Cassowary update

Since the early disaster of the local Cassowaries losing their 2009 batch of bubs, the male and female have been coming twice a day for handouts. The male is always wary of the female and keeps his distance, always giving way if a morsel of food is up for grabs. It seems that once a batch of babies meets its fate, the adults go without for the entire year. We had thought that they would try again, but that has not been the case up to this point. Now with the wet season well under way, will see what develops.

Plumes

Plumes

There is a group of little moths that have their wings modified in such a way that they aqre like plumes. The Pterophoridae (Plume Moths) are the best example because there are many species and they are often common. Some like the Artichoke Plume Moth of California can be very damaging to artichoke crops if numbers of the caterpillars are abundant. Conversely, that is exactly what is desired from Lantanophaga pusillidactyla, a little moth that has been used to attempt to control Lantana, Lantana camara, a garden plant that has gotten out of control on a number of continents causing great damage by overtaking adjacent vegetation and literally smothering it to death.
A Plume moth. There are many species in Australia and the group needs a taxonomic revision.

Alucita phricodes is a member of the family Alucitidae. Closely related to the pterophorids, the alucitids are represented by about a dozen species in Australia and only about 150 worldwide. The larvae form galls or live in flowers or fruits. They never seem to be common. There is a characteristic behaviour that the adult performs on landing.


The peculiar moth above may be a tineodid (Tineodidae). There are only about 12 species in Australia and little is known of their biology. Perhaps, a reader may inform us on this moth.

Red-heads

A braconid wasp that is obviously a member of the "Red-head Mimicry Ring".
This mirid bug seems to be a member of the group. But to see a similar but different complex check p. 19 of the reference below.

If you look a the Love Bug flies in the blog below and then have a look at the photos presented here you'll quickly see that there is some similarity among them. They are from completely unrelated families of insects but they share the bright orange thorax. These insects are part of a Mullerian Mimicry Ring. They are part of an intricate advertising program. We may only be seeing a few examples of this group. There may be other insects, and even other invertebrates that share the dark black body and the orange thorax over the larger geographic range of the species involved. At least one species provides a "model" and the model has some feature that is distasteful or dangerous to vertebrate predators. Usually this is a toxic secretion that would either make the lizard or bird sick or at least have an unpleasant experience. Once the predator has had the experience, it learns to recognise the colour, pattern and posture of the model and avoids it and similar-looking creatures. Thus other perfectly edible creatures have evolved similar colours and patterns and are themselves "protected". Of course, there has to be a balance maintained in that the model must be more common than the mimics, otherwise the cover would be blown.

From the way the Love Bugs spend the day on the vegetation unmolested, I would suspect they are unpalatable. The little Snellenia moth below is probably quite edible but must gain some protection by being similar to the Love Bug in size and colour pattern. The mirid may be somewhat toxic as many bugs harbours nasty juices that repel predators. This would add to the overall effectiveness of this mimicry ring. The braconid wasp would be a good model in this situation. It possesses a powerful sting that could well incapacitate a small lizard or bird. A similar bug , moth and wasp have been nicely illustrated by Zborowski and Edwards (2007) in their recent book.

Reference

Zborowski, P., Edwards, Ted. 2007. A Guide to Australian Moths. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Vic.

Love Bugs

"Tis the Season..." and so on. At this time the world seems in a precarious state. What with Climate Change and the economies of many countries on the brink, it is somewhat reassuring to observe that life goes on at some levels as it always has. "Love Bugs" are so-called for obvious reasons. These are unassuming little flies in the family Bibionidae. I recall them with pleasant distant memories as a boy in San Francisco when a large species emerged each spring, in March, hence the common name in North America "March Flies". This fly was a "relict" of the sand dune fauna that once existed along the coast in San Francisco. This wonderful habitat is mostly gone now and I suspect one would have to look diligently to find one of these flies today. In the 1940's before the SF sand dunes were eliminated for homes, these flies were known to most residents as they were found on windows and plants in the gardens for a brief period in spring.

We have a dominant species in the northern tropics, Plecia amplipennis Skuse. This species is found on the light sheet most nights and can be seen resting, or mating on vegetation during the day. These flies feed on pollen and nectar and are commonly seen on native and exotic flowers. Their larvae live in the soil where they are part of the "decomposing community". Judging by the numbers of adults, the larvae must be very common in the soil and, as such, are probably important in returning leaves and other biological material back into the soil for use of other members of the community.
Males like the one above have more rounded heads and may not have functional mouthparts. They may not feed at all. Females, like the one on the right in the first photo have elongate mouthparts that enable them to reach deep into flowers for nectar and pollen.

This species exhibits a mimicry pattern that is not uncommon in tropical insects--a reddish orange fore part and a dark or black remaining part of the body. Some species are highly toxic to potential predators such as lizards or birds. This fly may also be unpalatable since it is often left alone by birds that visit the light sheet for their breakfast.

The reference below indicates there is room for taxonomic work in the Bibionidae.

Reference

Hardy, D. E. 1982. The Bibionidae (Diptera) of Australia. Invertebrate Taxonomy, 30: 805-855.

Sleeping Death

Wandering around the other night with a group from the Museum of Victoria, we came across this phenomenon. This group of halictid bees are sleeping as a unit. This is not too surprising as males of many non-hive, solitary bee species spend the nights sleeping together in clusters on leaves or twigs. To facilitate this behaviour, they usually return to the same site night after night. During the day they cruise around looking for virgin females with which to mate. Some males have well defined territories but still return to the same place to sleep. Bees are not the only insects that sleep in aggregations. We know of many unrelated insects such as bugs, beetles and even some flies with similar habits.

In this case, site fidelity works against the bees. Minute fungal spores greet the bees as they return to sleep and thus they become infected. The amount of time it takes for the infection to grow and kill the bee is unknown but the infected bee may fly around while the fungus grows within his body. Eventually, the bee takes his final sleep and does not awake The developing spores of the fungus can be seen as they await to “dust” newcomers to the night roost.

Like soldiers in a line, this group of sleeping male halictid bees seems normal enough. But most are doomed.

This group on an adjacent leaf never awoke one morning. They have been killed by a parasitic fungus. Two of the bees on the right are readying themselves to assume their "death pose" as the fungus can be seen on their antennae.

The fungal spores are clearly seen in this individual bee. The spores can be air borne and infect others as they return to the site night after night. Or bees can be infected simply by coming into contact with the spores that are on the leaves themselves.

Interesting Katydids

The Balsam Beast, Anthophiloptera dryas Rentz & Clyne, was described some years ago (Rentz & Clyne, 1983) from a suburb near Sydney. Ms Densey Clyne had been observing the species in her garden for some years and noted that they had a distinct predilection for her Balsam flowers ( Impatiens glandulifera). She eventually observed the unique appearance of the nymphs and noted that the short blade-like ovipositor of the female was used to deposit eggs in the cracks of bark in the trees where they were normally found. The Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, where I worked at the time, had a few specimens as did the Australian Museum in Sydney. It was determined to be an undescribed genus in the endemic katydid subfamily Zaprochilinae. This group is an oddity in that its species live on flowers and/or pollen and nectar. The geographic range of the species was rather extensive for a katydid based on the few specimens in the museum collections. One old specimen was labelled "Cairns, Qld." The Cairns vicinity had been fairly well visited by entomologists over the years and one would have thought, if the record was accurate, others would have turned up by 1983. [For extensive discussion of this group and the taxonomy and biology of zaprochilines see Rentz ( 1993)] So it was with some relief when the first specimens of this large and beautiful katydid turned up at the lights shortly after arriving in Kuranda a few years ago. They are probably more common than one is lead to believe but because they live in the trees and feed on flowers, they are not often seen. Their stridulations, a low buzz, can be heard regularly with the Mini Bat-detector.

The heads of all zaprochiline katydids are prognathous. This allows them to dip deep into flowers and either sip nectar or eat pollen.

Meet Broughton's Snout-nose, Euconocephalus broughtoni Bailey. Named after a British educator of researcher, Bill Broughton, this species must have an interesting biology but it is a mystery at this point. It is seldom found at our lights. When it does show up, you can count on more than one individual. On 7 November 2009 one female and 4 males were collected. Are they on the move? Do they fly distances at night? They were found only in April, July, October, November, December since 2004. I have not seen them during the day. If they are typical of other copiphorines (Conocephalinae; Copiphorini) they are seed eaters and the thick head is full of muscle to enable the powerful jaws to crack grass seeds.

The above photograph is of a male. The vertical "line" at the base of the wings is the vein that has on its underside the stridulatory file with which the male produces its characteristic calling song. There are two colour morphs in this species, brown or green. The individual below is a female.

Literature Cited

Rentz, DCF. 1993. A Monograph of the Tettigoniidae of Australia. Volume 2. The Phasmodinae, Zaprochilinae and Austrosaginae. With Appendices by N. Ueshima and D. H. Colless. CSIRO, Melbourne. 386 pp.

Rentz, DCF, Clyne, D. 1983. A new genus and species of pollen and
nectar-feeding katydids from eastern Australia (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae;
Zaprochilinae). Journal of the Australian Entomological Society, 22:
155-160.

new book

A new book has appeared recently "Australian Wildlife". This book combines the superb wildlife photography of Perth resident Jiri Lochman and the writings of Louise Edgerton. The book is a wonderful compendium of mammals, birds, frogs, reptiles, freshwater fishes and invertebrates.

There are more than 550 colour photographs that accompany accounts of how these animals have developed as a response to their climate and habitat. The biology of these animals is discussed and contrasted with other animals throughout the world.

This is not the usual treatise on the Australian biota but you will find photos and discussion on the biology of some of the little-known animals that you may know little about.

This book would be a fine addition to any library and well worth having as a reference to the Australian fauna.

Publication details as follows:

Wildlife of Australia. by Louise Edgerton & Jiri Lochman. 448 pages, Allen & Unwin Press 2009.