Sunday 16 March 2014

More new species named for Riddells Creek, 2013-14


At the time of writing this article, the number of species we've named in Riddells Creek is 1273. Here are some of the new species spotted in the 2013-14 season or named recently. Click on the links below to get to the details of the observation in NatureShare (best viewed in Firefox or Chrome). We live in an amazing place!


Coccinella transversalis (Transverse Ladybird).


Conoderus tabidus
- a type of Click Beetle.


Austrolestes leda (Wandering Ringtail) - Male (left) 'guarding' female as she lays eggs on Triglochin procera s.l. (Water Ribbons) at Wybejong Park. This is the 21st dragonfly species record for Riddells Creek and the 11th species recorded at Wybejong.


The next eight species were recorded on Cup Day - holidays can be very useful!


Gasteruption spp. - a type of wasp that lay eggs using its long/amazing ovipositor in the nests of solitary bees and wasps.


Cleridae spp. - a type of Checkered Beetle.


Ocirrhoe unimaculata - a type of True Bug (the insect Order: Hemiptera).


Calliphora augur (Blue-bodied Blowfly, Lesser Brown Blowfly).


Calliphoridae spp. - a type of blow fly or bottle fly.


Conopidae spp. (Thick-headed Fly).

Oxycarenus (Oxycarenus) spp. - a type of Ground Bug.


Syrphidae spp. - a type of Hover Fly. Apparently there is nothing looking like this in the Museum's insect collection.


Phrataria replicataria (Pale Phrataria).


Fletchamia mediolineata - a type of Land Planarian or Flatworm.


Lophyrotoma interrupta (Cattle-poisoning Sawfly) - despite the common name it is a native sawfly.


Talaurinus impressicollis- a type of ground-dwelling weevil.


Sceliphron laetum - a very large mud-dauber wasp (harmless to humans).


Chrysolarentia lucidulata (Lucid Carpet-moth) - sometimes holds its wings together as in the first pic below (from Riddells Creek) but more often seen with wings flat (second pic below by David Francis at Mt Macedon).


Moerarchis australasiella - a beautiful moth of the Tineidae family.


Tenebrionidae spp. (Darkling Beetle).



Phew !!!