Insect Sightings

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It's been a fairly sparse year so far but here are a few insects that we have encountered over the past few weeks.

The Giant Valanga Valanga irregularis (Walker)

This large grasshopper is known to every gardener. A female can deposit an egg case in the ground that can give rise to a couple of dozen voracious nymphs that can defoliate nearby plants in very short order. This grasshopper has many colour morphs. Individuals can be lead grey and without many spots or mottled brown like the one above.

A young nymph of the Giant Valanga ready to start several weeks of devastating feeding.

Once in a while you stumble on something special. This is a female Green Lacewing completing her evening's egg-laying activities. It is hypothesised that the eggs are laid on stalks to prevent the hatching larvae from eating one another. What do you think?

 Brown Bell Anaxipha fuscocinctum (Chopard)

One of the prettiest and most delicate of the small "trigs" or Leaf-running Crickets. The song is a faint long or broken trill, usually uttered at night.

Longicornes

Kuranda seems to have a fairly large number of longicorne beetles probably as a result of the high diversity of trees. Spring usually brings them on with the large prionines the first to appear but not this year.  A few longicornes that we don't often see have shown up at the lights recently.

Ancita sp.

Tricheops ephippiger

Kurandanus maculosus

Kuranda namesake!

Rhipidocerus sp.

Xingbaoia karakara Rentz

This individual must have overwintered as a nymph as it was one of the first katydid to appear this spring. It is primarily a predator and lives on the ground in leaf litter. It ascends vegetation after dark to feed. Here is is feeding on the particulate matter that rains down from the canopy.

And finally.

Monteith's Leaf Insect, Phyllium monteithi Brock and Hasenpusch

In mid spring males often show up at the light sheet. Females have never been seen here. They apparently spend their time high in the canopy and do not fly.

P. monteithi has a peculiar and distinctive odour that may act to avoid predation from birds and lizards. 

 RECENT VISITORS

Spring has sprung and garden guests are appearing, some old friends and some recent additions.

Our regular male Cassowary who is said to have been in the neighbourhood for more than 40 years. For the second year in a row he has emerged without any chicks. Perhaps, his breeding days are finished. He appears to be in good condition.

Great Expectations

One of at least two large females that wander through the garden. We think this is one of Mr Cassowary's daughters. She is not at all aggressive and just stands aside if you walk by her. Cassowaries seem very curious by nature.

This large Goanna decided to take a sunbath on the front porch. In some ways a Goanna is more formidable than a cassowary. If you were carrying a food item that it wanted, it would just run up your body to get it. The claws are extremely sharp as the use them to climb trees and the head bears powerful muscles that can inflict a painful bite. Contrary to recent statements, Goannas are not venomous. Their mouths are full of various bacteria that can infect a bitten victim.

However, have a read of this re Goanna bites:

https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/department-of-biochemistry-and-pharmacology/engage/avru/blog/are-monitor-lizards-venomous-the-tale-of-toxicofera,-part-4

Emerald Ground Dove, originally photographed by Peter Shanahan who we miss very much.

 

Helmeted Friarbird, one of the bullies at the feeding station. It is a wary bird, probably on the lookout for Black Butcherbirds.

And, of course, there are Brush Turkeys. They definitely own the place.

 

Thanks to Margaret Humphrey for the link to the discussion on Goanna bites.