Insects


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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Discussion

ibaird wrote:
13 min ago
A first sighting of this species on NatureMapr. Known to occur east and south of the Great Dividing Range from Melbourne to Brisbane

Condica macrosema
WendyEM wrote:
1 hr ago
This is interesting. Chezala brachypepla on BOLD (Hobern) does not have the dark band along the face through the eye like this moth has. As seen above, a low angle side shot is needed to show the feature clearly; even so there are a number of side shots.
https://bold-au.hobern.net/specimens.php?taxid=407521
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?place_id=6744&quality_grade=research&taxon_id=510912

Chezala brachypepla
4 hrs ago
No I think they are different species

Aphalaridae (family)
RogerF wrote:
Yesterday
Female nymph NB stubby ovipositor. Not visible would be spiny front tibia

Conocephalomima barameda
RogerF wrote:
Yesterday
NB Shape of pronotum

Pycnostictus seriatus
823,544 sightings of 23,464 species from 14,986 members
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