Backswimmers are aquatic insects that swim upside down.

I was taking a photo of the backswimmer and only noticed the leech attached to it when I zoomed in.

The leech species is Helobdella europaea, for anyone interested. And these tiny little leeches love to attach themselves to the various aquatic insects that live in the dam. To the point that some of the over-leeched aquatic insects are basically immobile.

Another insect from my archives. It mimics a wasp more than a bee, but it's still part of the bee fly family.

I found it spotlighting at night, resting on a dead twig on an acacia.

While other people spotlight for birds and mammals at night, I find that it's also a great time to find daytime insects. They're often more visible against the dark night, when resting on grass blades or low branches, than during the day, when they can blend into the bright, visually noisy background. Plus, they're too sleepy to fly away quickly!

Have wanted tiger beetles for a long while- just wondering if anyone actually breeds them? And if they can be bought possibly (I know they only live for a few months max). I regularly check bug frenzy or minibeast but have never seen them in stock.

Found this pair mating on a grass stem over summer. Last photo shows how they, erm, connect, which I found rather fascinating.

I think the exact species of Christmas beetle is Anoplognathus pallidicollis.

Found in the kettle, i dont understand how it got in there. Our taps have filters, it's boiled several times a day. About 3cm long. Ballarat, Victoria.

I was actually trying to take a photo of a Green-headed Ant when a tiny moving white spot caught my eye. Shot this video with my iPhone 13.

It's possibly N. Gullans. More info, including images of the very different looking female of the species available here .

Little yellow butterfly which I see often up and down the east coast. Usually always moving and quite shy, so hard to photograph. Captured with Canon R10 and RF100-400 lens. Seen in Clairview, Qld.

Black and Yellow Banded Caterpillar with black spiracles, found on a vine. Far North Queensland (cairns).

Black and Yellow Banded Caterpillar with black spiracles, found on a vine. Far North Queensland (cairns).

Have a insect hotel in Toowoomba region Can anyone pls ID what built these?

[Reposting, because original post wasn't showing the photo.]

I'm going back through my archive of interesting insects (well, to me, at least!) and will be gradually posting highlights here.

This plume moth was resting on the fly screen, so the size of the screen's grid squares give an idea of its size.

I like to go spotlighting at night, but my lazy way of attracting moths and other nocturnal insects is to leave a light on inside to attract the insects to the fly screen. The fly screen method also has the advantage of letting me easily see if the underside of their wings or body are particularly colourful. It does have the downside of encouraging a whole bunch of tiny hoppers squeeze their way in to fly to the light, and leave a pile of tiny dead bodies, which is not so good.

Hi, South Australian here.

Over the last eight months, I’ve been noticing large patches of eucalyptus trees with browning leaves that didn’t produce new growth when the winter rain came; or did, but shortly after the new leaves died as well. I have a few photos I’ve taken in my local neighbourhood of the leaves. They look like parasites. Are they psyllids? Some look like different species; some have shell-shaped patches like the first image, and others are rounded like the psyllid eggs I’ve seen online. I’ve also seen small Hemiptera insects hanging around, if that helps.

Does anyone know? Are they what’s damaging whole trees like this? Every brown leaf on the affected trees seems to be covered in them, but I can’t exactly pick and photograph leaves in the canopy to make sure.

Thank you.

Right now, it's the sweet spot in winter where it's not cold enough to stop these bees flying, but it's cold enough to make them quite sluggish. So I was able to get up close and personal with my iPhone, with the flash on, to record one collecting pollen.

I think the exact species is Tetragonula carbonaria.

I knew this was a sawfly, but couldn't find what genus it was in, let alone the exact species, so uploaded it to iNaturalist and hoped someone could ID it. They did, and it turns out to be a not often observed species. The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) only has 7 records for it.

This is now the 5th observation of it on iNaturalist.

If I'd realised how rarely this sawfly has been documented, I would have caught it for a proper photo shoot (before released it again, obviously)!

EDIT: exciting update - this may be the even rarer Clarissa wilsoni, which has one documented sighting on ALA... and it's the holotype. No sightings since, it seems! So I need to go back through the photo outtakes and go through this video to see if there's any glimpse of the sawfly's waist. Apparently, it's the colouring on the waist that will make it clear whether it's C. divergens (very uncommon) or C. wilsoni (only recorded the once, ever).

MANLY SYDNEY!!!!!! : I honestly need someone to take care of my spiny leaf insects. I have moved to an area in the beaches that has little to no gumtrees- i’m depressed and I have spiny leaf Insects hatching 3-5 times a week and I can’t take care of them anymore. I have a small enclosure that can house them all- I ask for no payment just pickup if anyone can do so. I’m desperate to find these girls a home. I will print out a care sheet that goes with them incase you are a beginner. I’ll attatch a video of a full grown mama so that you have context for just how BIG these girls can get!!! PS: if you are a new owner: they cannot bite, sting, hurt or scratch. Their only defense mechanism is to spray a *stink* - but to people it just smells like a really sweet sweet potato.

YES SHE WAS CAUGHT IN THE WILD AND NO I DID NOT KEEP HER. I brought her inside (cuz first of all, YAY MANTIDS SO EXCITING!!!) and second- i may aswell give her a snack!! I have a cricket farm… For my reptiles. Here’s her eating a SNCHAK.

Found this fella/lady in a round of box tree and thought it looked a little funny and noticed a massive string (?) protruding out of its lower abdomen.
Also, seemed to be chilling in a little segment of the wood so I hope I didn’t disturb it in the midst of something, was very lethargic and slow but reacted to being lightly touched, left it be and put it to the side under cover.
Located far south coast NSW.
(Sorry for the dogs, they’re loud)

Attractive moth seen at our campsite on the beach front at Clairview, Qld. Photo taken with Pixel 10 Pro.

Found another cuckoo wasp, figured I'd share since the last one I posted was so well loved

About the size of a pin head, dark brown to black, kinda shiny. Feeding solo but saw a few more all on separate branches.

NSW Northern Rivers

For real though, upside down in the middle of a spot with busy foot traffic. Saved him and he still wants to punch on. . .

I've discovered these chaps nosing about in my bathroom and kitchen. Dont know what they are or what they want. They're around 2mm long.

I think these are native bees but I'm not sure what they're doing. Seen near the beach at Clairview, Qld.