| 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: 717. 189 native species listed, with 158 from Ellura |
| Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | ||||||||||
| Cockroaches Blattodea | Termite Termitoidae | Termite Termitoidae sp | Na ema |
These have now been placed in the Cockroach order Blattodea. However, I have them here with the ants to make it easy for people to find (given most people think they are a form of ant). It is, after all, a web site to help people find species they are not familiar with. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Flower-loving Fly Apioceridae | Flower-loving Fly Apiocera Maxima ? | Na em | Found this big fly being torn apart by tiny ants while it was still alive. We rescued it to ease it's suffering. Thought it was a fat robber fly. Took photo's of it and started to wonder if it was a fly at all. Couldn't see it's halteres anywhere, and realised the ants had already ripped them off. It was clear an antenna was also missing, as well as a lot of the mouth parts. Our specimen is a bit dusty from lying upside down in the dirt. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Flower-loving Fly Apioceridae | Flower-loving Fly Apiocera sp | Na em | We are not sure if this a totally different species as our other find, or the same species but different gender. It seems such a coincidence to find two within 12 hours of each other. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Short-winged Robber Fly Bathypogon sp ES1 | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Hairy Short-winged Robber Fly Bathypogon sp ES2 | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Yellow Slender Robber Fly Cerdistus sp ES1 | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Black Slender Robber Fly Cerdistus sp ES2 | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Orange Backed Robberfly Mauropteron pelago | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Big Red Neoaratus hercules | Na a | Usually the mouth part/proboscis looks thick and we couldn't understand how it pierced it's prey. But here you can see it's somewhat telescopic. It retracts the sharpest point most of the time, but it's extended here. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Robber Fly Neoscleropogon sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Giant Robber Fly Phellus olgae | Na m | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Orange Fly Bibionidae | Compost Fly Bibio imitator | Na a |
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| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | 3 Spotted Black Bee Fly Anthrax cf incomptus | Na em | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us About 11mm long. We thought this was Anthrax torulus, as the wing patterns were a match, but Tony D said "While wing markings here are very similar to that species, the abdomen dorsally is said to have no white hairs/scales beyond the first visible tergite." We were very lucky that Chris saw this yesterday and suggested the species possibility | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Black Bee Fly Anthrax maculatus | Na c | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Pointed Bee Fly Australiphthiria sp ES1 | Na em | We thought these two were different species (they still may be) but saw an photo on-line of two breeding and the males don't have the yellow back. The male also has eyes closer together than the female (quite typical of flies). | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Balaana Bee Fly Balaana gigantea | Na em |
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| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Black Bee Fly Bombyliidae sp ES1 | Na m | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Brown Bee Fly Bombyliidae sp ES2 | Na em | The wing venation leads to Bombyliidae. Very unusual with white face and green eyes. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Bee Fly cf Balaana sp ES1 | Na em | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us We thought this was a Ligyra sp, but Chris said it is possible but may be Balaana or one of the other Exoprosopini. With the lower level quality of this photo, and not being able to clearly see the wing venation, it won't be possible to be sure; until we get more detailed shots One specimen found in January. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Bee Fly cf Munjua paralutea | Na em | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us We thought this was a Ligyra sp, but Chris said it is possible but may be Munjua paralutea. With the lower level quality of these photo's, and not being able to clearly see the wing venation, it won't be possible to be sure; until we get more detailed shots We'll be keeping a keen eye out for this one now as it's only got records on Atlas for WA. It'll be nice to put SA on the map for this species, with diagnostic photo's. Chris said she had records of "6 specimens of Munjua paralutea from SA. And many more from NT NSW Qld and WA. It's just that there are not many live photos of this beast, and those that have been identified even less." One specimen found in January. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Large Banded Bee Fly Ligyra cingulata | Na em | Thank you Graeme Cocks for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Tony Daley for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for confirming the identification of this species Chris said "variation of colour may be because of different environmental conditions under which the immatures develop, so that darker patterns result from colder developmental conditions" and she suspects this is "a newly emerged specimen" Two specimens found in January. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Pale Bee Fly Pygocona sp | Na em | ~5mm long. The long proboscis is to feed on nectar, not bite people One specimen found in Feb. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Bee Fly Staurostichus sp | Na em | Or possibly Systoechus sp | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Villa Bee Fly Villa sp ES1 | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Brown-winged Villa Bee Fly Villa sp ES2 | Na em | We've heard that some insects can have different wing venation on each wing. This is the first time we've photographed a species and seen it for ourselvs. Note the spike on the right is missing on the left. This is probably an individual variation. Thank you to Chris Lambkin for telling us: "The spike is called a spur-vein. In some cases in the Bombyliidae their presence can be diagnostic at the species or even the generic level (very common spur-vein at base of R2+3 in Anthrax), but usually not. Members of Brachyanax have no spur-veins at the base of vein R2+3 or vein R4." It has always been our hope our web site would become a repository for this sort of information and helpful experts like Chris are making it happen | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Dark-winged Villa Bee Fly Villa sp ES3 | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Large Headed Bee Fly Villini sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us Chris said "I'm pretty confident with Villini. As to whether it is Villa or Exechohypopion is much more difficult without microscopic examination of the antennal segments especially whether it lacks a separate stylar segment between segment III and the style, and has smooth fore tibiae ie without spines, only fine erect hairs." Unfortunately we didn't get a close up look of it's face, so moved this one up from Exechohypopion sp to Villini sp (ie tribe rather than genus) level. Hopefully we can catch one and get better diagnostic shots. One specimen found in February. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Blue Snail Parasitic Blowfly Amenia leonina | Na em | You could easily be forgive for thinking this was a bee, as it scours the Melalueka flowers. And it's quite timid so hard to get close enough to see the short antennae; that put in the Fly (Diptera) order, not | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Maroon Parasitic Blowfly Amenia sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Lesser Brown Blowfly Calliphora augur | Na ema |
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| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Golden Blowfly Calliphora hilli | Na ema |
Similar Species: Golden Blowfly | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Golden Blowfly Calliphora stygia | Na ma | Similar Species: Golden Blowfly | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Hairy Maggot Blowfly Chrysomya cf rufifacies | Na ema |
~9mm long. This looks quite similar to Australian Sheep Blowfly (Lucilia cuprina), but the abdomen is larger & the black bands too thick. The wing venation also has Sc & R1 joined here, where as in L. cuprina they are quite separate. There are a surprisingly large number of these metalic green blowfly species. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Blow Fly Calliphoridae | Large Greenbottle Chrysomya rufifacies | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Gall Midge cf Cecidomyiidae sp ES1 | Na em | Reference Link | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Red-necked Gall Gnat cf Cecidomyiinae sp ES2 | Na em | Reference Link | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Red Gall Midge cf Cecidomyiinae sp ES3 | Na em | Almost 2mm long Reference Link | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Biting Midge Ceratopogonidae | Biting Midge Ceratopogonidae sp | Na a |
These tiny little flies are on about 3mm long and superficially (naked eye) look black. Like mozzies, you usually can't feel them bite. But afterwards the area swells up. It is said that people who live in the same habitat build up an immunity to them, but tourists get badly affected. I squashed one biting me once and it made it 10 times worse. Basically squeezing irritants into the body. Unlike mozzies, that have a straw like proboscis (like moths), these have 2 sharp "jaws" they dig in and stand up vertical to the skin sucking blood. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Phantom Midge Chaoboridae | Phantom Midge Chaoboridae sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Midge Chironomidae | Large Non-biting Midge Chironominae sp | Na em | ~10mm long, ~30mm wingspan. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Midge Chironomidae | Non-biting Midge Chironomus sp | Na em | ~9mm long, ~24mm wingspan. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Midge Chironomidae | Non-biting Midge Polypedilum sp | Na em | Similar Species: Mosquito Midges look a lot like Mosquitoes. An easy differentiator is that, at rest, midges hold their front legs up, mozzies hold their rear legs up. Depending on the photo, a more guaranteed identifier is that Midges have small mouths | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Mosquito Culicidae | Mosquito cf Ochlerotatus sp | Na ema |
Similar Species: Non-biting Midge Mosquitoes look a lot like Midges. An easy differentiator is that, at rest, mozzies hold their rear legs up, midges hold their front legs up. Depending on the photo, a more guaranteed identifier is that Mosquitoes have a very long mouths / proboscis (straw like appendage that males drink nectare from and females suck blood with) | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Mosquito Culicidae | Mosquito Ochlerotatus camptorhynchus | Na em |
Mosquitoes look a lot like Midges. An easy differentiator is that, at rest, mozzies hold their rear legs up, midges hold their front legs up. Depending on the photo, a more guaranteed identifier is that Mosquitoes have a very long mouths / proboscis (straw like appendage that males drink nectare from and females suck blood with). The proboscis is made of two parts, a thin inner "straw" and an outer sheath. The sheath protects the actual proboscis. It can be seen in the feeding shot here. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Longlegged Fly Dolichopodidae | Long Legged Fly Heteropsilopus sp | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Longlegged Fly Dolichopodidae | Long Legged Fly Hydrophorus cf praecox | Na em | Similar Species: Water Floating Fly Like all long legged flies, these are also metal, but it's not nearly so obvious as most. It's difficult to know with such small insects what is a real colour and what is a camera artifact as they just look like a little blur with the naked eyes (with with mine anyway Similar to our other water floating fly, which is a different family. This one has a line of white hair through the bottom of it's eyes and two white stripes on it's back that are made up of *very* short white hair. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Vinegar Fly Drosophilidae | Vinegar Fly Drosophila sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Shore Fly Ephydridae | Water Floating Fly Brachydeutera sydneyensis | Na ema | Similar Species: Long Legged Fly Small light brown & white fly regularly seen floating on water. They float there lapping up water with their elongated mouths at a very rapid rate; so getting 2 drinking at once was pure luck. Took so many photo's to get one with the mouth actually touching the water and in reasonable focus. They are so light they can float on 4 legs while using the front, or rear, pair to clean themselves. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Fly Fergusoninidae | Gall Inducing Fly Fergusoninidae sp | Na m | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Toadstool Fly Heteomyzidae | Toadstool Fly Tapeigaster sp | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Lauxaniid Fly Lauxaniidae | Red Eyed Lauxaniid Fly Ceratolauxania sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Lauxaniid Fly Lauxaniidae | Orange Lauxaniid Fly Homoneura cf valida | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Lauxaniid Fly Lauxaniidae | Metalic Green Tomato Fly Lamprolonchaea cf brouniana | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Lauxaniid Fly Lauxaniidae | Bent Lauxaniid Fly Steganopsis melanogaster | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Small Crane Fly Limoniidae | Short-palped Crane Fly Symplecta pilipes | Na em | The big visual difference between Crane flies & Scorpion flies is that Scorpion flies (Order Mecoptera) have 4 wings and are not true flies. Crane flies are true flies which all have 2 wings and 2 clubs (halteres). Due to their slender bodies the Crane fly halteres are much easier to see than with many other fly species. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bush Fly Muscidae | Helina Fly Helina addita | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bush Fly Muscidae | Helina Fly Helina cf tasmaniensis | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bush Fly Muscidae | Bush Fly Pygophora sp | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Midas Fly Mydidae | Tiger Ichneumon Mimic Miltinus cardinalis | Na em | Similar Species: Tiger Ichneumon Wasp Thank you Tony Daley for confirming the identification of this species Thank you Liz O'Donnell for helping with the identification of this species Looks closest to Miltinus cardinalis but not confident to even put it to genus as this stage. There aren't many live specimens to compare against. Tony D just identified it as Miltinus cardinalis, many thanks Tony | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bot Fly Oestridae | Sheep Nasal Bot Fly Oestrus ovis | If em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Scuttle Fly Phoridae | Scuttle Fly Megaselia sp | Na ema | A very small fly. At first it was hard to determine if it was even Diptera, with the hairy face hiding the usual small antennae of flies. We suspect there are 3 different species here as they are different sizes & colours, but all with the striped body and pronounced hairy face. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Smoke Fly Platypezidae | Flat-footed Fly Lindneromyia sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Picture-winged Fly Platystomatidae | Boatman Fly Pogonortalis doclea | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Picture-winged Fly Platystomatidae | Signal Fly Rivellia sp | Na ema | About 4mm long, with a copper-ish metallic body and quite stumpy legs. But those wings | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Moth Fly Psychodidae | Moth Fly Psychodidae sp | Na ema |
Very hairy little fly. We thought it was a tiny moth, as do most people when they first see them we suspect. While transferring petrol these little tiny insects were attracted to the fumes. So was able to get a number of photo's of them. Unfortunately they then decided to land on the spilt fuel on the container and got stuck. But it gave a chance to measure their size; wingspan of about 6mm, body & head length about 2mm. They seemed white, but that's probably flash & shiny hairs. Notice in the overhead shot the hairs running along the wing veins. The body seems to have a few lateral stripes. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Pyrgotid Fly Pyrgotidae | Large Scarab Fly Cardiacera sp ES1 | Na em |
A large fly with body about 16mm. These parasitise scarab beetles. Also called a Light Fly as they are nocturnal and come to night lights. Found nearly dead after a mothing night. Very unusual wing venation. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Pyrgotid Fly Pyrgotidae | Small Scarab Fly Cardiacera sp ES2 | Na em |
Thank you Tony Daley for identifying this species for us About 10mm long. We found this one following our female Osa discovery and thought it was a male Osa sp. Tony said "I think this one is a different genus to your female Osa. The wings have the Sc vein almost bending at a right angle to meet the costa above, in Osa this vein doesn't bend so abruptly before meeting the costa. The particulars of the wing spots, especially also having three distinct spots along the pterostigma is typical (usually 2-3, but sometimes only one spot) of the species in Cardiacera with such spotted wings - they also typically have the pointy antennae." | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Pyrgotid Fly Pyrgotidae | Pale Scarab Fly Cardiacera sp ES3 | Na em |
~6mm long, ~15mm wingspan. One specimen found in December. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Pyrgotid Fly Pyrgotidae | Small Scarab Fly Osa sp | Na em |
About 10mm long (excluding the ovipositor). Had lots of them at the night light, along with many smaller beetles (assume scarab). You could well think that with the ovipositor it's a fruit fly. But no, a related family, Pyrgotidae, also called Light Flies as they come to night lights. Scarab flies because they parisitise scarab beetles. Very distinctive head shape, but couldn't get the wings veins very clearly. The body hair is diagnostic for this genus. Looking at Facilina sp, the hairs are tiny in comparison. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Nose Fly Rhiniidae | Brown Nose Fly Metallea cf incisuralis | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Nose Fly Rhiniidae | Nose Fly Stomorhina sp ES1 | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Nose Fly Rhiniidae | Hovering Nose Fly Stomorhina sp ES2 | Na ema | This is possibly S. discolor or S. pollinosa. It's not really possible to say until we get more detailed shots. Even then it may not be possible to get the level of detail required to see the diagnostics. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Flesh Fly Sarcophagidae | Grey Flesh Fly Sarcophaga aurifrons | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Flesh Fly Sarcophagidae | Small Foot Flesh Fly Sarcophaga sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Dark-winged Fungus Gnat Sciaridae | Dark-winged Fungus Gnat Sciaridae sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Black Scavenger Fly Sepsidae | Ant Fly Parapalaeosepsis plebeia | Na a | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Soldier Fly Stratiomyidae | Green Soldier Fly Odontomyia sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Hover Fly Syrphidae | Wasp-mimicking Hover Fly Ceriana ornata | Ir em | This is primarily a Qld species that invades bee hives. As we have no native bee hives in SA, we suspect they've travelled south using/breeding/surviving thru European bee hives. Andras Szito (WA DPIRD) said "I believe your suspicion is well founded. I am aware of (sometimes large scale) movement of used bee hives between the states. If some brought in some used, uncleaned hives with some dead combs in them from Qld where Ceriana is quite common then there is a high likelihood that there were viable Ceriana in it. I guess it is well adapted to European bee hives that contains a lot greater amount of honey than native bees." Thanks for your thoughts Andras ergo It is also introduced. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Hover Fly Syrphidae | Native Drone Fly Eristalinus punctulatus | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Hover Fly Syrphidae | Hover Fly Melangyna viridiceps | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Hover Fly Syrphidae | Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly Simosyrphus grandicornis | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Deer Fly Tabanidae | March Fly Dasybasis sp | Na ema |
Oh my; they were really bad this year (end 2014). We couldn't walk 100m through the bush without being attacked. Typically they appear in March (hence their name) but the favourable weather conditions (hot & dry winter) saw them out in spring. They are a large and moderately attractive fly (if there is such a thing , with gentle grey to brown strips. The eyes on the male are touching, where as the females have a large gap, which is visible with the naked eye. The females are the only ones that bite, feeding on the blood of animals (including humans). They lay in wait in a cool bush (senna, acacia, etc) waiting for prey to come past, then they pounce. Once they have your scent they won't leave you alone until they've fed (bitten you) or you've killed them. Sorry, but anything that bites us isn't safe from us, even if it is native. They are robust and we've hit them and they've fallen to the ground unconscious. They've then woken up and attacked again. They have a preference for the back of your legs, but will bite through clothing on your back or rump (very painful for some reason). While not as painful as a bee sting, it is as bad as an ant bite. Long trousers & baggy clothes are the order of the day, with a good dose of personal insecticide to be safe. While we can't be sure, it's possible the males buzz overhead, distracting you, while the females attack your legs. The fact they hide by biting you from behind suggests they have some understanding of where you are looking / facing. They rarely seem interested in arms, and walking fast seems to stop them biting (but not following; you have to stop at some point). So perhaps they don't like movement. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Deer Fly Tabanidae | Large Mud-nesting Wasp Mimicking Fly Palimmecomyia pictipennis | Na em | Similar Species: Large Mud-nesting Wasp Thank you Tony Daley for identifying this species for us Here's what Tony said: "What a great looking species, and wonderful record Brett! I'm fairly confident by their colouring and wing markings this is Palimmecomyia pictipennis ... they differ from the original description in only the abdominal dark band being slightly more extensive behind, though apparently these are rare so don't think many specimens have been collected, add to that only two females were examined and the male not known at the time of the description by Mackerras (1960)." | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Gold-headed Blue Tachinid Fly Cuphocera sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Black and White Giant Fly Formosia speciosa | Na em | This is one HUGE fly. While we're used to Robber flies being longer, they are thin. But this beast is rotund like a blow fly. Thankfully, it wasn't agressive. It's hard to say if it's pure size is what it stand out so much, or the sharp contrast of the balck & white patterns on it's body. But stood out it did! It's always been intrigueing to see the 3 jewels on the top of wasp heads. This is the first time we've seen them on a fly. On searching, they also appear on Hover flies. It seems that they are smaller, and so not visible on small or hairy flies. AHHHH, finally found out. The "3 jewels" as we call them are actually simple eyes, each with a single lens! They are called "Ocelli". Not much is known about them, but they seem to help with detection of the horizon in flight. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Mottled Brown Tachinid Fly Peribaea sp | Na em | These are all one specimen. Interesting how different reflections can make it look so different. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Flower Fly Phasia sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Massive Blowfly Prodiaphania sp | Na em | About 18mm long. Very distinctive wing shape at the should. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Green Rutilia Fly Rutilia simplex | Na em | Thank you James Lumbers for confirming the identification of this species A very large fly at 20mm body & head length. James said "As far the current taxonomy goes, this is absolutely R. simplex. There are no other Rutilia (in Australia) with metallic parafacials." | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Big Brown Bristle Fly Rutilia sp | Na em | This fly was about 16mm long (body & head). It was very loud when in flew in near us on a hot day (over 40 deg) looking for some shade on the side of the caravan. It sounded similar to a large wasp or big robberfly. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Sand Fly Senostoma sp | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Parasitic Fly Tritaxys sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Bryan Cantrell for confirming the identification of this species We see cases from Faggot Case Moths (Clania ignobilis) quite regularly. We finally found a complete one and thought it'd be gr8 to house it in an insect box by the window (to get appropriate light) to finally get images of the adult. While disapointed that it was parasitised by this fly, we were excited to discover another species. Rather than injecting eggs into the case, the mother lays eggs on the food plant / leaf that the caterpillar eats. The eggs don't get digested but stay inside the larva until it grows and when about to pupate, use the energy for itself and consumes the moth. Still baffled at how it managed to get out of the case (it's incredibly strong); one can only assume it saw light at the end of the tunnel and chewed it's way out. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Fruit Fly Tephritidae | False Fruit Fly Acanthonevroides basalis | Na a |
Thank you Tony Daley for identifying this species for us Tony D said "I agree with you on Acanthonevroides, and further keys to A. bicolor, which btw is an SA species. The flies in this genus, like many in Tephridae, are not fruit flies in the strict sense but belong to a family with notorious fruit flies. From Permkam & Hancock (1995) on Acanthonevroides biology : "Biological information is scanty, but the larvae probably develop beneath the bark of trees." " | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Fruit Fly Tephritidae | False Fruit Fly Austrotephritis pelia | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Fruit Fly Tephritidae | False Fruit Fly Austrotephritis poenia | Na ema | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Stilletto Fly Therevidae | Wasp Mimicking Fly Agapophytus aterrimus | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Tony Daley for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us The 1,000th species posted on the Ellura web site. A BIG thank you to all those experts who have contributed their time & energy to help us identify our local species Tony, who id'ed this to genus, said the strange hair on the back is "elongate scale-like setae on the scutum". This beautiful fly was ~10mm long, with a very long mouth/proboscis and antennae. Bascially black with 2 orange/yellow bands on it's wings. The lower front tibia (middle part of the leg) does seem to have a small orange band. Ken Walker saw the observation on Bowerbird and contacted Chris Lambkin who kindly narrowed it down to species. Mimics the Calopompilus spider wasp quite well: Spider Wasp | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Stilletto Fly Therevidae | Pale Stilletto Fly Nanexila sp | Na em | One found in October. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Stilletto Fly Therevidae | Tiny Stilletto Fly Neodialineura nitens | Na em | ~5mm long, ~9mm wingspan. One found in November. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Stilletto Fly Therevidae | Orange Banded Stilletto Fly Taenogerella schlingeri | Na em | ~10mm long, ~13mm wingspan. An exceptionally long body compared to the wingspan. Two found on the same night in November | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Stilletto Fly Therevidae | Stilletto Fly Taenogerella sp | Na em | One found in September. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Large Crane Fly Tipulidae | Short-palped Crane Fly Dolichopeza sp | Na ema | ~11mm long, ~24mm wingspan. Legs ~30mm long. 6 specimens found in April, May & June | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Large Crane Fly Tipulidae | Long-palped Crane Fly Ischnotoma eburnea | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Golden Black Sugar Ant Camponotus aeneopilosus ssp aeneopilosus | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Vertical Gaster Black Ant Camponotus cinereus ssp amperei | Na em | These ants walk around with their backside, or gaster, stuck up in the air. Very unique behaviour | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Nocturnal Sugar Ant Camponotus consobrinus | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Jumbuck Sugar Ant Camponotus ephippium ssp ephippium | Na em | The shape of the back, face and the petiol are diagnostic. This is a minor worker and is about 9mm long. There are no pictures of this species anywhere on the net, so it's taken years to finally find out what it is; using this excellent, ameteur friendly key from the SA museum | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Black-headed Sugar Ant Camponotus nigriceps | Na em | This is probably our most abundant Camponotus species. As such, we have included photo's of a Male Alate here. While we are certain the male is a Camponotus genus, we cannot be sure which species it belongs to. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Agile Tyrant Ant Iridomyrmex agilis | Na em | There are two specimens here, one smaller than the other. While it's possible they are different species, we suspect they are a different hierarchy of worker. Depending on the species, these heirarchies can consit of minor, medium & major workers. Major workers are also known as soldier ants. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Blue Meat Ant Iridomyrmex lividus | Na em | Thank you Mark Newton for helping with the identification of this species | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Spiny Cautious Ant Meranoplus oceanicus | Na em | ~4mm long. Identified via the key in AntWiki. Diagnostic photo's are shown here. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Mono Ant Monomorium kiliani | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Black-headed Bull Ant Myrmecia nigriceps | Na ema |
Black head and tail. Orange body, pincers and legs. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Giant Red Bull Ant Myrmecia nigriscapa | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Small Jumping Ant Myrmecia picta | Na ema | Thank you Mark Newton for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ant Ant: Formicidae | Titan Pony Ant Rhytidoponera mayri | Na ema | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Long-tongued Bee Bee: Apidae | Blue Banded Bee Amegilla chlorocyanea | Na ema | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us Dr Ken Walker said "The colour of the bands fades with age and the amount of orange varies in a species like A. chlorocyanea." Donella Billett told us that males have five bands and females have four. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Long-tongued Bee Bee: Apidae | European Honey Bee Apis mellifera | If ema |
Most people think of these insects in a positive light, but like all introduced species are an environmental headache and should be eradicated where possible. Please don't allow bee keepers to use your bush block for bees. Would you allow someone to plough your native vegetation to grow crops? European Bees are just as devastating, but the damage is hidden (eg using up precious hollows used by our birds and reptiles), spreading over many kilometres to neighbouring properties & reserves. Our native bees are also less aggressive and solitary (in SA). If you thought all European Bees don't look alike, you'd be right. Peri Coleman said "There are three main races of bees in Australia, and a very few of two other races. Main races used by bee keepers: 1. Italian (yellow banded): have 5 yellow bands, but the Ligurian sub-race has less than 5 yellow bands & have a yellow queen. The Ligurian bees of Kangaroo Island are a sub-race of Italian bees, and the early settlement bees were blackish coloured "Black Germans", but I don't know if any of these are still cultivated 2. Caucasian (bigger, grey): are dark grey, hardly banded at all, and have a long body 3. Carniolan (smallest): have creamy light bands which gives them a greyish look, and are smaller than Italians. They have a dark queen. Quarantine in North Queensland keeps a close eye out for Asian honeybees as they are likely to bring in Nosema disease. It is considered they are most likely to get here via shipping to a northern port or by island hopping from New Guinea." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Long-tongued Bee Bee: Apidae | Chequered Cuckoo Bee Thyreus caeruleopunctatus | Na ema | A fairly large bee at around 12mm long, but also very heavy set & strong. Due to it's behaviour, it has no physical ability to collect pollen for it's young (ie doesn't have a scopa). Of course the first thing that hits the eye are those bright blue spots contrasted against the black body. It's very obvious to the naked eye. But on closer inspection we were struck by the complex wing shape. You can see the scalloped shield shape trailing it's back (the scutellum). Because these behave similarly to Cuckoo birds (ie use other's nests) they have a heavy duty back/shield plate to protect them from attack by their hosts; ie when in the host's nest (blue banded bees) the host will attack it to protect it's egg. When it flew off it was not very happy. Hovering in front of my face, it decided to leave me alone and whizzed past my shoulder. You'd think it would have enjoyed the air-conditioned comfort of our fridge | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Colletid Bee Bee: Colletidae | Colletid Bee Euhesma bronzus | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us Dr Ken Walker said "If you look closely at the legs on this bee they are almost hairless - they cannot carry pollen. This is one of Australia's many unique euryglossine bees that carry their pollen load in the crop - first part of the stomach." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Colletid Bee Bee: Colletidae | Red Hylaeine Bee Hylaeus lateralis | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Colletid Bee Bee: Colletidae | White-shouldered Red Bee Hylaeus sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Colletid Bee Bee: Colletidae | Copper Metallic Bee Leioproctus clarki | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Bee Bee: Halictidae | Wahlenbergia Bee Homalictus urbanus | Na em |
Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Bee Bee: Halictidae | Halictid Bee Lasioglossum lanarium | Na a | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Bee Bee: Halictidae | Gold Nomia Bee Lipotriches australica | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Bee Bee: Halictidae | Metallic Green Nomia Bee Lipotriches flavoviridis | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us Ken Walker said "Two characters in your image show this is not a Homalictus. 1. The large amount of hair on the hind legs (especially the hind femur and tibia). Homalictus carries its pollen load on the underneath of its abdomen. 2. The wing photo shows an elongate (much longer than the 2nd submarginal cell) and strong 3rd submarginal cell. In Homalictus, the 3rd submarginal cell is about the same length as the 2nd submarginal cell but the veins are weaker than those veins of the 2nd submarginal cell" | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Leafcutter Bee Bee: Megachilidae | Black Resin Bee Megachile atrella | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for identifying this species for us If you are keen to support the local native bee population, you can easily build a Bee Hotel. Different sized holes attracts different bee species. They're cheap and easy to build from scrap. They last longer left under cover. The best one I've seen is here: www.bowerbird.org.au/observations/26118 | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Leafcutter Bee Bee: Megachilidae | Golden-browed Resin Bee Megachile aurifrons | Na em |
These are on the large side for native bees at about 15mm long. Only the females have red eyes. As such, it's harder to identify the males. However, they both have a lovely Golden Brow on their faces. When trying to identify inverts, we amateur humans tend to use colour and patterns. This can be misleading. As you can see here, some look nearly white and others black. This is because the white ones are young and the black old. Many of the black ones white hairs have worn off leaving her dark shell as the primary colour to our naked eyes. There are 2 fundamental types of bee's; those that collect pollen on their legs (eg European Honey Bee) and those that collect it on their abdomen, like this fine lady. As such, you'd think she has a creamy white abdomen. But no, that's the colour of the Dry-land Tea Tree pollen she's collecting. In another area she could an have orange abdomen due to the colour of pollen. Making id very difficult. Finally, why a "Resin" bee. She belongs to the Leafcutter (Megachilidae) family. All species in this family use leaves to line their nests. As you can see in the last photo's, instead of cutting a leaf, she macerates it into a pulp; a "resin" Forms a very neatly sealed plug to protect her offspring. This hole happens to be one of the screw holes (~10mm diameter) in a table outside. ALL of them are now full. She spent over 2 weeks filling them! As you can see, she's a solitary bee, unlike European bees that build hives. We don't have native social bees in SA, but they do have them in Qld. You will see blue banded bees roost together on a single stem, and other bees nest near each other. This is probably due to those areas being "ideal" locations. eg It's possible more than one female filled our table holes. But each cell is one female, unlike a hive. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Leafcutter Bee Bee: Megachilidae | Red-browed Leaf-cutter Bee Megachile chrysopyga | Na em | The photo's are in reverse order showing a bee leaving after checking out a disused hollow from a Mud nesting wasp. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Leafcutter Bee Bee: Megachilidae | Gold-barred Resin Bee Megachile leucopyga | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Sawfly Sawfly: Pergidae | Eucalypt Sawfly Perga sp | Na em |
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Sawfly Sawfly: Pergidae | Zebra Sawfly Pergagrapta turneri | Na ema |
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitic Wasp Wasp: Braconidae | Red Braconid Wasp Braconidae sp ES1 | Na em | Similar Species: Braconid Mimic Longhorn  Long ovipositor. There is a Longhorn Beetle (Hesthesis sp) that resembles this wasp. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitic Wasp Wasp: Braconidae | Orange Braconid Wasp Braconidae sp ES2 | Na em | Medium length ovipositor | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitic Wasp Wasp: Braconidae | White Flank Black Braconid Wasp Braconidae sp ES3 | Na a | Possibly Syngaster lepida | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitic Wasp Wasp: Braconidae | Green-eyed Parasitic Wasp Euphorinae sp ES1 | Na em | A tiny wasp at ~5mm long, ~7mm wingspan. This female has an ovipositor ~1mm. It resembles a hatchet wasp from certain angles. One specimen found in December. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Chalcidid Wasp Wasp: Chalcididae | Hopping Wasp Brachymeria sp | Na ema |
Thank you Graeme Cocks for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Cuckoo Wasp Wasp: Chrysididae | Small Cuckoo Wasp Primeuchroeus sp | Na a | Thank you Villu Soon for identifying this species for us These are under 10mm. Other visually similar genera are Chrysis, similar size, & Stilbum, which is closer to 20mm. Villu said "Primeuchroeus has no teeth at the end of metasoma (Chrysis usually has 4 or 6 teeth but other character states are also possible). Primeuchroeus has characteristically curved lower edge of mesopleura. Frontal carina is also typical for Primeuchrous. Radial vein of forewing is usually widely opened in Primeuchroeus but it is not well visible in these photos." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Sand Wasp Bembix sp ES1 | Na em | Females do the digging to lay their eggs, and so have digging spines on their front legs (specifically their tarsi which are the feet, the sections between the tibia & the claw). Each species apparantly makes a different pattern in the sand to cover/hide their nest.
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Sand Wasp Bembix sp ES2 | Na em | Each time we get a usable photo of this species it has slightly different markings. While we show 4 different variations here, we only count them as one species as there is no readily available information we can find about their differences. These markings could be age, gender or species variations; or simple variations from specimen to specimen. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Sand Wasp Bembix sp ES3 | Na em | It appears adult Sand Wasps eat pollen, but have no pollen carrying ability to feed their young. In fact it seems they feed their young flies! We can hardly wait to photograph one filling it's nest with a fly to show you. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Sand Wasp Bembix sp ES4 | Na em | Notice the 2 ventral shots with this specimen. They seem very different, but the black marks are hidden when it curves it's abdomen in; they were only visible when it fully stretched out. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Black Sand-dauber Wasp Crabronidae sp | Na em | Similar Species: Zebra Spider Wasp Thought this was Pison, but Susanna Heideman told us Pison have indented eyes, unlike this one. It's also similar to many on-line images of Tachysphex (but their eye indentations are all mixed). So suspect there is a lot of confusion with online photo's with these. As such, we've put it at family level. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Small Black Digging Wasp Larrinae sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Black Sand-loving Wasp Tachysphex sp ES1 | Na em | Thank you Reiner Richter for identifying this species for us Thank you Dr Ken Walker for confirming the identification of this species Dr Ken Walker said "The important part of the wing venation is the elongate 3rd submarginal cell" | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ensign Wasp Wasp: Evaniidae | Hatchet Wasp Szepligetiella sp | Na ema | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Gasteruptiid Wasp Wasp: Gasteruptiidae | White-footed Gasteruptiid Wasp Gasteruption sp ES1 | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Gasteruptiid Wasp Wasp: Gasteruptiidae | Banded-legged Gasteruptiid Wasp Gasteruption sp ES3 | Na em | These are very thin wasps and difficult to see. The shadow is more visible than the wasp. After nearly 40 photo's with the zoom lens we were lucky to get a reasonably sharp one. It eluded capture however, so wasn't able to get a size nor detailed images. Next year | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Gasteruptiid Wasp Wasp: Gasteruptiidae | White-faced Gasteruptiid Wasp Gasteruption sp ES4 | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Gasteruptiid Wasp Wasp: Gasteruptiidae | Tiny Black Gasteruptiid Wasp Pseudofoenus sp ES2 | Na ema | Thank you Graeme Cocks for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Cream-spotted Ichneumon Wasp Echthromorpha intricatoria | Na a | A reasonably common wasp in the Adelaide Hills, yet we've not seen any in the Murraylands yet. These wasps parisitise lepidoptera pupae. The females have a medium sized ovipositor and are considerably larger than the males (about 18mm compared with 11-12mm for the males). | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Orange Ichneumon Wasp Enicospilus sp | Na em | Similar Species: Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp Note the different wing venation to other similar Ichneumonidae | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Armyworm Parasitic Wasp Ichneumon promissorius | Na em | About 12mm long, with black body, orange/red legs & white stripes on the abdomen and antennae. The body has several white spots We have recently bought some jeweler's scales. They only measure in 10mg increments so aren't really accurate enough for inverts. But may work in a comparitive sense (ie between our finds). This specimen weighed around 30mg. We found one specimen in February. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Banded-abdomen Ichneumon Wasp Ichneumonidae sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Bee Parasitizing Wasp Labium sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Orchid-dupe Wasp Lissopimpla excelsa | Na ema |
Thanks to Thomas Mesaglio, from our facebook group, who gave us a really amazing insight into these wasps: " 'Orchid dupe' refers to the orchid species Cryptostylis leptochila, which looks similar to the males of Lissopimpla excelsa and tricks them into attempting to mate with it (and thus pollinating it)." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Tiger Ichneumon Wasp Metopius sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp Netelia producta | Na ema |
Similar Species: Orange Ichneumon Wasp Dangerous looking wasp, but quite placid. 3 purple jewels (actually 3 Ocelli, simple eyes) on top of its head between the compound eyes. Large wasp with varying shades of light brown to orange across the body. Clear wings. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Velvet Ant Aglaotilla sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us About 7mm long (head & body) One specimen found in January. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Black Velvet Ant cf Ephutomorpha sp ES1 | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us These are actually wasps. But the females are wingless and look like ants; hence the common name. About 9mm long (head & body) | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Banded Velvet Ant cf Ephutomorpha sp ES2 | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us Normally the females are the only velvet ants seen, not because of rarity but probably because they are flightless. However, the odd male (as here) is occationally photographed. There seems to be very little reference material to identifiy Mutillidae family closer than family; so it's quite possible this is the same as a female we have already posted. About 10mm long (head & body) | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Red Velvet Ant Ephutomorpha cf cordata | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us A small one at about 5.5mm long (head & body) | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Badge Velvet Ant Ephutomorpha maculata | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us About 7mm long | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Gold Ring Velvet Ant Eurymutilla sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for identifying this species for us About 10mm long (head & body). A more technical term for wingless insects is "Apterous". | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Spotted Spider Wasp Calopompilus sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Golden Spider Wasp Cryptocheilus australis | Na em | About 19mm body & head length and ~34mm wingspan. Mainly black wasp with bright orange head, abdomen, antennae, wings & legs. The black thorax seems to be a dirty coloured compared to others in the genus. The abdomen stripe seems to be diagnostic, which is quite thin with these compared with C. bicolor. Note the smaller size of these compared with the C. bicolor we've measured. These also have a black bar across the top of the head between the compound eyes, hiding the Ocelli. The surprising thing with these is that they hunt Huntsman spider, looking much larger than the wasp. The spider is used to feed the wasps offspring. The adult wasps feed on pollen. We found 2 specimens in December & February. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Two-coloured Orange Spider Wasp Cryptocheilus bicolor | Na a | There are few trusted images of Cryptocheilus sp. Assuming the bands on the abdomen are one of the diagnostic traits of this genera, C bicolor has quite a thick black abdomen band; and is fairly hairy. This specimen was about 30mm long, ~50mm wingspan. Cryptocheilus sp wing tips seem to often have black edges, which here are missing. Possibly due to the wings being so worn. It's possible the black edging is gender related. The one specimen we found was captured in January. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Orange Spider Wasp Cryptocheilus sp ES1 | Na em | Mainly black wasp with bright orange head, tail, feelers & legs. Again has 3 purple jewels (actually Ocelli, simple eyes) on its head. These need revision, as they don't have modern diagnostics. As such, we can only really go to genus. Everyone tends to put them under Cryptocheilus bicolor, but some have black tipped wings, other don't. We don't know the sizes of the specimens in the various on-line photo's, which is generally pretty important. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Black-headed Orange Spider Wasp Cryptocheilus sp ES2 | Na a | Being ~23mm long, ~35mm wingspan, this specimen was on the smaller side, but not the smallest Cryptocheilus we found. But it is the blackest. With less orange than the other three. It is also the hairiest, both covered in very short golden hair, as well as haveing some very long rows of hair around it's head & shoulders. Note the wings have a black band near the body and the head is mainly black, except for an orange stripe along the lower part of it's face (on the "clypeus"). The upper part of the face (the "frons") is not only black, but also covered in the short golden hair; like much of it's body. This specimen also has the dark wing tips. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Yellow Antennae Black Spider Wasp Fabriogenia sp ES1 | Na ema | ~9mm long, ~17mm wingspan. Very thick, obvious, yellow antennae that often curl at the tips. The wings are light & dark striped, but transparent. The body looks similar to the zebra spider wasp in that it has silvery grey stripes, but these are hairs not body colour. There are only 3 fabriogenia sp described in Australia, and we have 3 different species here; but which is which or if all of ours are undescribed we can't say. 3 specimens found in November, January & March. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Patch-wing Yellow Antennae Spider Wasp Fabriogenia sp ES2 | Na em | Only one shot of this one, so no measurements to share. Note the opaque fawn patch on the wings, not seen on the other two in this genus. Spider hunting wasps are interesting to watch, walking/running around the ground with head & antennae almost scraping it. They are in search of spiders to take to their nest & prepare for their young. Their wings often lift in the air in a fidgety way. We can think of no other reason other than balance. They are very quick as they scurry over huge areas in search of prey. They are very difficult to catch! One specimen seen in April. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Large Yellow Antennae Spider Wasp Fabriogenia sp ES3 | Na em | ~12mm long, ~26mm wingspan. This is the first time we've seen white markings on the body, as well as the vertical white stripes on the face of a Fabriogenia. Mind you, they aren't obvious, but definitately missing on other specimens we've seen in this genus. The top of the hind leg also seems to have a white patch/stripe. We managed to catch this one only because it was injured. Found in October. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Zebra Spider Wasp Pompilinae sp | Na em | Similar Species: Black Sand-dauber Wasp There are 2 very similar, visually, genera of Zebra Spider Wasps that need wing venation shots to separate; Turneromyia and Ctenostegus sp. They are both in the sub-family Pompilinae. We have 2 different looking species on Ellura which we've separated out by the abdominal banding. Here you can see the silvery stripes are thinner and sepated on the side. Since we haven't caught one of these we haven't managed to get a good wing venation shot and can't be sure which genus they belong to. The other species which we've caught clearly has Turneromyia wing venation. Here's an excellent image by Tony Daley, Insects of Tasmania, showing the wing venation difference on this link: Wing Venation Difference
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Small Red Spider Wasp Psoropempula sp | Na em | Found in October. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae | Zebra Spider Wasp Turneromyia sp | Na em | Similar Species: Zebra Spider Wasp See the other Zebra Spider Wasp (Pompilinae sp) for a discussion of variations in this sub-family. This specimen was about 15mm long (body & head), wingspan ~26mm. Note the much thicker body stripes, which meet on the side of the abdomen. The black head band between the eye is also much stronger & sharper. Also note the 3 sub-marginal cells on the wing venation. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitic Wasp Wasp: Pteromalidae | Metallic Blue Parasitic Wasp Pteromalidae sp ES1 | Na em | Thank you Dr Ken Walker for confirming the identification of this species Thank you Graeme Cocks for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Parasitoid Wasp Wasp: Scelionidae | Small Black Parasitoid Wasp Scelionidae sp | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Hairy Flower Wasp Wasp: Scoliidae | 2 Spotted Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Laeviscolia frontalis | Na em | This is the 1st record for this family in South Australia on the ALA website (www.ala.org.au). Females have shorter antennae than the males, and the males seem to be smaller. Different sub-species can also have yellow shoulders. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Hairy Flower Wasp Wasp: Scoliidae | Yellow Hairy Flower Wasp Radumeris sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Qld Museum for identifying this species for us Like other Scoliid wasps, the females have short antennae, where as males have much longer ones. These look identical to Radumeris tasmaniensis & Laevicampsomeris formosa, which is only recognised to be from Queensland (1933). However, the one we captured yesterday was only 18mm long, nearly half the size of R. tasmaniensis at around 30mm long. There is a photo on Bold of a female R. tasmaniensis which indicates she's 3mm long. This has to be a mistake and the scale, we believe, should read 0.5cm, or 5.0mm, not 0.5mm. The one female specimen we found in December was very worn & old; probably why she was easy to catch. The other, in the grass, was found elsewhere in the April. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Thread-waisted Wasp Ammophila sp | Na em |
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Yellow & Black Mud-dauber Wasp Sceliphron laetum | Na em |
~20mm long, ~26mm wingspan. A large wasp with a thread waist, and large mandibles. Collects mud to build cells, a nest, for it's young. When it flies it hangs it's legs making it look even bigger. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Giant Digger Wasp Sphex carbonicolor | Na em | Thank you Kate Sandiford for identifying this species for us Probably the largest wasp in Australia, with the body & head nearly 40mm long. Sorry for the poor quality photo's. I was still learning to use the new insect boxes (& I suspect I was nervous!). This one's body is covered in white hair, is black and has a brown/golden hue to it's wings. It's mandibles are something you don't want attacking you. At first I thought it was a hook. Then realised it was two crossed mandibles that were much bigger than any spider fangs I've seen! Why I captured it I'll never know. I can't remember doing it, I was obviously in shock OR JUST STUPID. I originally identified this back in Feb as Prionyx globosus. But Kate used the key here to identify it for us. zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=5995 While it looks like the antennae have 9, the end one bends so must be 10. This is the 1st record for this species in South Australia on the ALA website (www.ala.org.au). | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Black Digger Wasp Sphex cognata | Na em |
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Golden Digger Wasp Sphex ermineus | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Tiphiidae | Small Flower Wasp Agriomyia? | Na em | A small, hairy wasp of about 6-7mm. Originally thought this was a Catocheilus sp. But typically we'd expect Catocheilus to be large (~25mm) and smoother. This specimen does match the wing venation of the larger Catocheilus sp we've photographed. But we suspect it's more likely to be one of the smaller Agriomyia sp. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Tiphiidae | Large Yellow Flower Wasp Catocheilus | Na em | As with other Tiphiidae flower wasps, the female is much smaller & wingless. She may also be blind, or at least have poor vision. This is our 1st Tiphiidae found on Ellura and luckily we not only saw & photographed them mating (proves male/female relationship), but also caught them to get sizes and detailed photographs. We released her were found where she'll find a beetle to parasitise with her now fertile eggs. Even with his large size, he had a lot of trouble flying with her and allowed us to capture them. While similar in appearance, with the naked eye, to the European Wasp, this species is much larger and has a cigar shaped abdomen. On closer inspection, and with photographs, the differences are much clearer. A more technical term for reduced wingless insects is "Apterous". | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Tiphiidae | Flower Wasp Eirone sp | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Tiphiidae | Flower Wasp Rhagigaster sp | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Tiphiidae | Flower Wasp Tachynomyia sp | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Large Mud-nesting Wasp Abispa ephippium | Na em |
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| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Large Mud-nesting Wasp Abispa sp | Na em |
Similar Species: Large Mud-nesting Wasp Mimicking Fly | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Orange Potter Wasp Delta bicinctus | Na ema |
Large deep orange wasp with black stripes They make a mud nest and fill it with a larva for it's offspring to feed on. The nest is a series of individual cells. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Mud-nesting Wasp Paralastor sp ES1 | Na ema | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Ringed Mud-nesting Wasp Paralastor sp ES2 | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Paralastor Wasp Paralastor sp ES3 | Na em | |||||||
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