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:
Yesterday
Nola desmotes?
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/487712-Nola-desmotes/browse_photos
Wing pattern from third image seems to match.

Hypocala (genus)
GlossyGal wrote:
Yesterday
Thank you so much for the ID @KenHarris 🙏🏻

Stenosmylus tenuis
WendyEM wrote:
Yesterday
ditto many of this group incl. O. australis and O. dirempta. I was looking at examples on BOLD, iNat (Research grade) and Moths of Victoria and trying for the best match I could find for the colour, markings and antennae. Location may be too far north for this sp. I had thought it was close enough.

Oxycanus (genus)
ibaird wrote:
Yesterday
My doubt this is O. sirpus was looking at the MoV visual key (Part 6) which shows O. sirpus antennae in the male are yellow/straw coloured with short rami. Looking at the antennae here in Photoshop they have a different apparently longer rami which seem to be orange coloured. Although the forewing markings suggest O. sirpus we know they the forewing markings are highly variable in Oxycanus (genus). iNaturalist also indicates O. sirpus occurs mainly in southern Victoria. This sighting is from the Southern Highlands NE from Canberra.

Oxycanus (genus)
WendyEM wrote:
Yesterday
we often find things out of previously recorded range. Without extracting the pseudotegumen, (tricky in a photo) if it is a male, who really knows.

Oxycanus australis
821,805 sightings of 22,469 species from 14,166 members
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