Form Test
Location: Queensland. Australia
August 3, 2010 5:10 pm
Hi Daniel,
Hope this gets there okay. A wandering doodle bug (antlion). Poor ants, those jaws must be a nasty surprise when they fall in a pit trap.
aussietrev
Doodlebug
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for helping us to improve our submission form. Your Doodlebug photo is awesome.
Assassinated and Form Problem
July 26, 2010 8:01 PM
Hi Daniel,
Just tried submitting this picture via the form but as per last time got the error message “Failed to send your message. Please try later.”
Anyway, thought you might like this for your foodchain pages. This is an Orange Ground Assassin Bug, Ectomocoris patricius, that has come off second best to an ant colony.
regards,
Trevor
Orange Ground Assassin Bug eaten by Ants
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for taking the trouble to send this image to us via different channels. Please let us know if the form continues to give you problems when submitting photos because we do not want any interruption in our reception of the fabulous images you provide us from Australia.
Master of Disguise
July 22, 2010
Hi guys,
Having problems trying to use the form to submit so in case it didn’t get through here is my query.
I found this today and thought I had found a spider in the Tetragnathidae family (Long Jawed Spiders) but on close examination realised it was a true bug doing a great job of disguising itself. It doesn’t appear to have a proboscis which would rule out the assassins. Any ideas or has anyone seen something like this before?
regards,
Trevor
Unknown True Bug
Hi Trevor,
We love getting letters from you. You always provide us with such interesting Australian creatures and your photos are always wonderful.
Unknown True Bug
Alas, we cannot identify your True Bug, but we hope that by posting your letter in our new “Featured” section, one of our readers may write in and provide an identification and some details. We will also contact Eric Eaton to see if he can provide a family, though his area of expertise is North American species.
Unknown True Bug
Eric Eaton provides his opinion
Daniel: The Australian thing is a nymph of some kind. I’d have to side with Reduviidae, though my first thought was a walkingstick.
Sorry, you are better at Aussie bugs now than I am!
Eric
Karl writes in
Hi Daniel and Trevor:
Like Eric, my first thought was Walkingstick; I then flirted briefly with Stilt Bugs and finally landed on Assassin Bugs. It appears to be a species of Australcmena, an Australian genus with only two reported species, A. lineativentris and A. handschini. According to the site “Die Raubwanzen der Welt” (www.reduviidae.de) the two are synonymous and A. lineativentris is the only species in the genus. I could find absolutely no other information about this curious bug. Regards. Karl
Karl provides some additional information
I somehow missed this earlier but the “Brisbane Insects and Spiders” site and the “Lifeunseen” site both have pictures of Australcmena lineativentris adults, also known as the Long Assassin Bug. Not surprisingly, they look quite different from the nymph in Trevor’s photo but some features are consistent. You can just make out the rudimentary spikes on the back of the nymph’s pronotum for instance. Australcmena belongs in the Harpactorinae subfamily. K
What am i
Location: Melbourne australia
July 18, 2010 2:38 am
I took a pic of what seams to be some sort of nimph?
eexxxss
Larval Neuropteran, we suspect
Dear eexxxss,
The glaring dearth of information you have provided us is astounding. What size was it? What was the habitat like where it was found? We suspect that this is a larval Neuropteran, and it most closely resembles the larva of a Green Lacewing in the family Chrysopidae. You can compare your images to some of the ones on the Brisbane Insect website.
Larval Neuropteran, we believe
Insect found in Katherine, Australia
July 3, 2010
Am trying to classify my fauna and flora pics from Oz but can’t find the name of this insect. Is this a kind of hopper?
Thank you for your help
DucatiGirl
Katherine, Australia
Blistered Grasshopper
Dear DucatiGirl,
In 2008, we identified this species as a Blistered Grasshopper, Monistria pustulifera, also known as an Inland Painted Grasshopper from the family Pyrgomorphidae. The Australian Insects website has some information.
ID please
June 17, 2010
Took pics of this bug last week. Lake Tinaroo up on the Atherton Tablelands above Cairns, Far North Queensland. I seems to have moth like antennae but a mosquito like body.
Thanks
Andy MacDougall
atherton highlands, tropical north queensland
Midge
Hi Andy,
This is a Midge in the family Chironomidae, and it is a male judging by his feathery antennae. We do not have the necessary skills to further classify this Midge to the genus or species level, but we have linked to a similar image on BugGuide for reference.
Stripey Bug found in Private Forrest
June 9, 2010
Found this bug walking through my room, thought it was brought in from firewood from our private forest. It was fairly slow, even when running.
Nathan
Drouin, Victoria, Australia
House Centipede
Hi Nathan,
This is a harmless House Centipede. It appears to be Allothereua maculata, a species found in Asia and Australia, and you can compare your specimen to the image on the Natural History Museum of London website. The species is different from our common North American species, Scutigera coleoptrata, which though it is found in many places throughout the world, it is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean area, according to BugGuide. Since we know we will be out of the office from June 15 through June 22, we are setting your letter and photo to post live during our absence so our readership can get daily updates in our absence.
Bark Mimicing Grasshopper
May 27, 2010
Hi guys,
Nearly stood on this guy (Coryphistes ruricola). It didn’t move when I picked it up and I thought it was dead then it gripped onto my finger. When these are on a Wattle or Ironbark tree they are virtually impossible to see.
aussietrev
Queensland. Australia
Bark Mimic Grasshopper
Hi Trevor,
Thanks so much for sending us your wonderful images of Bark Mimicing Grasshopper.
Bark Mimicing Grasshopper
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