one day old Dasypodia caterpillar

To my surprise the eggs from my previous post have already transformed into caterpillars, about 2mm long. They are supposed to eat acacia leaves, some species at least...So, I went to my garden and picked some leaves from in total 6 different species of acacias that I have in my garden. It seems to be a success, they do eat some of them at least, as evidenced by a little hole eaten in the leaf shown in the photo below (click on it to enlarge)...

one more view of Miss November...

The same moth as in the previous post but showing her frontal view.

And again her eggs (positioned in an array, sort of...) as photographed one day later; one can see that the colour is evolving from green towards brownish red. The eggs are not smooth but rather bumpy or perhaps even a bit "spiky"...? They remind me of seafood, for some reason...

candidate for Miss November, Bronze Beauty...

This moth is quite large, with two large blue spots and a pattern of several (three) prominent parallel zigzag lines. I spotted her in our semi enclosed car port last evening, she was sitting still on the brick wall there. I took her inside the house for one evening/overnight and she laid some eggs, as seen on the photo (click to enlarge). The eggs are greenish and are roundish/ flat (cylindrical). Her scientific name is Dasypodia, common name is "Southern old lady" moth or simply "brown house moth", what a boring name (but at the same time quite a descriptive name...) The caterpillars feed on several (at least) acacia species. Will observe the eggs, and she can go outside, perhaps she will produce even more eggs...

The case of Private Pancake = caterpillar feeding on grass...

Recently I have been showing translucent green caterpillars feeding on eucalyptus leaves; but I have also spotted a different green larva feeding simply on grass leaves. I have observed that not only it feeds on grass but it also hides in the blades of grass, by which I mean it rolls itself into a single blade of grass (rolled lengthwise around his body). One can see some white silk thread that he used as a "glue" for rolling/wrapping the blade of grass around his body (click on photo to see details). I decided to call him Private Pancake because he reminds me of soldiers dressed in green uniforms (the grass) and a simple elongated shape of the rolled pancake...
How about edible uniforms for soldiers, inspired by this guy?...

Houdini 2

As I have explained before, Houdini has disappeared, maybe he is underground, who knows?

So, today I have started afresh with "Houdini 2". Will observe him much more closely this time and will report!
(Click on photo to see enlarged.)

translucent caterpillar feeding on eucalyptus

Here it is, one of my latest caterpillars; I have no idea what will grow out of it...
It is feeding on eucalyptus leaves. Looks a bit translucent...
I have called it Haudini, because he disappeared recently, like that famous circus magician, not sure whether he went underground or what...

classic Australian icon

(No, not Don Bradman...)
Yes, I am talking about our iconic Bogong moth. They migrate south in spring to survive hot Australian summer in the crevices and caves of high mountains. I have seen several of them recently in Canberra, in my garden, on sidewalks, under my main entrance door, etc. They are looking for dark and cool crevices to help them preserve their moisture. I did not dare to try to eat one (they are edible), partially for fear of arsenic content, it was reported in the past that for some unknown reason some of them at least contain poison, and partially because I have no confidence in my insect cooking skills. Apparently the way to cook them is first chill them in the freezer (that should kill them with minimal or no pain; insects are cold blooded of course) and then use just flame of one match to cook one moth. Dewing and de-leg and "enjoy", hi, hi... Fat content nearly 40%...
There was a cafe in Manuka serving fritatas made out of Bogong moths (and other interesting bushtacker items). It existed a few years ago, this year I wanted to go and try their Bogong moths but could not find that cafe in the Yellow Pages anymore, looks like the menu was too exotic, not enough customers perhaps, what a pity...

new kids on the block

About one week ago I had a visitor, so called Magpie moth (Nyctemera) , it is called "magpie" because of black and white wings, here is her photo showing the characteristic top view. This type of moths are also called "tiger moths" because their abdomen often has black and yellow stripes; they mimic stripy wasps trying to scare (and warn) whoever would be tempted to eat them. Picture showing the strips on abdomen is the second one below.

The moth was a female and has left a few eggs on the twig it was sitting on, each egg smaller than 1mm.... 

And today several hairy caterpillars all emerged from the eggs. They are now about 2 mm long and very hairy. They feed on Senecio. (Photo of the caterpillar below was taken against the backdrop of a blue plastic box.)

The bristles are long. (In general one should avoid contact with hairy caterpillars as some species can cause severe itching, even can sting and/or cause blindness. Maybe this particular species is not dangerous, but you never know for sure...)  

Interesting thing about tiger moths is that they can produce sounds (but in frequency range beyond human hearing abilities). Perhaps such sounds serve to confuse bats or discourage bats from eating tiger moths as they are not tasty anyway.

Second seductress

In my very first post on this blog I have shown so called Pink Bellied Moth (Oenochroma vinaria). It is fairly common in native gardens as the caterpillars feed on hakeas, grevilleas and other Proteaceas. Last winter I have found in total 4 pupae on the edges of the concrete path in my front garden, under the loose leaves. Here is how they looked like (one pupa shell is empty, after the moth has emerged and the other shell still full):

Yesterday last of the moths from the found pupae has emerged. They always emerge at night or early morning perhaps, I have never witness the process. What has emerged was a female moth again, I think. 

Below are her photos taken yesterday, the blue flower in the background is an iris. And why do I think it is a female again and why do I call her "Second Seductress"? Well, because of her behavior, she is "calling" male moths by extending out her pheromone gland at the end of abdomen (click on the last photo to see it better). Chemical seduction. I let her escape last evening into the darkness of my garden, I hope it is not too cold at night, and I do hope she will find a mate and will produce eggs for next generations of pink bellied moths to come...

His Greenness lost his greenness...

Photo from today; I used to call him "his Greenness" when he was still a green caterpillar (one week ago or so), but now it does not seem an appropriate name anymore...
He is not moving anymore, stopped eating parsley, lost his green color completely; his look now reminds me of a lump of candle wax; the texture  looks a bit grainy (click on the photo to enlarge)...I am not sure whether it is completely "normal", perhaps there are parasites inside?...Brr...Or am I worrying without any need?
Time will tell...
Yes, now I know, that grainy structures are actually cocoons of wasp parasites! The green caterpillar is no more!

Hey, it is Halloween today!...

So, lets continue with the horror stories of butterflies ending their short lives in dramatic circumstancies...
How about butterflies lured to electrical lights and fried alive by the heat of the lights and/or stuck behind the wire screens...The one on the left is likely a male Evening Brown (Melanitis leda), here the underside is seen, in it's wet-season form, I believe. The one on the right side is probably the same species and also a male but seen from the top side, therefore darker.

(The above picture has been taken in the Botanical Garden in Harvey Bay, last August.)

Or alternatively, imagine yourself (if you can) being fed to a young rainbow bee-eater...

Gulp...

(I spotted these butterfly-eating rainbow bee-eaters locally, at Ginnindera Creek in Canberra.)
The butterfly is most likely Vanessa kerhawi (Australian Painted Lady).

And here (below) is one more photo from Cape Hillsborough of unlucky entanglement in the spider web, yet different species of butterfly; nature is so often both beautifull and cruel at the same time...
As for the name of the butterfly it seems to be one of the Bush-browns, perhaps Dingy Bush-brown (Mycalesis perseus)? But what surprises me is that it is a wet-season form even although this photo was taken at the end of July...I am not too sure how to explain it, could it be that the poor butterfly was hanging there for several months?

Butterflies don't pay taxes, but...

It is this time of year again, the deadline for submitting one's tax return is approaching, which reminds me the old saying along the lines: "There are only two things certain in our lives, these are a.) having to pay taxes and b.) our death..."

Butterflies do not pay taxes, but they are certainly not spared from death. When visiting Cape Hillsborough during my last holiday, on a single day (29th of July 2010)  I photographed several various ways in which death can meet a single species of butterfly, Evening Brown (Melanitis leda)...

Be it by drowning, getting stuck in the spider web or being consumed by other insects, perhaps by green ants (as shown in the photo above), in one form or another, death  will certainly come...

"insect"

A proof to myself that my knowledge of insects is gradually growing; I took this photo 2 years ago and gave it a very simple title "an insect"; at least now I would title it "an Ichneumon wasp", I still do not know the exact name of the species, but there is some progress being made, I think....
Do they bite people?...
This one was photographed at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, at Camel's Hump trail.

mini "Pharaoh's Tomb" found underground...

After a large Eucalyptus Mannifera tree has been removed from my garden several weeks ago I finally decided to plant something else in that spot, so I started digging... Some roots of the Eucalyptus tree still needed to be removed and inside one of them there was a surprise: a hollow chamber, size of a small matchbox (but roundish) with an interesting large insect in it. It is a creamy-white pupa of a longhorn beetle (also known as longicorn), and it is alive. I decided to call him Pharaoh (click to enlage photo below). The walls of the chamber were smooth, probably because it wiggles his back in all directions from time to time, maybe by doing that over many months or years (?) it smoothened (or perhaps even enlarged?) the chamber...Or maybe it eats the wood?

I placed Pharaoh and fragment of his root chamber in a glass terrarium with some soil, but whether he will survive and for how long, time will tell...

 I have no idea what he eats if anything, perhaps juices of the tree? But now that the tree has been removed he is doomed, unless he is almost ready to emerge as an adult longhorn...I give him 10% chances for survival.
On the other hand, if he goes on and lives for lets say 5 more years like that (unlikely?) then it is quite a commitment on my part, isn't it? hmm...I have no idea what to think...

And maybe what seemed like an elongated chamber was actually a tunnel being built to the surface...? Maybe he is ready to become an adult ? I will try to protect him from drying out and will observe him.

one day later

His Greenness looks somewhat pale today, perhaps changed his color a bit towards whitish-yellow, and he is not moving anymore...

He looks very peaceful, like an angel sleeping on a pillow made out of clouds...
I am not so sure anymore, is he a common pest? and so angelical at the same time?...
And if he turns out to be a common pest what will I do with him?
Is he going to be a night moth perhaps?
Still a few days to think about it...

The Emperor's new exquisite clothing, made out of fine 100% organic silk

His majesty Greenness has got a new robe, made out of white silk, I have found it this morning, how do you like it...?  (Click on the image below to see very intricate details.)
He is still weaving it, so the robe is not finished yet, will post more pictures showing his progress...

house in the mailbox, in the suburbs

I have built a "house" for the leaf-cutter bees in some old disused metal mailbox (found in a water drain after heavy rains sometime ago). The house consists of a bundle of  tightly put next to each other cut bare stems of hemlock (Conium maculatum), which is a weed often found along the streams  and wetlands here in Canberra. The mailbox still has a sticker "No junk mail please" on it...
(I also added rolls of cardboard at the top, to fill out the gaps (as I did not have enough hemlock stems), these are made out of the inner parts of toilet paper rolls, one inside the other.)
I wonder whether I will get any tenants this summer...

leaf cutter bees already active

I am finding traces of activity of leaf cutter bees, such as this one here, in leaf of Abelia.

Ichneumon wasp

One more photo of the same wasp as shown recently (seen here on the top of my pen).
It is female, judging from white fragments in the middle of the antennas...
Has been released back into my garden...

Inspecting the crime scene...

The remnant of the pupa:

Please note that instead of the long crack along the axis (which would be typical if the moth has emerged normally) there is a top part of pupa missing, presumably the culprit wasp emerges from the top part and not sideways like the moth would...

parasitoid wasp?

About 1 month ago or so I have found a small pupa hanging on a silk thread in my garden under the rim of a plastic gardening pot. I assumed it belongs to some lepidoptera...

But what has emerged from it today was not a butterfly nor a moth, to my great surprise....
It is a wasp (Ichneumon wasp), I assume it simply/gradually ate all the pupa except it's "shell" and then emerged as an adult ("hiperactive") wasp! (Call Crime Scene Investigators now...)

side view

And one more shot; his/or her? Majesty Greenness...

A very hungry caterpillar indeed, eating healthy stuff all the time...

green larva eating parsley leaves

Discovered today. Will observe. Probably a pest moth...

Pink seductress: Oenochroma vinaria

Common name: Pink Bellied Moth
(I will call her Penelope.)
The interesting detail in this photo is the pheromone gland at the end of her body. She is trying to attract males with a special chemical cocktail. Human beings can not smell it (or I couldn't at least...)
Pink seductress. Sitting pretty and waiting. And the males have to fly upwind, in the direction of her smell...