Musgraveia sulciventris skin stain
Location: Sydney
November 9, 2011 4:46 pm
Hi, my wife was picking these stink bugs off the citrus and now has orange stained fingers. Even a week later they are strongly stained and nothing she has tried can wash it off. A bit like henna.
Can the dye in the bugs be isolated and used as a skin dye like henna?
Signature: Alexander Rosser
Large Stink Bug Nymph from Australia
We will try to locate information on the potential for skin dye from the excretion of the Bronze Orange Bug from Australia.
1
moth
Location: Bermagui NSW
November 6, 2011 5:40 pm
Can you please ID this moth. She came in on Nov 1st, laid her eggs on the back of my chair then stayed till she died 5 days later, sad.But what is she?
Signature: Sue
Hawkmoth from Australia
Hi Sue.
We strongly feel this is a Hawkmoth in the family Spingidae, however a species identification is eluding us. We started searching Butterfly House, and the two best candidates there are the Australian Privet Hawkmoth, Psilogramma casuarinae, and Synoecha marmorata. The former has the dark markings on the thorax, and the latter has closer wing markings. Csiro has this image of the latter. The Sphingidae of the Eastern Palaearctic website has this to say about Psilogramma increta: “Reliably recorded from northeastern China, Japan and Korea, south and east through China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Peninsular Malaysia, to the Greater Sunda Islands; then west through Burma/Myanmar, Nepal and India to Kashmir. It is possible that P. increta extends much further east through the Malay Archipelago and may even reach Australia and the Pacific islands. However, in these latter areas, the features of adult wing colour and pattern that farther west differentiate P. increta from the closely related species, P. menephron, break down and it becomes impossible to reliably distinguish them on this basis. The two species are also identical in genital structure. Mell (1922b) described diagnostic features of larvae and pupae but these have yet to be investigated in eastern populations of Psilogramma.” Perhaps one of our readers will be able to assist in this difficult identification.
Update and Correction
Thanks to a comment from Ryan, we now realize this Hawkmoth imposter is actually a Wattle Goat Moth, one of the Wood Moths in the family COSSIDAE.
moth id
Location: South Coast NSW Australia
November 1, 2011 9:45 am
can you id this moth for me.
Thanks Bugman, from Frosty
Signature: Frosty
Coprosma Hawkmoth
Hi Frosty,
Finding the correct identification for your Hawkmoth in the family Sphingidae proved a bit of a challenge for us this morning, but we finally identified your Coprosma Hawkmoth, Cizara ardeniae, when we found a match on the Butterfly Housewebsite. We also found some photos of the Coprosma Hawkmoth from 2009 in our archives. The Coprosma Hawkmoth appeared on an Australian postage stamp in 1991. The stamp is used to picture this species on Csiro.
Australian Postage Stamp 1991
G’day Daniel 
Mega thanks for your great detective work,.,one last thing now I know the critters name.
Is the Coprosma Hawkmoth, Cizara ardeniae a commonly occurring moth or is it an endangered species.
I live in Sanctuary Point, about 230 klm south of Sydney.
I haven’t seen this moth before.
I normally feed most moths to my wild bird visitors, but not if it is rare.
We believe it probably falls between common and endangered.
Foodchain, Spider and Fly
Location: Queensland. Australia
October 29, 2011 9:58 pm
Hi guys,
Thought you might like this picture for your food chain pages. A tiny immature Dolomedes Instabilis has caught itself an Austrosciapus connexus, one of the Long Legged Flys. The fly is about 6mm long.
Signature: Aussietrev
Water Spider eats Long Legged Fly
Hi Trevor,
We greatly appreciate that you take the time to identify your creatures prior to submitting photos, which makes posting your submissions so easy. According to the Find a Spider Guide for the Spiders of Southern Queensland website, Dolomedes instabilis is commonly called a Water Spider and their habitat is “On the surface of still-water ponds; this spider has the ability to run on water surfaces and to form underwater retreats in large air bubbles, although some pisaurids make their webs in green leaves or small twigs of shrubs and may never have occasion to ‘walk on water.’” The Brisbane Insect website has some wonderful photos and indicates the common name is Fishing Spider like its North American relatives. The Brisbane Insect website also indicates the common name of Austrosciapus connexus is the Green Long Legged Fly.
1
Oversized Earwig
Location: Port Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
October 28, 2011 3:42 am
This scary looking was walking over my floor. At first I thought it was an oversized earwig but then I thought it was unlikely.
When I caught it, the bug tried to squirt this black ink at me which was caught by the plastic container. It is a bit over 40mm from feelers to tail.
Do you know what type of bug would get around Adelaide, South Australia, Australia (and would it be dangerous)?
Signature: Bug Pro
Mole Cricket
Dear Bug Pro,
You had an encounter with a harmless Mole Cricket. The are found in many parts of the world, and we frequently get identification requests from Australia, the Middle East and many parts of North America.
1
Can you ID these bugs?
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
October 24, 2011 9:25 pm
Hi We have just found this bugs, mainly the orange, ladybird looking ones on my mother’s stone fruit trees. They seem to be have suckers inbedded in the bark and the tree seems to be really struggling. She is in Adelaide, South Australia, it is currently Spring.
Thanks so much.
Alison.
Signature: No preference
Lady Beetle Pupae
Hi Alison,
You have sent us photos of the pupae and a larva of some Lady Beetle. We presume they are the same species. They appear to be Common Spotted Ladybirds, Harmonia conformis, based on photos posted to the Brisbane Insect website.
Lady Beetle Larva
¶ Posted 25 October 2011 § Lady Bug ‡ ° Also tagged: Bug dunno
Location: Latitude = 30 47S Longitude = 121 27E”
September 21, 2011 7:15 am
Found this bug i have never seen before.
Signature: slese
Superb Katydid
Dear slese,
Our research indicates that the coordinates you provided places you in Western Australia, and that makes sense since your insect is a Superb Katydid, Alectoria superba, a species found in Australia. We haven’t received an image of this species since 2006 when we received several in rapid succession.
1
¶ Posted 22 September 2011 § Katydids ‡ ° Also tagged: aussietrev Northern Jezebel
Location: Queensland. Australia
September 19, 2011 10:14 pm
Hi guys,
Thought you might like to add this Northern Jezebel to your archive. Flitting through my vegetable patch dining from a radish let go to flower, they make a stunning sight.
Signature: aussietrev
Northern Jezebel
Hi Trevor,
Thanks so much for providing us with such a lovely photo of this beautiful member of the family Pieridae, the Whites and Sulfurs. According to the Butterfly House website of Australian species, the Northern Jezebel is Delias argenthona, and it is found in parts of New Guinea and Australia. We cannot help but to wonder how this lovely species as well as its relatives have gotten the lascivious common name of Jezebel, and since we don’t have the time to research the matter, we are going to let our imaginations run wild. Whenever we hear the name Jezebel, we immediately think of the classic black and white film starring Bette Davis as a headstrong Southern Belle who creates a scandal when she wears a red dress to a ball. Red is a rare color among the members of the family Pieridae, so the almost garish markings on the Northern Jezebel and other members of the genus are most distinctive, and could have been a contributing factor in the selection of the common name. You can see the red dress scene from Jezebel on YouTube.
1
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