A Bug for Dan

[John53]

A few pics I took this morning. Some are woefully out of focus. I tried fixing them but without much luck.

A flying termite with wings still attached.

I think it's a scarab and I think I've posted a dead one before.

A cool looking spider. I thinking it's a hunting type one.

Pretty sure this is a young stink bug.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

A few pics I took this morning. Some are woefully out of focus. I tried fixing them but without much luck.

A flying termite with wings still attached.

View attachment 85606

I think it's a scarab and I think I've posted a dead one before.

View attachment 85607

A cool looking spider. I thinking it's a hunting type one.

View attachment 85608

Pretty sure this is a young stink bug.

View attachment 85609

Another Scutiphora on the cheese tree!

I'm just guessing really, but female terminte alate maybe.

Definitely another scarab. I'm going with something in the subfamily Melolonthinae. We call similar looking species May or June beetles here with the timing of adult emergence often during those months.

I agree, it is a cool spider. Look at how large those chelicerae (jaws essentially) are. You can sort of see the fangs.

Nice finds.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

A few pics I took this morning. Some are woefully out of focus. I tried fixing them but without much luck.

A flying termite with wings still attached.

View attachment 85606

I think it's a scarab and I think I've posted a dead one before.

View attachment 85607

A cool looking spider. I thinking it's a hunting type one.

View attachment 85608

Pretty sure this is a young stink bug.

View attachment 85609

What is the substrate the scarab is on? It looks like marble.

 

[John53]

What is the substrate the scarab is on? It looks like marble.

Pool tiles, not sure what they're made of but mostly concrete I guess. I put it on they're because it kept trying to bury itself in the grass.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Pool tiles, not sure what they're made of but mostly concrete I guess. I put it on they're because it kept trying to bury itself in the grass.

It makes a good background. I just wondered if it were in some natural setting. At that scale, it looks like it might be.

 

[John53]

It makes a good background. I just wondered if it were in some natural setting. At that scale, it looks like it might be.

Man made and placed. The evil of camera deception!

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I found an awesome set of books on Australian Beetles. In fact that is the title. Alas, it is a pretty expensive and I can't justify it at the moment. But maybe. I have the two volume Australian Insects that covers all the groups including beetles. That will have to suffice for now.

Edit: Correction, three volume set. It looks like the entire set will probably cost about 500 to 600.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I'm going to call it a day. Hope you have a good rest of yours.

 

[John53]

I found an awesome set of books on Australian Beetles. In fact that is the title. Alas, it is a pretty expensive and I can't justify it at the moment. But maybe. I have the two volume Australian Insects that covers all the groups including beetles. That will have to suffice for now.

Edit: Correction, three volume set. It looks like the entire set will probably cost about 500 to 600.

Best price I can find is $132 AUD for volume 1. The price on google play for the e-book is $195! So $400 for both volumes... sheez

Just noticed your edit... So $600 it is.

 

[John53]

Why on earth would the actual books be $60 cheaper than the electronic version!!!

 

[John53]

Found what I thought was a scale bug but when I looked at the pics it looks like a small mud wasp nest. It's about 3mm x 2mm. I photographed a bug near it that I thought was an ant but it looks like a wasp in the photo, it was abot 3 or 4 mm long. I'm wondering now if the two are connected.

 

[John53]

I have swarms of these around at the moment, they can strip a tree of leaves in a day. Red-shouldered Leaf Beetle - Monolepta australis

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Found what I thought was a scale bug but when I looked at the pics it looks like a small mud wasp nest. It's about 3mm x 2mm. I photographed a bug near it that I thought was an ant but it looks like a wasp in the photo, it was abot 3 or 4 mm long. I'm wondering now if the two are connected.

View attachment 85685View attachment 85686

They may not be connected, but the first picture looks like it might be an egg cluster with emergence holes on the top of each of those little nodes (individual eggs). I can't be sure.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I have swarms of these around at the moment, they can strip a tree of leaves in a day. Red-shouldered Leaf Beetle - Monolepta australis

View attachment 85687View attachment 85688

I was going to suggest some sort of leaf beetle, but you got the ID already. Nice work.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Why on earth would the actual books be $60 cheaper than the electronic version!!!

I'm not sure on that either. You would think the electronic version would be the same as the print version or cheaper.

 

[John53]

I'm not sure on that either. You would think the electronic version would be the same as the print version or cheaper.

The only conclusion I can draw is that google is greedy

 

[Dan From Smithville]

The only conclusion I can draw is that google is greedy

They should change their name to Gobble, but that name is probably taken by a different sort of web cite.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

We have about 30 species of stag beetles in the United States; family Lucanidae. IAustralia has close to 100 species in this family.

These beetles are related to Scarabaeidae and are in the superfamily of Scarabaeoidea. More than 1500 species are described world wide.

I'm envious of the fact that not only are more species found in Australia, the diversity if very high and they are some of the most beautiful species in the world.

Another reason I would love to visit.

 

[John53]

We have about 30 species of stag beetles in the United States; family Lucanidae. IAustralia has close to 100 species in this family.

These beetles are related to Scarabaeidae and are in the superfamily of Scarabaeoidea. More than 1500 species are described world wide.

I'm envious of the fact that not only are more species found in Australia, the diversity if very high and they are some of the most beautiful species in the world.

Another reason I would love to visit.

I had never heard of stag beetles but now I have some idea of what they are I realise I saw one just a few days ago. Hopefully I can find another and get some pictures.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I had never heard of stag beetles but now I have some idea of what they are I realise I saw one just a few days ago. Hopefully I can find another and get some pictures.

I hope you do. That would be awesome.