A Bug for Dan

[John53]

That's great! The dragonflies, being generally the larger, with the more visible characters are much easier to identify in the field. But those little guys are much more challenging. There seem to be a lot of local field guides available or coming available to help with both.

That has always been my problem though. I can't know everything, but I try anyway.

Found a couple of wasps today in the backyard, I think the first is a type of paper wasp and the 2nd a type of spider wasp. I've seen one chasing a spider before, this one was hunting along the fence and had no fear of spider webs, it just busted straight through them. Not very big, only 10 or 15mm. Never kept still so couldn't get a decent photo. Maybe in the family Pompilidae

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Found a couple of wasps today in the backyard, I think the first is a type of paper wasp and the 2nd a type of spider wasp. I've seen one chasing a spider before, this one was hunting along the fence and had no fear of spider webs, it just busted straight through them. Not very big, only 10 or 15mm. Never kept still so couldn't get a decent photo. Maybe in the family Pompilidae

View attachment 73705View attachment 73706

I think you are correct on both accounts.

 

[John53]

I think you are correct on both accounts.

I've been playing around with some new editing software that supposedly blows up the size of images without loss of quality. I found this picture I took in 2017, I think I was trying to capture hover flies, I noticed a spider and this is the original and after the enhancement.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I've been playing around with some new editing software that supposedly blows up the size of images without loss of quality. I found this picture I took in 2017, I think I was trying to capture hover flies, I noticed a spider and this is the original and after the enhancement.

View attachment 74857View attachment 74858

Holy cow! It really does save a lot of detail.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I've been playing around with some new editing software that supposedly blows up the size of images without loss of quality. I found this picture I took in 2017, I think I was trying to capture hover flies, I noticed a spider and this is the original and after the enhancement.

View attachment 74857View attachment 74858

Generally, my first thought on seeing a spider in a flower is some kind of crab spider. I think the enhanced image would preserve enough detail to give a rough ID or one to family, but unfortunately it may not have enough exposed. Still, experience leads me to lean toward some kind of crab spider. I did a search for the group in Australia and didn't find anything similar, but what awesome looking species you do have.

It's not a jumping spider. The eyes are wrong and it isn't hairy. Not as hairy as most jumping spiders anyway.

 

[John53]

Generally, my first thought on seeing a spider in a flower is some kind of crab spider. I think the enhanced image would preserve enough detail to give a rough ID or one to family, but unfortunately it may not have enough exposed. Still, experience leads me to lean toward some kind of crab spider. I did a search for the group in Australia and didn't find anything similar, but what awesome looking species you do have.

It's not a jumping spider. The eyes are wrong and it isn't hairy. Not as hairy as most jumping spiders anyway.

Maybe Tharrhalea evanida.

Tharrhalea evanida - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[John53]

Generally, my first thought on seeing a spider in a flower is some kind of crab spider. I think the enhanced image would preserve enough detail to give a rough ID or one to family, but unfortunately it may not have enough exposed. Still, experience leads me to lean toward some kind of crab spider. I did a search for the group in Australia and didn't find anything similar, but what awesome looking species you do have.

It's not a jumping spider. The eyes are wrong and it isn't hairy. Not as hairy as most jumping spiders anyway.

Speaking of jumping spiders, as a kid I used to sit on our front verandah watching them stalk flies. Only 2 TV channels back then.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Maybe Tharrhalea evanida.

Tharrhalea evanida - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It could be. The frontal appearance seems close.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Speaking of jumping spiders, as a kid I used to sit on our front verandah watching them stalk flies. Only 2 TV channels back then.

Even with 57 channels, that would still be something I would do. I've watched cow killers (velvet ants) and cicada killers (large, ground nesting wasps) as they went about their business. I've watched a lot of insects in action. That's where the biology is taking place.

 

[John53]

It could be. The frontal appearance seems close.

There were better pictures of it when I searched Australian Crab Spiders that seemed to have similar leg markings.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

There were better pictures of it when I searched Australian Crab Spiders that seemed to have similar leg markings.

A good shot of the markings on the legs was what I was looking for too.

 

[John53]

A good shot of the markings on the legs was what I was looking for too.

This looks very close

 

[John53]

A good shot of the markings on the legs was what I was looking for too.

This is an old pic, maybe a type of crane fly?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

View attachment 74874

This looks very close

I think you have a good candidate for an ID. With photos and difficult or unexpected subjects, its the best that can be done.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

This is an old pic, maybe a type of crane fly?View attachment 75017

That looks correct to me. With that group, anything that looks close usually gets lumped into that group until I have reason to think otherwise.

 

[John53]

That looks correct to me. With that group, anything that looks close usually gets lumped into that group until I have reason to think otherwise.

The only thing I see different in this one compared to the pictures of crane fly pictures I've seen is the fuzzy moustache thing on it.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

The only thing I see different in this one compared to the pictures of crane flip pictures I've seen is the fuzzy moustache thing on it.

I've been doing a little reading and some species of crane fly do have the feathery antennae (fuzzy moustache) seen in your picture.

You know that from now on, I'm going to think fuzzy mustache every time I see one of these.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I don't know if it was on this thread or another or virtual life, but I was part of a brief discussion about naming species after famous people.

I found this while looking up info on the band Queen and it struck me as a good example of that idea.

You have to name them something, why not tribute to others?

In 2013, a newly-discovered species of the genus Heteragrion (Odonata : Zygoptera) from Brazil was named Heteragrion johndeaconi after Deacon, in honour of his musical and songwriting skills; one of four Heteragrion flatwing damselflies named after the bandmates, paying tribute to the 40th anniversary of Queen's founding.
John Deacon - Wikipedia
https://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2013/f/z03685p080f.pdf
List of organisms named after famous people - Wikipedia

 

[John53]

@Dan From Smithville I don't recall taking this picture but I'm assuming it's a cicada but I've never seen another this colour. Maybe it's freshly hatched from the pupa?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Correct on the ID. I'd say the color is due to being newly emerged.