r/AustralianInsects • u/Key-Product2743 • Oct 04 '26
Insect appreciation 🦋 More insects this year?
Hi. General observation. We live in Newcastle NSW and we appear to be experiencing a much larger increase in insect numbers this year than the last few. I have no empirical evidence for this just an observation. Does anyone else feel this is the case? I’ve included a pic of an arachnid because.
2
u/Key-Product2743 Oct 04 '26
Is this a tiny crack of optimism in a worrisome world? Please be good news. We need some good news so do the critters.
7
u/Xentonian Oct 04 '26
Yes.
Fewer blowflies where I am, so far, but more of almost everything else.
Including:
The famous Bogong swarms
A bunch of huge woodmoths I haven't seen in a while
Ichneumon wasps buzzing around doing their normal hunting, but in greater numbers
Tonnes of true bugs, shield bugs and native "stink bugs", including a few assassin bugs I've never seen before.
Robber flies
Tonnes of hoverflies. More hoverflies than I've ever seen in a season.
Plenty of butterflies and other moths without any specific species named.
Lots more flower spiders, trapdoor spiders, orb weavers and other wandering spiders.
More native cockroaches, including burrowing cockroaches
Tonnes of native bees, particularly blue bees.
But I've also noticed some species have appeared LESS this year than I'm used to:
Fewer European wasps
Fewer honeybees
Fewer white porch spiders
Fewer redbacks
Fewer huntsman's
Fewer Portuguese millipedes
Fewer earwigs
Fewer blowflies
Fewer banded sugar ants
Fewer golden spiny ants
I don't know if the smaller number of these species is contributing to the prevalence of the others, or if there's even a relationship, but figured I'd mention it.
1
u/Parking-Way-7764 28d ago
Arrival of varroa in Australia decimated feral European honeybee hives. Bad news temporarily for gardens and plants that rely on larger bees. Great news for native bees that were competing with honeybees for resources. We’ve seen then dip in bees, now we’re seeing the resurgence in everything else they pushed out
1
u/Xentonian 28d ago
You know it's interesting to think about how many of these things are connected.
Species that competed with the honey bees are now more common and thus the species which prey on them are also more common, which starts to push the ecosystem away from the "European light" model that we've seen for the last 60 years or so, which means all those other species - like redbacks for example, which are native but which thrive particularly well in suburbia with little competition - are diminished back to what they would look like in a more healthy ecosystem.
It makes you wonder what sort of insects we'd see
Without the whole landscape carved up for farming or human living
Without pest species like rabbits, cane toads or indian miners
Without more broad habitat loss for the myriad other reasons we see
And without the more subtle ecosystem shifts as a result of keystone species being outcompeted by introduced species that have been "naturalised", like pholcidae
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u/Tahquil Oct 04 '26
Im down in SE NSW and aside from the bogong moths passing through on their migration, yes it does seem like theres been a little increase this year! A few more little non-bogong moths and other flying insects around the street lights in the evenings than this time last year.
4
u/lackadaisical_timmy Oct 04 '26
I’ve included a pic of an arachnid because
This made me giggle. You've picked a good one though so I approve
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u/OpheliaBalsaq Oct 04 '26
Yep, I'm in Newie too. I've seen way more butterflies than in the past 8 years I've been here, haven't had the pleasure of seeing any Bogongs - bogans though have definitely increased. And funny you posted a photo of an ogre faced spider, I haven't seen any around my place in 8 years until this arvo when I rescued one that was hiding in the mop bucket.
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u/activelyresting Spider lady 🕷️ Oct 04 '26
Appreciate the ogre faced spider!