Some issues with identifying invertebrates

While gathering in the washing I found a Weevil lurking on a sheet.  The first issue is to attach a more detailed name to it.
I have attempted to identify it and am reasonably sure it is in the family Curculionidae. According to Zborowski and Storey "This is the largest beetle family in Australia with an estimated 8000 species spread over 668 genera." so it is hardly surprising that I haven't been able to get further.

There are less 'ladybirds" (260 species).  So it would have been good if the following image had been of one!  Unfortunately while the colourful ladybirds are smooth (like this insect) and there are plenty of grey (like this one) ladybirds the grey ladybirds tend to be hairy (NOT like this one).  I ignored that nuance whereas my friend Denis identified - and advised via his comment below - that this is a Gum Nut Leaf Beetle (Trachymela sp).  (Getting back to numbers there are 2250 species of leaf beetles, most of which don't look much like this one!)

I then went to take a photograph of a Dendrobium orchid.  I realise that we purchased this orchid at least 7 years ago but if my memory is correct it was D. kingianum.  (Needless to say, the taxonomists have changed its name in that time but that is not really an issue.)
On looking more closely at the image there was 'something else' there as well.  So I fired up the macro-zoom function and acquired this image.
Obviously there are a whole lot of legs in there, but the real issue is how many entities are there?  By cropping and zooming another image well beyond the quality parameters of my equipment I ended up with
This appears to show wings as well as at least 8 legs on the back part of the invertebrate assemblage.  I thus conclude that a small spider has captured a flying insect that has gone to the flower.  Without a microscope (and some dead invertebrates) there is no chance of identifying them.beyond that level.

Let us finish on a somewhat more positive note.  Using Donald Hobern's site this moth
appears to be a member of Oecophorinae possibly Cosmaresta charaxias or a closely related species.  


Comments

Denis Wilson said…
Hi Martin
Flower Spiders love Orchids, for insects love Orchids too.
Spiders are very patient creatures.
And their patience is al;ways rewarded - eventually.
Re your Beetle, try Gum Nutleaf Beetle - family CHRYSOMELIDAE.
Brisbane Insects and Spiders website (as ever) has a useful "Field Guide" page.
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_leafbeetles/CHRYSOMELIDAE.htm
Cheers
Denis
24 October 2011 at 11:02:00 GMT+11
Flabmeister said…
Denis

As always a very helpful comment. I agree completely with your ID. The issue which had me concerned with ladybirds was that while the colourful ones are smooth, the grey species are hairy. However the leaf-beetles are grey and smooth and thus resolve the issues!

Martin
24 October 2011 at 20:58:00 GMT+11
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A tour of the West (part 1)

Image
A friend from my time in the UN sent me some photos of her family trip along Route 66.  They did this is a large camperwagon rather than a Chevy Corvette (apparently the kids jacked up about being offered a trip in the trunk).  It seems to have been a very good trip for them and most interesting to see their photos.  It was also educational for me, as I found out the German for rocking chair (schaukelstuhl, since you ask). They did 7200 miles in 30 days - a pretty serious bit of distance. This made me think of the trips we did in 1981 when living in Denver.  Frances initiated that idea by getting a book about the National Parks of the West  and marking interesting places.  I then worked out a route on a Rand-McNally Road Atlas (GPS was unknown then  - as were iPhones, personal computers and the internet).  From memory, taking nearly the whole Summer school holidays we covered about 10,000 miles in 70 days.  Here, approximately,  are our routes: That map comes from Google Maps (G
Read more

Insects from pine trees

Image
This afternoon (13/1/2015) we were looking out of our sunroom and noticed a strange bit of mist.  On getting my binoculars on the case I found it to be a cloud of tens of thousand of insects.  They appeared with naked eye to be flying away, but with binoculars I thought they were circling. Here are some images In the second one it may be possible to see there are two streams coming from the top of each tree. There was a loud buzzing noise but that could just be several thousand wings. Earlier in the day Frances had been to some nearby willows and they were infested with many little black soft bodied insects.  Perhaps they shifted to the pines and were swarming? Help!! Any information welcome. A colleague, from Wamboin, had noticed a similat phenomenon, but involvng eucalypts rather than pines!  Here are the photos he took with his phone. I have consulted some expert friends.   Their responses were: I would have gone for chironomids. I recall years ago driving al
Read more

Satin Bowerbird gets ready for Lanigans Ball.

Image
Having some time to spare today I went to check the bower near "Tom Green's Seat" in the Australian National Botanic Gardens.  The bower was well occupied by what I take to be - based on the green plumage and yellow bill - a 5th or 6th year male Satin Bowerbird.  (With all these images, click on them for a bigger - unfortunately not better focused picture.  The shots were taken hand held on full zoom from about 10m distance into a fairly well shaded location.) He was very much engaged in adding to the construction. Then it seemed that another bird called from the bush above.  This led to a whole lot of activity: the most spectacular (and worst imaged) was a flash of the wings: The bird also did a fair bit of hopping around.  Given that it was still immature I called to mind the greatest traditional Irish song of all time: Diarmuid O'Leary and the Bards performing Lanigan's Ball .  This ditty refers to spending "6 long months at Brooks Academy learning
Read more