Week in pictures
13th to 20th April, 2018
Click to enlarge, and then 'hover' to read more about each image
Many plants are suffering from the latest long, dry period. Epacris impressa, one our our most common shrubs, is flowering, but sparsely.
Family: Ericaceae
The long, tubular flowers of Epacris exclude many nectar feeders ... unless someone creates a shortcut! This Hypocysta metirius butterfly is taking advantage of a tear in the flower to gain access to the nectar.
For several days this week, these colourful moths were everywhere. Yet today, I didn't find a single one.
Utetheisa pulchelloides
Order: Lepidoptera; Family: Erebidae
They look white in flight, their colours only evident when they land. These colours are a warning signal to predators ... they apparently taste bad.
Utetheisa pulchelloides
Order: Lepidoptera; Family: Erebidae
This species is rather special. There are very few records in the national biodiversity database (ALA) - yet there are many of these beautiful, tiny moths here in the forest this week.
Glyphipterix gemmipunctella
Order: Lepidoptera; Family: Glyphipterigidae
The first, and only, mating pair I've seen!
Glyphipterix gemmipunctella
Order: Lepidoptera; Family: Glyphipterigidae
This fluffy white moth is a new one for our list ... although we're not sure what to call him/her yet.
Trichiocercus sparshalli (?)
Order: Lepidoptera
This tiny moth with lovely green eyes is another new one for the home list.
Order: Lepidoptera
The fantastic structure of a Banksia flower. See Paul's earlier post for a full account of how Banksia flowers develop.
Banksia spinulosa
Family: Proteaceae
An unusual find - a winged (alate) female. This is the second ant species we've seen in the last month with wings - the Black Tyrant Ant (Iridomyrmex rufoniger) is the other.
Myrmecia forficata
Order: Hymenoptera; Family: Formicidae
Paul spent many hours reviewing the literature on the identification of this genus ... only to conclude that it is indeed the species we originally thought.
Myrmecia forficata
Order: Hymenoptera; Family: Formicidae
Butterfly eggs, a tiny wasp, and a microscope ... that describes much of Paul's week. This wasp is just 3/4mm long! See Paul's latest blog, titled Reproduction: Russian doll style
Order: Hymenoptera; Family: Scelionidae
See last week's post for more about these grasshoppers.
Caledia captiva
Order: Orthoptera; Family: Acrididae
And a large, rather wasp-like fly we've only seen a couple of times before.
Exaireta spinigera
Order: Diptera; Family: Stratiomyidae
