orange Spotted Ground Assassin Bug Peirates punctorius | Na em |
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| True Bugs Hemiptera | Assassin Bug Reduviidae | Pale Assassin Bug Perissopygocoris pallidus | Na em |
About 14mm long. Predominately pale brown with darker brown patches. Also has hairy antennae. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Scentless Plant Bug Rhopalidae | Red Eyes Bug Leptocoris cf mitellatus | Na emr | A mainly dark grey bug with red/orange highlights. The instars are very orange/red. Genital examination is required to separate species within the genus. Accordings to Gross, "This is apparently the commonest of the Australian species and is the only species in Southern Australia." As such we have identified these to species based on location. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Seed Bug Rhyparochromidae | Ant-mimicking Seed bug Daerlac sp | Na a | It looks very similar to D. cephalotes; be we don't think it is because of the excess red on the shoulders and lack of black lateral lines on the back. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Seed Bug Rhyparochromidae | Black and White Seed Bug Dieuches nudus | Na em | ~9mm long. 4 segmented antennae, with wings are shorter than the body. Note the large spur, along with other smaller spines, under each front femur (thigh). We photographed 2 specimens in Nov & Dec. Both lost the end of one of their legs. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Ricaniid Planthopper Ricaniidae | Broad-winged Planthopper Aprivesa varipennis | Na emr | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Ricaniid Planthopper Ricaniidae | Undescribed Planthopper ES1 Ricaniidae sp | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Ricaniid Planthopper Ricaniidae | Broad-winged Planthopper Scolypopa australis | Na a |
I don't know what it is, but insects with clear wings and black patterned edges just enthral me Marie saw this "moth" on the kitchen fly-screen. As soon as I saw it, straight into the insect box into the fridge. Didn't want to miss any important details. Thought it'd be easy to id; never having seen one, and being so unique. After much hunting around I found this pictorial key. The only issue was the location component shows only the eastern seaboard. This is the 1st record for this species in South Australia on the ALA website (www.ala.org.au). | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Ricaniid Planthopper Ricaniidae | Broad-winged Planthopper Scolypopa stipata | Na em | ||||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Shield Backed Bug Scutelleridae | Red Jewel Bug Choerocoris paganus | Na emar |
Amazing array of fire engine red and deep metallic green head and shield. We've not seen the red noses or orange/brown colours before. Males are thicker at the back Small white dots around its body. We suspect the different coloured shield (ie all dark vs wine glass shaped stripe) relates to different gender. | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Shield Backed Bug Scutelleridae | Variable Shield Bug Choerocoris variegatus | Na em | Similar in shape to the Dodonaea bug above, but very different colours and patterns. While still shiny, doesn't have the metallic lustre. The instars of these are similar to the adults. As the name suggests they are very variable; ranging from off-white under, to yellow to reddish (examples elsewhere show bright orange). Primarily coloured with black patches. The back is also covered in dimples. The face of our specimens have 3 strong pale longitudinal stripes (which is atypical), topped off by the 2 typical red Ocelli. While they are listed as eating Beyeria lechenaultii, here they are on Beyeria opaca (not listed as a food source). We also found one on Pearl Bluebush; perhaps it was lost. Also notice how the varying thickness of black makes a large difference to the patterns made (and how the specimens look) | |||
| True Bugs Hemiptera | Shield Backed Bug Scutelleridae | Green Shield Backed Bug Coleotichus costatus | Na ma | A lightly toned, large bug. Lots of tiny maroon dots on pale brown around the edge of its back match the Dodonaea fruit perfectly. They can vary from brown to green. Red compound eyes with a red jewel (actually an Ocellus, simple eye) above each compound eye. | |||
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