I was visiting my sister and her family on the weekend and I went out to play touch footy with my nephew...and had to put the game on hold to get my camera for Wildlife Wednesday - there was a bug!
 |
| Bug with a side order of copulating soldier beetles |
Actually, their whole backyard was swarming with soldier beetles - in the lawn, on the plants, on the soccer goals we used as the try line. And on those soccer goals were hundreds of copulating soldier beetles...but they weren't what stopped the footy game. It was this bug that only its mother could love!
 |
| View of the bug from above |
It's like a cross between a crusader bug, a stink bug, and a weevil. I'd never seen one before but my sister said they often had them - not that the kids had seen one either. And those kids were fascinated while I was...then Miss 3 threw a hissy fit when the photos were over and a soldier beetle happened to land on her! Lucky Mr 7 was more into touch footy than beetle/bug-panic!
So one of my insect books has a bug that's predatory and sucks the body fluids from a moth larva (
Oechalia schellenbergii - Pentatomidae - Hermiptera) which looks somewhat similar. Oh...but it's not that. Drat!
 |
| and from the side |
It could be an Assassin Bug (check it out
here). The
Australian Museum site doesn't have a picture,but they have a termite assassin bug, which is a predator that eats termites. I wonder if this guy has adapted to the tasty joy of soldier beetles?
Okay, so I can't find an exact match that I'm happy with - so situation normal here! I'll temporarily call him an assassin bug and see if I stumble across something better!
If you know what it is, then please let me know!
PS I lost the touchy footy by a long way!
No comments:
Post a Comment