Readers’ wildlife photos

February 2, 2022 • 9:00 am

As the snow falls slowly, covering the grave of Michael Furey, I proffer some wildlife photos taken by Aussie reader Tony Eales. Tony’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.

As summer rains have kicked in around my local area, I’ve had the good fortune to come across some new and interesting species. Here are some of the more  odd ones I’ve found.
This small beetle is, a member of the clown beetle family Histeridae. These beetles are cryptic and highly speciose as well as being understudied. I was informed that while it’s currently under , that this species would likely to be split into several species if anyone does a revision.
They are a myrmecophilic genus that live in ant colonies feeding on larvae. They can fold up into a compact little pill that ants would find hard to gain purchase on. My reading indicates that they are likely to be associated with Rhytidoperan ant nests but host specifics are largely unknown as species are usually gathered by flight intercept traps rather than from ant nests.

 

The area I found it in has several such ant species and here’s a queen of R. croesus I found recently.

Rhytidoponeran queens are what is known as semi-claustral. That means they look more like workers and do not have large abdomens. This means that rather than hiding away until the first set of workers enclose, semi-claustral queens must periodically venture out for food until they produce workers to do that for them.

At a local council bush reserve, I found this extraordinary wasp-mimicking fly. I’ve managed to narrow it down to subfamily Tachininae and looks superficially similar to but there are some differences which may just be variation or indicate a different species. I’m waiting on experts to weigh in.

Another one that I’m yet to get to the bottom of is this little flat bark bug, family Aradidae. I suspect it’s in the genus Drakiessa but bugs are so confusing. I found it at night feeding on fungi on a tree trunk.

I recently recorded two new species of Goblin Ant Orectognathus antennatus and O. phyllobates, the former being nocturnal and the later diurnal. These are tiny ants and it’s very difficult to notice their unusual shape until one looks at the photos but happily they are slow moving and easy to snap shots of.

I found my first Ozphyllum naskreckii, which are an unusual nocturnal katydid of wet forests and rainforest. You can see in the photo the “ear” of the katydid just below the bend of the front leg.

While we don’t have tree-hoppers as outré as some of the South American and South-East Asian there are a few with pretty impressive head gear. This one is in the tribe Terentiini but may be a new genus or at least species.

Lastly a cup moth caterpillar, Doratifera vulnerans. The first photo shows the normal feeding look and the second after I tapped it on the head with a twig to get it to raise its fearsome venomous spikes.

8 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photos”

  1. Woa, those are cool. We have a similar Tachinid fly up in this hemisphere and it too keeps its wings in a V-shape. One wonders why they do that, but actually wasps will similarly raise their wings when on alert.

  2. Beautiful and fascinating photos!

    I have to admit that, for a fraction of a second, when you described the Histeridae as “understudied” I briefly flashed on the notion that there were other beetles waiting in the wings to fill in their role if they were unable to perform. Maybe it was the close proximity of a world that looked similar to histrionics. I have a weird brain.

  5. Thanks Mark. I’ve noticed that stance with a few wasp mimics. It makes sense to look like an angry alert wasp I guess.

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