I'm waiting for my new mates at entomology Australia to get back to me but they're pretty slack.
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
A Bug for Dan
- Thread starter John53
- Start date
I'm waiting for my new mates at entomology Australia to get back to me but they're pretty slack.
Is that the University of Queensland?
Just a bunch of keen amateurs I think.
Keen amateurs often find the coolest things.
They're slow with communications but today is a public holiday here so they're probably out having fun.
It may be a silly question, but do they have a website?
I'm hoping to find that out when they get back to me
How did you find them and contact them?
On a facebook page
I see. I looked up Entomology Australia on Google and came up with the University of Queensland site. That's why I thought it might be the group you were talking about. I do rather like amateur groups of citizen scientists. Belong to a local one myself. It is a benefit that it includes a number of professional scientists along with the amateur enthusiasts. I think both benefit from this association.
I find the subject fascinating but I lack the basic knowledge but I'm sure it's a matter of getting out there and trying. With birds there's a few features to look for when IDing
Finding a group of enthusiasts can be an excellent resource of local knowledge, ideas and wider information. I've learned quite a lot about nature in general from the group I hang with. We have birders, botanists, bug guys, educators and even an amateur videographer in the group. We get local experts to speak at the meetings as well as those within the group. In the past, I gave a couple of talks on scarabs and springtails. I found it fun to share my passion and information and learn from my audience as well.
Riptortus serripes Large Brown Bean Bug. Which I guess is why they hang out on my bean plants. Seems the only thing cool about them is the nymphs mimic ants.
Brown bean bug | Business Queensland
@Dan From Smithville I have no idea what this was. I was trying to video wasps around the bird bath and noticed it on a corn leaf. Between 5 and 10mm long. The only angle I got of it because I bumped the leaf and scared it off.
Edit: I've been told it's a type of Mirid Bug.
Edit: I've been told it's a type of Mirid Bug.
Last edited:
I'm pretty sure this a Micraspis Frenata. Incredibly hard to focus on them. Striped Ladybird - Micraspis frenata
I believe that is correct. The common name of members of the family Miridae is simply plant bugs. Mirids often have the distal, membranous portion of the wings angled downward when at rest. There are about 11,000 species in something like 1300 genera globally. A very species-rich family. I'm curious about the comparison to North American fauna where about 1300 species have been identified. I suspect Australia has more species.
I found an online resource at the link below for species of economic importance in Australia. It is limited to those species, but just looking through it, I think you may find the introductory portion useful in learning techniques and terminology for identification of other mirids and insects in general. I hope you find it of some use.
https://www.plantbiosecuritydiagnostics.net.au/app/uploads/2020/07/Aust-Miridae-manual.pdf
I'll take a rare moment to brag, but I invented technology to use in controlling mirid crop pests. It may have been the high note in my entomology career so far. It isn't often I get to mention it.
I believe you have the ID correct. That is a cool beetle. Very pretty.
I have the devil of a time capturing images of anything small like that.
I started composing a long winded reply involving weather patterns and monarch butterflies but when I read back through it I started losing the will to live. I realise I have no idea what I was talking about.
I'm reading through it now.
Hmmm I'm intrigued.
I spent an hour or so this morning trying to photograph blue wasps. There were dozens of them flying around a hedge but the damn things never land and are very fast. This was my best effort. I think I will also be on some kind of watch list now, I was getting strange looks from passers by.
Last edited:
I'd offer more detail, but it might be enough to identify me and there is a person on this forum that I don't want to have that sort of information. Maybe I'll PM you about it some time.
I am finding it to be a very useful book. It was great good fortune to find it available. The CSIRO and Australian government produce a lot of useful science publications.
I met Lincoln Brower once about 10 years ago. An interesting fellow. He is probably one of the best authorities on the monarch. Many of the facts they teach about monarchs in elementary and high school here were discovered by him.