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A Bug for Dan

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
@Dan From Smithville I have no idea what this one is, looks like a cross between a wasp and a grasshopper. It was on the flowers of my corn.

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bug01.jpg

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Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
@Dan From Smithville Found this one walking the dog this morning, only had the phone so it's a dud photo made even more dud by being heavily cropped. Seems to be a scarab, google comes up with Holotrichia Sp. It was about 10mm long.

scar.jpg
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
@Dan From Smithville Found this one walking the dog this morning, only had the phone so it's a dud photo made even more dud by being heavily cropped. Seems to be a scarab, google comes up with Holotrichia Sp. It was about 10mm long.

View attachment 69703
It is a scarab. I'm not sure that Holotrichia is found in Australia, but I'll have to accept your ID, not knowing the fauna all that well. I am aware of the genus, but unfamiliar enough not to be able to recognize a member immediately. Or recognize against it. Australia has a number of genera that are unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, this specimen possesses a common general appearance and the characters to determine them require a stereo microscope and often dissection.

It is nice to see pictures of living specimens in their habitat.
 

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
It is a scarab. I'm not sure that Holotrichia is found in Australia, but I'll have to accept your ID, not knowing the fauna all that well. I am aware of the genus, but unfamiliar enough not to be able to recognize a member immediately. Or recognize against it. Australia has a number of genera that are unfamiliar to me. Unfortunately, this specimen possesses a common general appearance and the characters to determine them require a stereo microscope and often dissection.

I wouldn't accept my ID lol. Pure guess work using google image ID.

It is nice to see pictures of living specimens in their habitat.

The sad part is that at this time of year I could have shown you dozens of different examples just in the backyard. I've been actively looking for them the last month or so and this is the only one I've come across.
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
I wouldn't accept my ID lol. Pure guess work using google image ID.



The sad part is that at this time of year I could have shown you dozens of different examples just in the backyard. I've been actively looking for them the last month or so and this is the only one I've come across.
I'm just glad to see some examples, even if we can't ID them easily. Insects can be like that. I remember one year when grasshoppers were so plentiful, when I walked by a metal-sided building, they would jump out of the grass and hit it making a tremendous racket. Very memorable, but an uncommon event.
 

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
@Dan From Smithville I'm 95% sure this is a Fungus-eating Ladybird Illeis galbula and a bonus spider I didn't even notice until I checked the photos. Heaps of them feasting on the powdery mildew on my zucchini plants.

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Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
@Dan From Smithville I'm 95% sure this is a Fungus-eating Ladybird Illeis galbula and a bonus spider I didn't even notice until I checked the photos. Heaps of them feasting on the powdery mildew on my zucchini plants.

View attachment 69767
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Based on your photographs, I concur with your identification.

I love finding things I didn't initially notice while taking a picture. Sometimes, they are more interesting than the subject that compelled taking the picture. Like that hovering wasp you saw in my picture of the Mydas fly. Although, that fly is still my main interest. They are not commonly seen. I have only seen that species and one other. Unfortunately, I had no camera when I encountered the other species.
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
They're going to be overweight Illeis galbula, the powdery mildew is going crazy with the humid weather.
I've only seen that in the lab (the fungus). My experience with plant pathology isn't non-existent, but it is rather more limited to books and theory.
 

John53

I go leaps and bounds
Premium Member
I've only seen that in the lab (the fungus). My experience with plant pathology isn't non-existent, but it is rather more limited to books and theory.

Dumb question time that is probably unanswerable. It has been plaguing my thoughts ever since my attempt at humour, I had to stop half way through my morning tai chi. Is it possible for insects to become overweight? Or is that only a thing for vertebrates?
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
Dumb question time that is probably unanswerable. It has been plaguing my thoughts ever since my attempt at humour, I had to stop half way through my morning tai chi. Is it possible for insects to become overweight? Or is that only a thing for vertebrates?
It is not something I have studied, but hardly a "dumb" question in my book. I don't know that it is impossible. They do have their skeletons on the outside, so there would be limited space to store excess intake as tissue, though that doesn't mean they can't have a disproportionate storage of fat for instance. The lifespan of invertebrates is often generally shorter than most vertebrates, and I think we could come up with reasons for or against the idea that includes that fact. I can tell you that the insects I have raised have food constantly available and don't have the pressure of predation to deal with. All they have to do is eat and store what they do not metabolize or eliminate. That may tell us something.

I'm curious now too. As an answer, I simply don't know.
 
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