A Bug for Dan

[Dan From Smithville]

And that is why I’ll never step foot in Australia

You don't have to worry about the spiders. With over 60 species of venomous snakes, they'll get you long before you even have a chance to see spiders. Then there is the venomous fish, octopi and jellyfish in case you make it past the crocs and get into the ocean. Wait, forgot about sea snakes.

 

[John53]

I'd say that is correct. Those are nymphs with the undeveloped wing pads visible.

I think I've posted these before, native stingless bees, not sure exactly which type as there's a few different ones but I'm in the range of Tetragonula Carbonaria. One of my favourite bugs. I was trying to photograph a wasp and noticed a few of them around the corn flowers, I haven't seen any since they started baiting honey bees. Hopefully they survive.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I think I've posted these before, native stingless bees, not sure exactly which type as there's a few different ones but I'm in the range of Tetragonula Carbonaria. One of my favourite bugs. I was trying to photograph a wasp and noticed a few of them around the corn flowers, I haven't seen any since they started baiting honey bees. Hopefully they survive.

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Isn't that irony. Australia of all places has stingless bees.

I'm rather interested in some of the ground nesting bees that I encounter. Occasionally I also find evidence for leafcutter bees. Or at least what I think is cutouts in leaves left by the bees.

Baiting honey bees? What is that?

 

[John53]

You don't have to worry about the spiders. With over 60 species of venomous snakes, they'll get you long before you even have a chance to see spiders. Then there is the venomous fish, octopi and jellyfish in case you make it past the crocs and get into the ocean. Wait, forgot about sea snakes.

Don't forget the killer birds.

Spoiler: Bad language warning.

 

[John53]

Isn't that irony. Australia of all places has stingless bees.

I'm rather interested in some of the ground nesting bees that I encounter. Occasionally I also find evidence for leafcutter bees. Or at least what I think is cutouts in leaves left by the bees.

Baiting honey bees? What is that?

Varroa mite.

'All my hives will be eradicated': Beekeeper heartbreak as NSW imposes emergency biosecurity measures

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Don't forget the killer birds.

Spoiler: Bad language warning.

I did forget. Really cool video capture.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Varroa mite.

'All my hives will be eradicated': Beekeeper heartbreak as NSW imposes emergency biosecurity measures

I recall now. You've mentioned this before. I had forgotten.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Varroa mite.

'All my hives will be eradicated': Beekeeper heartbreak as NSW imposes emergency biosecurity measures

I know it is a serious threat, but all that still sounds like curing the patient by killing them.

 

[John53]

I know it is a serious threat, but all that still sounds like curing the patient by killing them.

They've said there will be a ban on keeping bees for 2 years in my area.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

They've said there will be a ban on keeping bees for 2 years in my area.

That's gotta put the hurt on the keepers and the local industry. I know it is a difficult pest to deal with, but the cure doesn't seem to fall to far from the disease in the near term.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

They've said there will be a ban on keeping bees for 2 years in my area.

I'm not saying not to do anything, but it is unfortunate that we haven't found some better technical means of managing this yet.

 

[John53]

That's gotta put the hurt on the keepers and the local industry. I know it is a difficult pest to deal with, but the cure doesn't seem to fall to far from the disease in the near term.

It came in through Newcastle port which is about 40 or so minutes from and they were trying to contain it but it's been detected 400klm away so I think that's now impossible. They killed all the domestic hives then started baiting for the feral honey bees, our native bees don't get the mite but they eat the baits. I don't understand the approach they've taken, seems like environmental terrorism to me but what do I know

 

[John53]

This one is tiny, between 1 and 2mm. When I looked at the photo I can see wings under it that look to be from another bug. Maybe some kind of ladybug? It was on the flower of a corn plant and looks to have pollen on it.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This one is tiny, between 1 and 2mm. When I looked at the photo I can see wings under it that look to be from another bug. Maybe some kind of ladybug? It was on the flower of a corn plant and looks to have pollen on it.

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I think so. It is a large group and there are many rather tiny species in it.

 

[John53]

I think so. It is a large group and there are many rather tiny species in it.

This is a weird one... when I took the dog for a walk early this morning I put some rubbish in the bin just before I left, it was still dark and I noticed some bugs flopping about in the dew on top of the bin, I thought it was flies. I back the car out of the garage to drive to the river and the bugs started landing on it, noticed they were beetles and thought they must be black lawn beetles. Went to the river, walked the mutt, came home and went shopping, took some pictures on the way home, after I got home and unpacked the groceries I went out the back and watered the garden. The water in the bird bath out there looked like it was boiling, when I had a look it was the black beetles, I guess they're some kind of water bug that must have been swarming.

 

[John53]

These are cool and seem to be a different colour everytime you look at them. Maybe a type of Austrosciapus?

 

[John53]

I think this one is a paper wasp. It would only land in the shade.

 

[John53]

Heteronychus arator, African Black Beetle. We used to get thousands of them but they haven't been so bad the last few years. Found this one deceased on the road while walking the dog.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This is a weird one... when I took the dog for a walk early this morning I put some rubbish in the bin just before I left, it was still dark and I noticed some bugs flopping about in the dew on top of the bin, I thought it was flies. I back the car out of the garage to drive to the river and the bugs started landing on it, noticed they were beetles and thought they must be black lawn beetles. Went to the river, walked the mutt, came home and went shopping, took some pictures on the way home, after I got home and unpacked the groceries I went out the back and watered the garden. The water in the bird bath out there looked like it was boiling, when I had a look it was the black beetles, I guess they're some kind of water bug that must have been swarming.

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A number of aquatic species of beetles and true bugs have massive dispersal flights. Sometimes of mixed groups of species. This is probably the result of one of those.

I'm looking up black lawn beetle. Haven't found anything yet, but I am familiar with a species of Ataenius (Scarabeaidae) that is a turf pest in the US. These are small, black beetles that infest lawns and can get to pest levels damaging the turf.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This is a weird one... when I took the dog for a walk early this morning I put some rubbish in the bin just before I left, it was still dark and I noticed some bugs flopping about in the dew on top of the bin, I thought it was flies. I back the car out of the garage to drive to the river and the bugs started landing on it, noticed they were beetles and thought they must be black lawn beetles. Went to the river, walked the mutt, came home and went shopping, took some pictures on the way home, after I got home and unpacked the groceries I went out the back and watered the garden. The water in the bird bath out there looked like it was boiling, when I had a look it was the black beetles, I guess they're some kind of water bug that must have been swarming.

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These beetles are members of one of two similar looking groups of aquatic beetles. Water scavenger beetles in the family Hydrophilidae or predacious diving beetles in the family Dytiscidae. I can't really tell from the photos, but they are in different suborders of Coleoptera, differentiated by characters not visible in the photos.