| TERMITES are on the Cockroach Page • 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: 947. 214 native species listed, with 176 from Ellura |
| Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | ||||||||||
| 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 | The male was ~29mm long. The genders can be differentiated by the male have a bulbous clasp at the end of it's "tail". The female has a thin posterior on the abdomen. The orange back is surprisingly difficult to see. Obvious in flight if it's below you, or when it's cleaning itself We found 5 specimens to date (2 females & 3 males), in Dec & Jan. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Robber Fly Asilidae | Big Red Neoaratus hercules | Na a | Male ~40mm long, while the female was a little shorter at ~35mm. The male is easy to identify based on size & wing shape. The female doesn't have the bulbous mid wing of the male, but we assume it's the same species based on other features & the fact this male is the only robberfly that comes to this size in the area. 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. We've found 4 males in Nov, Jan & Feb. One female in Jan. | ||||||
| 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 emr | 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 | Bee Fly Balaana cf 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 | 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 | White-tipped Bee Fly Comptosia cf calignea | Na r | A medium sized fly with white wing tips and a black, hairy, elongated body. | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Go-striped Bee Fly Comptosia heliophila | Na r | ~15mm body length. As with most Comptosia, these have white wing tips, with the wing veins surrounded by shadow colour. The body stripes are not always as strong as shown here. The eyes are indented/emarginate at the rear. There were a large number of them feeding on a Sugarwood flowers, along with many other insects. | ||||||
| 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 | Bee Fly Munjua cf 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 | Small Fluffy Bee Fly Myonema sp | Na r | ~6mm long with green eyes. It has 2 white tufts on the sides of the abdomen which aren't showing clearly against the white background. But with the naked eye contrast strongly against the black hair on the abdomen. It's thorax is covered in fine orange hairs, with a black body. Oh, and who could miss that huge proboscis | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Chequered-margin Bee Fly Oncodosia patula | Na r | A big fly at ~17mm long. Striped, wide bodied with pale wing tips normally associated with Comptosia sp. We managed to capture a couple of these on a one week project in the Riverland. They had slight differences, but it's clear the hair on the body wears easily. You can see the "Chequered-margin" (hairs around the abdomen), as well as an abdominal stripe in specimen one, but not specimen 2. However, on S1 they are worn on one side, but clear on the other. | ||||||
| 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 | Bee Fly Bombyliidae | Petite Bee Fly Zaclava sp | Na emr | Looking like a dancing fly, the bulbous legs don't match. The wing venation is also typically Bee Fly (with the veins swirling outwards). Found on Ellura in Olearia magniflora & in the Riverland attracted to Sugarwood. | ||||||
| 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 rufifacies | Na ema |
~9mm long. This looks 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 | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae cf sp ES1 | Na em | Reference Link | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Red-necked Gall Gnat Cecidomyiinae cf sp ES2 | Na em | Reference Link | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Gall Midge Cecidomyiidae | Red Gall Midge Cecidomyiinae cf 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 Aedes alboannulatus | Na em |
Thank you Stephen Fricker for identifying this species for us We originally had this id'ed as Ochlerotatus camptorhynchus but Stephen kindly let us know of our error and that Ochlerotatus is now Aedes. He said "easily confused with Ae. camptorhynchus the easiest feature to separate is the pre-apical band on the femur. I have pictures of the two species in our website gallery I also have a simple guide to mosquitoes available" | ||||||
| Flies Diptera | Mosquito Culicidae | Mosquito Aedes 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 | Mosquito Culicidae | Mosquito Aedes cf 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 | Yellow-striped Mosquito Culex globocoxitus | Na em | Thank you Stephen Fricker for identifying this species for us ~4mm long. Note the hairy wing veins; this is common with mozzies & other small flies. When we suggested this was a Southern House Mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus), Stephen said "Although a bit out of season, the straight tergal bands, the light underside of the proboscis extending to at least the last quarter. Also, the upper folk vs base to folk lengths appear to be closer to 1:4 rather than 1:3 seen in quinks." We found one specimen in Feb. | ||||||
| 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 ema | |||||||
| 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 incisuralis | Na em | While both genders are ~8mm long, the male we measured was slightly smaller than the female. As with many fly species, the genders can be separated by the distance between the eyes; male eyes almost touching on top, female eyes well apart. Of course, genitalia has something to do with it, but that's harder to see in the field with flies In the field they can be identified by a greenish gold velvet on their backs that wears in the middle showing a metalic bronze body. The common name comes from the protruding lower part of the face, looking like a nose. We photographed 4 specimens in Dec, Feb & March. | ||||||
| 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 | Half-band 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 ES1 | Na em | |||||||
| Flies Diptera | Parasitic Fly Tachinidae | Massive Blowfly Prodiaphania sp | Na em | About 18mm long. Very distinctive wing shape at the shoulder. | ||||||
| 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 ES1 | 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 | Blue Bristle Fly Rutilia sp ES2 | Na em | Thank you James Lumbers for confirming the identification of this species This fly was about 16mm long (body & head), weighing 210 milligrams. It was very loud when in flew in near us on a hot day looking for some shade on the side of the caravan, just like the Big Brown Bristle Fly. It sounded similar to a large wasp or big robberfly. It was difficult to get the blue seen with the naked eye with the photo's, which appear more green. James suggested it might be Rutilia scutellata but genital examination is required with most of these Rutilia flies to separate them into species. | ||||||
| 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 | Odorous Ant Ant: Formicidae Dolichoderinae | 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 | Odorous Ant Ant: Formicidae Dolichoderinae | Blue Meat Ant Iridomyrmex lividus | Na em | Thank you Mark Newton for helping with the identification of this species | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Pony Ant Ant: Formicidae Ectatomminae | Titan Pony Ant Rhytidoponera mayri | Na emr | The worker caste is ~13mm long. The shape of the top of their heads is diagnostic, almost with ears pointing up, as is the petiole. The bottom of the front "shoulders" have small spurs. Under the head is concave, terminating in sharp edges to the rear of the "cheeks". They have a very scaloped exoskeleton. They have thick spines on the front legs, which are well hidden. These are quite abundant on Ellura, and in other semi-arid evironments. We have photographed 16 specimens in Jan, Feb, Apr, May, June, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec. Apparantly they have long term permenant nests, so will focus on on a local nest during the remaining 2 moths (Mar & Jul) expecting that they don't close their nest at all. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Pony Ant Ant: Formicidae Ectatomminae | Green Pony Ant Rhytidoponera metallica | Na em | Much smaller than the Titan Pony ant at only ~6.5mm long. As the "metallica" name suggests a shiny body that reflects greens through to deep purple. As with all ants, the shape of the head, eye location & shape of the petiole, along with other unique features are required to confirm species id. The lines on the gaster are important to separate out Rhytidoponera species. This one has the same thick front leg spurs & under shoulder spines as the Titan Pony ant. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | Golden Black Sugar Ant Camponotus aeneopilosus ssp aeneopilosus | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | 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. There's an interesting discussion on iNaturalist about this (and ant "hibernating" stategies) indicating the ants might be lifting their gaster off hot ground. We will monitor ours to see if we can learn more. At this stage we don't believe it's heat related as their gaster is in the air both in full sun & in the shade (from memory) | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | Nocturnal Sugar Ant Camponotus consobrinus | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | Jumbuck Sugar Ant Camponotus ephippium ssp ephippium | Na emr | The shape of the back, face and the petiole 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 We just found a major worker for the first time and are pleased to be able to show a comparision shot, as well as diagnostics for the major worker cast of this species It was ~13mm long. The minor worker is surprisingly hairy in comparision. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | 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 | Modern Ant Ant: Formicidae Formicinae | Arid Honey-carrying Ant Melophorus sp | Na em | Thank you OneAntToFew for identifying this species for us Thank you Peter Slingsby for confirming the identification of this species Looks very much like Big-headed Ants, but have only one petiole node putting it in the a different sub-family. OneAntToFew also said this was a Major Worker. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Bull Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmeciinae | Black-headed Bull Ant Myrmecia nigriceps | Na ema |
Black head and tail. Orange body, pincers and legs. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Bull Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmeciinae | Giant Red Bull Ant Myrmecia nigriscapa | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Bull Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmeciinae | Small Jumping Ant Myrmecia picta | Na ema | Thank you Mark Newton for identifying this species for us | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmicinae | 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 | Small Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmicinae | Mono Ant Monomorium kiliani | Na a | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmicinae | Big-headed Ant Pheidole sp ES1 | Na em | We found two specimens in close proximity, 2 months apart. It's possible they are the same species, but different cast, or two different species. For now we'll publish them as different, but only count them as one. This one was ~5.5mm long. It seems redder than ES2. It also has a larger gaster, compared to body size, than ES2. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Small Ant Ant: Formicidae Myrmicinae | Big-headed Ant Pheidole sp ES2 | Na em | This one was ~6mm long, with the same 2 noded petiole & large head. The back of the dorsal surface of the abdomen has 2 rear facing spines. The 1st node of the petiole has a vertical projection terminating in 2 spines/lumps. | ||||||
| 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 emac |
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 | When explaining how to tell the difference between bees & wasps, Dr Ken Walker said "The antennae of bees are inserted about half way up the face of a bee whereas the antennae of wasps are inserted on lower half of the wasp face." | ||||||
| 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 5 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 | ~18mm long. 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 | Sand Wasp Bembix sp ES5 | Na em | ~17mm long. We think this is a male. Notice the "keel" or abdominal ridge under the abdomen. It seems to have an ovi-positor or stinger, but this seems to be part of a 3 pronged anal appendage that male wasps seem to have. It also lacks the strong digging spines on it's legs of the female above. | ||||||
| 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 | Digging Wasp Wasp: Crabronidae | Cockroach Wasp Tachysphex sp ES2 | Na em | |||||||
| 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 ema | Similar Species: Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp Note the different wing venation to other similar Ichneumonidae | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Ichneumon Wasp Wasp: Ichneumonidae | Infrequent Ichneumon Wasp Eremotylus sp | Na em | Similar Species: Orange Caterpillar Parasite Wasp Thank you Rachel Behm for confirming the identification of this species Thank you Jonathan Hoskins for confirming the identification of this species We found 7 specimens, 1 female and 6 males, in July, August & September. The female was ~13mm long, and the shown male ~15mm. We suspect they are different species, but with a lack of knowledge of the genera we can't be sure. Notice the huge ocelli, compared to their size. It's very interesting that around the world there is confusion about these. There is a new Mirid genus that has been given this name and a couple of databases have confused these with the Mirid bug; clearly not though LOL Rachel said "Eremotylus itself is so poorly known so I would love to see the specimen in person. If you see anymore please please take more pictures. I wish I could come over (from America) and catch them. Face and wing shots are very important for this group." We love her enthusiasm for our wildlife. Given we've found 7 specimens, we are stoked to be able to add these sightings to Citizen Science databases to improve our knowledge of their existance & distribution in South Australia. We encourage everyone out there to post their interesting wildlife photo's to these databases (like iNaturalist) to improve Societies knowledge of our amazing wildlife; it's diversity & distribution. | ||||||
| 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 | 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 | Black Velvet Ant Ephutomorpha cf 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 Ephutomorpha cf 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 | Orange-banded Velvet Ant Ephutomorpha cf sp ES3 | Na em | Thank you Dr Kevin Williams for confirming the identification of this species ~6mm head & body length. Has an orange band that wraps all the way round under with a black break on top. Black legs and a pale strip of hairs on the rear of it's abdomen. Found one specimen in August. | ||||||
| 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 ES1 | 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". This one is all black. We are pretty sure the brown on top is dirt. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Velvet Ant Wasp: Mutillidae | Gold Ring Velvet Ant Eurymutilla sp ES2 | Na em | About 9mm long (head & body). While the same genus this seems to be a different to our other as the top of the body is quite red, as are the antennae. The other is all black. | ||||||
| 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 emr | 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 | Small Red Spider Wasp Psoropempula sp | Na em | Found in October. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Zebra Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae: Pompilinae | Small Zebra Spider Wasp Ctenostegus sp | Na em | Similar Species: Large Zebra Spider Wasp See the other Zebra Spider Wasp (Pompilinae sp) for a discussion of variations in this sub-family. This specimen was about 9mm long (body & head), wingspan ~15mm. Significantly smaller than the Turneromyia sp we found. Note the stripes are less distinct, more grey that silvery white. Also note the 2 sub-marginal cells on the wing venation; diagnostic for this genus. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Zebra Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae: Pompilinae | Zebra Spider Wasp Pompilinae sp | Na emr | 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 | Zebra Spider Wasp Wasp: Pompilidae: Pompilinae | Large 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 | Blue Hairy Flower Wasp Austroscolia soror | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species Very dark blue, looking mainly black except for light reflections. Note the emarginate eyes. Having shorter antennae we assume this to be a female. If it wasn't for the indented eyes Graham said "it could have been one of a couple of thynnid genera - Anthobosca or Austromyzinum but fully black ones of these two genera are rare". | ||||||
| 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 tasmaniensis | Na ema | Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for helping with the identification of this species Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us Like other Scoliid wasps, the females have short antennae, where as males have much longer ones. We were surprised at the size variations of these. On Ellura we have found and measured two females; 18mm (S2) & 25mm (S3, not shown), found in Apr (S1), Nov (S3) & Dec (S2). Graham said "These wasps are scarab larval parasites and the size varies depending on the size of the host larva." In refering to separating out the 2 species, as listed on Atlas, he said "tasmaniensis in the south and radula in the north. The easiest way to distinguish them is in the colour of the setae on the top of the thorax of the female - it is mostly uniformly reddish brown in the latter where as it is yellowish in tasmaniensis. These hairs are often partially abraided in older specimens." Perhaps the common name refers to the hairs, rather than the body colour which seems to be more orange. However, of the male images we can find on-line they all seem to be yellow. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Thread-waisted Wasp Parapsammophila eremophila | Na em | |||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Mud Dauber & Sand Wasp Wasp: Sphecidae | Orange-tailed Digger Wasp Podalonia tydei ssp suspiciosa | Na em | We found 2 specimens on Ellura. The wing venation is the same, as best as we can tell, but there are some differences that we have put down to gender. Bold has 3 images of this species, showing the same variations as here. She had very hairy front legs, perhaps for digging her nest? She also seemed to have a shorter waist. She was ~17mm long, the male ~20mm, which is fairly close. | ||||||
| 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: Thynnidae: Anthoboscinae | Black Flower Wasp Anthobosca sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species We were confused with the gender of this one. It has an ovi-positor AND wings. We thought female flower wasps don't have wings. However, Graham indicated that only sub-families Thynninae & Diamminae have wingless females. As such, we have added sub-family names within Thynnidae here to highlight the difference. The legs look like they are made for digging. There are interesting "shields" in front of the antennae on the face that we've never seen before. Do they protect them when digging? The only specimen we found in February was dead & ~13mm long. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Flat Flower Wasp Aeolothynnus cf sp ES1 | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us We originally thought this looked like Aeolothynnus westwoodi, but Graham said "not quite sure, certainly not A. westwoodi which has black legs". | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Small Flower Wasp Aeolothynnus cf sp ES2 | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us 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. Then we thought Agriomyia sp, but Graham said "more likely to be Aeolothynnus, definitely not Agriomyia which has a broader abdomen" | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Black & Yellow Flower Wasp Aeolothynnus cf sp ES3 | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species A medium, hairy wasp of ~10mm. Note the totally black head and green eyes, but very similar shape and body markings to A. sp ES2. We thought it looked Bembix like and Graham said "Bembix always stouter and certainly larger than Aeolothynnus". This highlights the need to get size information with photographs. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Two-coloured Flower Wasp Aeolothynnus cf sp ES4 | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species A small wasp of ~7mm. Normally we wouldn't associate this with a flower wasp, but it's head & body markings are quite similar to the other Aeolothynnus we've seen. Superficially it looks quite shiny, but closer inspection shows fine hairs all over the body. And those green eyes. Note the antennae has a wavy appearance; seen on the ventral shot. It appears it has an ovi-positor (but aren't sure) & wings; indicating it's female and so not in the Thynninae sub-family. As such, our Aeolothynnus id is quite suspect. Note also the white spots on the side of the abdomen. Graham said if it "was a little smaller, it might not be" Aeolothynnus. When we suggested it was a bit Braconid'ish, he sais "too many wing veins for braconids and if anything, they would resemble ichneumonids with the spotted abdomen (and I think nothing else has paired spots), and thynnids have typical aculeate wing venation." Thanks Graham, very useful comments to help separate wasp families | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Gold-lined Flower Wasp Aeolothynnus cf sp ES5 | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species ~10mm long, with bluish/grey pale blotches on the abdomen. We couldn't get a clear view of the top side, but ventrally these blotches are like ellipses with off centre hole in the middle. We think this is a male, as in some shots it looks like an ovi-positor but in one shot you can see 3 clear appendages. We've seen similar in other males. The facial markings are quite unusual in that they graduate from orangy brown on top to bluish white/grey at the bottom. The clearest wing venation we were able to get was in the ventral shot. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Flower Wasp Ariphron sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us Originally we thought this was Rhagigaster sp | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Flower Wasp Eirone sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Large Yellow Flower Wasp Elidothynnus melleus | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us As with other Thynnid flower wasps, the female is much smaller & wingless. She may also be blind, or at least have poor vision. This is our 1st Thynnidae 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 we found her, 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". Originally thought this was a Catocheilus sp. Graham also said "this is almost certainly a complex of species that occur around the country. The male fits in my key but the female doesn't." We since found another 3 pairs of these mating in one Sugarwood tree at the same time, in November. The males were ~19-22mm, while the females ~10-12mm. It doesn't sound a lot, but the size variation appeared more substantial. Notice there are some differences: 1. The neck/collar has different black markings. It's not at all obvious and you need to get photo's at the right angle to see it. 2.They all had a strong orange tint to their abdomens. 3. The legs, up near the body, look thinner; not as robust. Graham said "Colour patterns can vary a little and the abdomen can be stretched a bit because the segments can move." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Small Black Flower Wasp Iswaroides sp | Na em | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us We caught this male & female mating. The male ~9mm long, while the female was ~6.5mm. Black, with not patterns that we could discern. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Black Flower Wasp Lophocheilus sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for identifying this species for us ~14mm long. We would have thought it was a male based on the long antennae. But it seems to have a very short ovi-positor. Or perhaps it's a stinger. So we can't determine gender. Resembles a male Velvet Ant (Mutillidae sp), however the hairs are finer, the abdomen more rounded and the eyes larger + more elongated. Notice the very short hairs on the wings. Given the wings are effectively dead membrane (a bit like human fingernails are dead), it doesn't make sense to try and keep them warm. And it's hard to imagine them improving flight; there are no muscles to lay them down nor lift them in flight. We wonder what they are for? | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Flower Wasp Wasp: Thynnidae: Thynninae | Flower Wasp Tachynomyia sp | Na a | Thank you Dr Graham Brown for confirming the identification of this species | ||||||
| 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 | Mud-nesting Wasp Anterhynchium sp | Na em | Very similar to Abispa sp, but smaller. This one was ~10mm long. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Yellow-faced Potter Wasp Australodynerus cf merredinensis | Na em | ~10mm long. Basically a black wasp, with yellow face markings and orange body patches. Notice the deeply emarginate eye and wings held up. In the wing venation description, this shows the difference between this species (top wing) and the very similar looking Paralastor wasps (lower wing). | ||||||
| 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 | Thank you Marco Selis for identifying this species for us ~15mm long. All Vespidae wasps can be recognised as they hold their wings up at rest and have emmarginate (indented) eyes. As can be seen here, these build nests from mud in a line; one cell after the other. The sequence here, of S2 building her nest, occurred within 60 sec. It shows her adding to the walls of a new cell, next to a sealed one. They are rotated to show better detail. We have 4 specimens between Nov & Jan, with the nest being created in early Dec. We had these as Paralastor, then saw some sightings of Pseudalastor concolor that looked the same. But Marco saw our observation and said "Second submarginal cell is petiolate, this leads to Paralastor." We set up a graphic showing the difference between the 2nd sub-marginal cell with another potter wasp. Note that "petiolate" means there is a vein joining the marginal cell (top right of each wing) and the 2nd sub-marginal cell. The bottom wing is the Paralastor wasp; S4. Please recognise the veins behind the forwing are showing through, confusing the issue a bit. "Petiolate" indicates leaf-like. | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Ringed Mud-nesting Wasp Paralastor sp ES2 | Na a | We asked Graham Brown if there was a way to separate out Paralastor wasps, and he indicated in almost all cases it wasn't visually possible at this stage. He's hoping, with luck, they'll be revisted next year. Fingers crossed! | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Southern Paper Wasp Polistes humilis ssp humilis | Na a | These are known to be aggressive, but only if you disturb their nest. Unfortunately gardeners often don't realise a nest is in the hedge they are trimming until they are attacked. These are social wasps, so build their nests communally. But unlike nesting bees & ants which have queens, these are all fertile females populating each cell with their own egg. They've found a benefit in nesting together and protecting the nest as a group. Jonathan Hoskins said "The two subspecies do divide fairly decently by location (ssp. humilis is the more southern range, ssp. synoecus is more northern and the only one introduced to Western Australia). In terms of appearance, ssp. humilis is darker with fewer yellow markings on the abdomen and no yellow lines on the propodeum (the rear portion of the thorax). Ssp. synoecus is more yellow with more extensive yellow on the thorax and paired yellow lines on the propodeum." | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | Orange-striped Potter Wasp Vespidae sp ES5 | Na em | ~13mm long This specimen was found dead & desicated outside. It fell apart as we were handling it while photographing. We thought this was a paralastor wasp, but the wing venation doesn't much (ie the 2nd sub-marginal cell isn't petiolate) | ||||||
| Ant Bee Wasps Hymenoptera | Potter Wasp Wasp: Vespidae | European Wasp Vespula germanica | If a |
There are two very similar introduced wasps in South Australia. This one & the English Wasp (Vespula vulgaris). You probably couldn't tell the difference between them with the naked eye. But with photo's the difference becomes evident. This one has a solid yellow band behind the eye; V. vulgaris has a black patch in the band behind the eye. This one has a thin vertical black line on the face with a black dot either side in the yellow; V. vulgaris has a fat vertical black line on the face with no dots. The queen looks the same as the worker, with the only reliable differentiation being size. The queen ~20mm long; while the worker is ~14mm long. The big surprise for us after photographing one was realising how hairy they are. The look very smooth and hairless with the naked eye. They are one of the most aggressive wasps in Australia; attacking just because you are too close to YOUR picnic lunch. Probably second only to the European Honeybee. | ||||||
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