I was actually trying to video the moths flitting down and scooping up some of the pool water, but the local Pacific Black Ducks gatecrashed the bogong party and started eating them. Not sure how I feel about this. Happy the ducks are getting a succulent (not Chinese) meal, but not so happy that the meal consists of endangered moths.
This little Australian Paper Wasp (Polistes humilis) has made her nest in an out of the way corner of the veranda, so she won't hurt anyone there. Heck, I had my iPhone right up in her face, with the flash on, and she still didn't attempt to sting me!
I love a good weevil! And most weevils are good.
The whole family gets a bad rap because of the species that we find in our old pasta and wheat. But most are lovely big bumbling creatures, like this one.
Sadly, I wasn't expecting it to take off, so hadn't set the frame rate on my iPhone to 60 FPS, so the slowed down footage at the end is very jerky. But it still gives an okay, if blurry, view, of the weevil unfolding its wings and taking off.
Papilio demoleus has at least two common names: Lime Butterfly and Chequered Swallowtail.
I've tried photographing these butterflies a number of times, but they're usually too fast. The solution? Be out early in the morning when they're still cold and can't fly properly, and need to bask in the sunlight to warm up.
Two Lasioglossum (Homalictus) dotatum species-complex bees clearly can't share the same small area of acacia flower pollen! These are social bees, so it's interesting that one is defending its pollen territory from a bee of the same species. Maybe not from the same nest?
This is the same species as the bee I posted yesterday, with a tiny wasp on its head.
The insect ramp for the pool doesn't save everything, so I do a sweep every afternoon to see what needs rescuing. This little guy, being largely bright red, really stood out against the blueish pool walls!
I was taking a photo of the bee, and only noticed the wasp when I downloaded the photos and cropped the bee from the expanse of pool water. So sadly, I can't ID the wasp, because I wasn't trying to get a good angles to ID a wasp I didn't know was there!
But the bee is part of the Lasioglossum (Homalictus) dotatum species-complex. And is about 3-4 mm in length, which gives you some idea how tiny the wasp is. Love that golden sheen the bee has!
Following up from my video post yesterday of a barklice snacking, here are photos of some of my faves I've snapped over the years:
I love these little alien-looking insects. Unfortunately, iNaturalist doesn't seem to attract people who are specialists in tiny insects, so while its Computer Vision says it's Taeniostigma genus, all I can really say for sure is it's definitely a little barklice.
Footage shot on my iPhone 13, as usual. The barklice is so small, I had to hold the leaf as well as my iPhone because even the slightest movement appeared like an earthquake, and even with the leaf and phone in one hand, there's still some movement going on.
Another pool rescue!
This time, I found a female Thynnid wasp. These females are wingless and end up attached to a male to get around (and mate).
She's not the first one I've rescued. Last time, I put the female on a blade of grass to take a photo of, looking a bit more like she was in her natural habitat. And a male came and whisked her off. Unfortunately, I got terrible footage of that on my phone, so was excited to see this one in the pool today, giving me a second chance to record a male collecting the female. Sadly, even setting my phone to record at 60 FPS, it was still too fast to catch in proper detail, but I've included a slowed down version of the video after the normal speed version, so it's possible to see it at slightly less "blink and you'll miss it" speed. The flying blur in the background is the male as he makes his way up to the female to collect her.
Unfortunately, I can't tell from the blurry footage of the male what exact species of flower wasp this is. If anyone is a Thynnid expert, and can tell from the dodgy footage what species he is, I'd be eternally grateful if you could let me know!
Velvet ants aren't ants but actually wasps that are named after the females, who don't have wings (the males do). Some of the velvet ant species have some of the most painful stings of any wasp species in the world, so although they look cute, I'd not suggest ever picking up one in your bare hands!
I've fished at least four species of velvet ant females out of the pool. Three of them have been different species of the Odontomyrme genus. I love this one in particular. Her colouring makes her look very posh, I think!
They're all species of hoppers. Sadly, iNaturalist doesn't seem to have a wealth of experts on tiny hoppers in Australia, but using iNat's computer vision and some common sense on my part, I think the hoppers are the following, in slide order:
I'm so glad this ant found its own way out because these guys move fast, and I did not want to be bitten while rescuing it!
This is another prolific pool diving insect. I've rescued a number of these, but not anywhere near as many as the stingless bees, which are absolutely relentless.
One of the bee's wings is folded over at the tip, and I was worried this would mean it wouldn't be able to fly again, but it few off quite happily. Interesting that its aerodynamics weren't affected by a dodgy wing!
I recorded this using my iPhone, and possibly was a little too close, as the full bee isn't in focus.
Am I the only person slow to realize that a swimming pool, while also being a bit of a La Brea Tar Pit for contemporary insects, can also be a great way to collect insects to document?
Yes, I've previously fished insects and spiders out of the pool, but recently, it hit me that slightly dazed and waterlogged insects pulled out of the pool are slower than usual, and it's easier to photograph them in that state than when they're in their element on leaves, etc.
I've included a selection of photos from two insect saving sessions:
Parrots had chomped off leaves from a bloodwood, and many of the leaves had galls on, so I opened up one of the galls and found this instar stage of the insect inside!
I rested my torch on the kitchen bench, so it lit up the body. If the light had just been above, it would just have looked like a greyish blob surrounded by a white fringe.
I spotted this teeny tiny scarab beetle when out weeding, on a bare patch of ground, rolling some wallaby dung. I knocked it onto the ground so it was easier to photograph, but I was so tired from weeding, I just took a couple of overhead shots and that was it.
I uploaded it to iNaturalist, where one of the experts identified it as Onthophagus quadripustulatus. Which at that point, had no images online at all, beyond mine!
So mine was the first, and has sine allowed someone else on iNat to ID their own tiny scarab beetle.
It's bizarre that a beetle first described by science two and a half centuries ago has so few photographs. Possibly because it's so small!
As with other poorly documented insects I've also photographed at the end of a long stint of weeding, and was too tired to photograph from all angles, I was kicking myself for not taking a methodical set of photos of this little guy!
Backswimmers are aquatic insects that swim upside down.
I was taking a photo of the backswimmer and only noticed the leech attached to it when I zoomed in.
The leech species is Helobdella europaea, for anyone interested. And these tiny little leeches love to attach themselves to the various aquatic insects that live in the dam. To the point that some of the over-leeched aquatic insects are basically immobile.
Another insect from my archives. It mimics a wasp more than a bee, but it's still part of the bee fly family.
I found it spotlighting at night, resting on a dead twig on an acacia.
While other people spotlight for birds and mammals at night, I find that it's also a great time to find daytime insects. They're often more visible against the dark night, when resting on grass blades or low branches, than during the day, when they can blend into the bright, visually noisy background. Plus, they're too sleepy to fly away quickly!
Found this pair mating on a grass stem over summer. Last photo shows how they, erm, connect, which I found rather fascinating.
I think the exact species of Christmas beetle is Anoplognathus pallidicollis.