A Bug for Dan

[John53]

Could be. Have you seen this? A web guide to the cicadas of Australia

Those are ocelli (singular ocellus). They are simple eyes.

Thanks for the link, I will look at it shortly but I want google ocelli first.

 

[John53]

Those are ocelli (singular ocellus). They are simple eyes.

This is one of the most interesting things I've come across for a long time. It seems insects are way more advanced than us mammals in the eye department.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Thanks for the link, I will look at it shortly but I want google ocelli first.

There is an amazing amount of information available on the internet these days. If this had been available to me 30 years ago, there is no telling what I could have gotten done as a student. I guess I'll have to do some of that now.

They function as light detectors. Mostly for navigation.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This is one of the most interesting things I've come across for a long time. It seems insects are way more advanced than us mammals in the eye department.

They've had a long time to evolve them. Invertebrate eyes are Cambrian.

 

[John53]

There is an amazing amount of information available on the internet these days. If this had been available to me 30 years ago, there is no telling what I could have gotten done as a student. I guess I'll have to do some of that now.

They function as light detectors. Mostly for navigation.

I'm reading this https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)00884-7

"If the fly is caught by a gust of wind and is rolled to the left, the visual field of the left ocellus is suddenly exposed to the darker ground while the right ocellus, now seeing more of the sky, receives much more light. The neural machinery along the ocellar pathway analyses the change in illumination between the left and right ocellus, which tells the fly that it has been rolling to the left."

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I'm reading this https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)00884-7

"If the fly is caught by a gust of wind and is rolled to the left, the visual field of the left ocellus is suddenly exposed to the darker ground while the right ocellus, now seeing more of the sky, receives much more light. The neural machinery along the ocellar pathway analyses the change in illumination between the left and right ocellus, which tells the fly that it has been rolling to the left."

Insects make excellent models for robotics design and that is one reason for it.

 

[John53]

Just found this in the front yard while watering some pots. It's a round patch of about a metre of silk. I thought it was spider webs but the grass underneath is dead. Maybe some kind of lawn grub did it?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Just found this in the front yard while watering some pots. It's a round patch of about a metre of silk. I thought it was spider webs but the grass underneath is dead. Maybe some kind of lawn grub did it?

View attachment 83887View attachment 83888

I was going to say alien landing, but they don't leave silk behind.

It seems rather large for sod webworm, but I'm not a turf entomologist, so I'm only aware of them and not familiar with the extent of the damage.

 

[John53]

I was going to say alien landing, but they don't leave silk behind.

It seems rather large for sod webworm, but I'm not a turf entomologist, so I'm only aware of them and not familiar with the extent of the damage.

I tried googling it but can't find anything. Maybe some kind of fungus.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I tried googling it but can't find anything. Maybe some kind of fungus.

Bear with me. This may sound silly in the wording.

Is the silky part silky like spider silk or is it filamentous like fungal hyphae and bunch up (compress) without being sticky/webby when it is pinched?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Just found this in the front yard while watering some pots. It's a round patch of about a metre of silk. I thought it was spider webs but the grass underneath is dead. Maybe some kind of lawn grub did it?

View attachment 83887View attachment 83888

Spider mites. I think it may be spider mites.

Grass Webbing Mite Control in Your Lawn

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I tried googling it but can't find anything. Maybe some kind of fungus.

I completely forgot about the possibility of spider mites. I've only seen the damage of Tetranychus urticae (two-spotted spider mite) on crop plants and not on turf.

Your lawn has the mange.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I completely forgot about the possibility of spider mites. I've only seen the damage of Tetranychus urticae (two-spotted spider mite) on crop plants and not on turf.

Your lawn has the mange.

It's probably not that species according to the first link I sent you, but it is in that family.

 

[John53]

Bear with me. This may sound silly in the wording.

Is the silky part silky like spider silk or is it filamentous like fungal hyphae and bunch up (compress) without being sticky/webby when it is pinched?

I'm currently stuck in Raymond Terrace watching bogans walk by, it's too early for the meth heads. I digress, when Karen finishes her eye exam and I get home I'll look.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I'm currently stuck in Raymond Terrace watching bogans walk by, it's too early for the meth heads. I digress, when Karen finishes her eye exam and I get home I'll look.

Bogans? I'll look it up.

 

[John53]

Spider mites. I think it may be spider mites.

Grass Webbing Mite Control in Your Lawn

Just looked at the link. That's it.

 

[John53]

Bogans? I'll look it up.

Australian rednecks or a moth

 

[John53]

Tiger Moth, Amata nigriceps. For some reason these are loved, if they get inside most people will catch them gently and release them. Any other moth would get a quick thwacking or a face full of bug spray. They show up in plague proportions sometimes.

​

 

[John53]

Those ladybugs I posted the other day having an orgy in my corn.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Those ladybugs I posted the other day having an orgy in my corn.

View attachment 83933

I wouldn't be too corncerned.