Insects

Insects

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A guide to Australian insect families (from CSIRO) can be found at:
http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies/

Daley, A. & Ellingsen, K., 2012. Insects of Tasmania: An online field guide

A useful introduction to Insects, visit:
http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/documents/9362/invertebrate_guide.pdf

A diagram of Insect morphology illustrating terminology with legend of body parts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_morphology#/media/File:Insect_anatomy_diagram.svg

A diagram of an insect illustrating terminology based on a worker ant, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaster_(insect_anatomy)#/media/File:Scheme_ant_worker_anatomy-en.svg

Photographing insects

There are two main ways to photograph insects with a camera: using a macro close-up lens or a zoom lens. If the insect tolerates your getting very close, then you can use the macro lens. For example, some moths will remain quite still when approached, believing they are camouflaged and invisible. However, many insects, especially those that can fly, will move away when you approach. This is especially true for insects like butterflies and dragonflies. So a good zoom lens is very useful for photographing many insects. If you are using a smartphone, then use a macro lens or a macro attachment. E.g. OlloClip for iPhone. If you want to have an insect identified to species then clear photographs are usually needed because minute parts of the anatomy may need to be checked. It is valuable to take several photos from various angles so that these anatomical details can be seen. Many insects are have particular plants that they feed on, and they can be identified more easily when the associated plant is known. So if the insect is resting or feeding on a plant, take note of what the plant is or ensure that a photo shows the plant clearly.

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Insects

Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)
Bees (Hymenoptera, Apiformes)
Beetles (Coleoptera)
Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Rhopalocera)
Cicadas (Hemiptera, Cicadoidea)
Cockroaches (Blattodea, several families)
Dragonflies & Damselflies (Odonata)
Grasshoppers, Crickets & Katydids (Orthoptera)
Leafhoppers & planthoppers (Hemiptera, several families)
Moths (Lepidoptera)
Praying mantises (Mantodea)
Primitive insects
Psyllids, lerps, aphids & whiteflies (Hemiptera, several families)
Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Symphyta)
Scale insects & mealybugs (Hemiptera, Coccoidea)
Stick insects (Phasmatodea)
True bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera)
True flies (Diptera)
Wasps (Hymenoptera, Apocrita)
Other insects
Lacewings (Neuroptera)
Unidentified Insect Galls

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Discussion

DiBickers wrote:
5 min ago
@kasiaaus Chalcid Wasps are a difficult bunch to get ID’d and I’m not comfortable ID’ing beyond my knowledge of certainty. I always try to add a suggestion so it remains in the unverified listing for others to see who have more experience. I don’t think there’s anyone else on here who can assist me I’m sorry☹️I’d rather the identification be true & correct. One thing you learn doing this, is the more you think you know, the more you realise you don’t (there’s too many lookalikes)🙃
Chalcidoidea (superfamily)
DiBickers wrote:
12 min ago
The shape of the face; the silvery-grey around the sides of the thorax (the black on the top of thorax is balding); the orange-coloured translucent wings; & the predominantly dark orange abdomen with black tip look very much like the Tyde’s Sand Wasp (Podalonia tydei).
Podalonia tydei
kasiaaus wrote:
22 min ago
Thank you so much Wendy and Don. It definitely looks like a Symbolistis sp. probably orophota. I tried very hard to find something that matched but got nowhere.
Unverified Curved-horn moth (all Gelechioidea except Oecophoridae)
kasiaaus wrote:
33 min ago
Thanks @DiBickers but I wonder why you confirm things at a higher taxonomy level when we are pretty sure of the genus at least and most likely also species. I think when it shows up as confirmed other moderators will not look at it any more and it will stay identified only at superfamily level when it could have potentially been identified at the species level.
Chalcidoidea (superfamily)
DiBickers wrote:
57 min ago
@MichaelMulvaney this looks the same as Cardiochilinae sp. that we have on file (link included below for you).
When I had a look at Cardiochilinae food source, it’s says they parasitise moth caterpillars, but @patrickcox has a comment that his picked up a spider and flew away? 10mm size description also fits Cardiochilinae sp.
Do you reckon I should I leave this as is under Spider Wasps (Pompilidae sp.) or perhaps move it to Braconid Wasp (Cardiochilinae sp.)?
Cardiochilinae sp. (subfamily)
Pompilidae (family)

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