Blue Damselfly

I caught this beautiful Blue Damselfly (Maori Kekewai l. Austrolestes colensonis) on, I think, a Fejoa tree in Mahunga:

Steelblue Ladybird

Picking up the hundreds (not an exaggeration for a change - I’ve been told a million times that I exaggerate too much) of fejoas from the two trees in the garden in Mahia I came upon this little Steelblue Ladybird/Ladybug (Halmus chalybeus).  It’s about 4mm long and very shiny which made photographing it quite a challenge.

Katy Did or Perhaps Katy Didn’t

Although this 45mm long Katydid (Maori, Kiki Pounamu, L. Caedicia simplex) may be a native insect (it’s also found in Australia) it is called after the call of the American Katydyd (Katy Did, Katy Didn’t).  Well that’s what Andrew Crowe tells us.  It is quite a coincidence that after just posting about the Tussock Katydid in my Monday Morning Medly a week or so ago I should come across this one so soon after.   As far as I can recall I’ve never seen one before.   It can jump or fly.  At night it eats fresh leaves, flower buds and fruit and these can change its colour to a pinkish red.

Would You Believe....?

The humble Honey Bee (Maori Pi Honi) Apis melifera is not an insect I seem to see a lot of at The Cottage although there must be millions of them around as I assume that they are used to pollinate the apples in the orchards that surround me.  Today one paid me a visit but seemed very dozy.  Mind you it was fairly cold - mid teens - and wet.  After I'd photographed it I decided to check my Maori spelling and look up the Latin.  Whilst doing so I read the rest of the blurb in Andrew Crow's Which New Zealand Insect.  I learned two things: when it is angry the Honey Bee makes a high-pitched war-cry; and that the Honey Bee is New Zealand's most dangerous insect.  I know that we are very lucky here not to have the myriad of dangerous insects that they have across the Tasman in Oz but nevertheless I hadn't realised that we are quite that lucky.   I'm not the slightest bit afraid of bees whilst wasps terrify me (when I'm not behind a camera).  In fact I'm not sure that I actually believe Mr Crowe's assessment to be entirely accurate.

A Fly

I have yet to post my final post for the year on the monarch Butterfly but I can guarantee that all, or at least most, of you will be delighted by the beauty of the butterfly.  Most of you may not, however, share the same view of this 13mm long fly.  Apart from the fact that it is from the order of Diptera (true flies are insects of the order Diptera - from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings) I can tell you nothing about her.  I'm assuming (big leap here) that it's a she because I assume that the two little 'tails' are in fact oviposter.  I may be wrong.  Presumably someone with more knowledge will correct me if I am.  The Diptera include files, mosquitos, gnats, midges, and no-see-ums. There are about 120000 known species of true flies alive today.
 

Ladybird

In November 2010 I posted a picture of an Elevenspotted Ladybird.  These are common throughout New Zealand.  The Twospotted Ladybird (Adalia bipunctata) is, according to Andrew Crowe common in Southern New Zealand.  This was taken at The Cottage so it would appear to have spread its wings so to speak.  I've discovered that trying to hold a camera completely still and focus the macro with one hand when an insect is on the other is not easy especially when, as in this case,  it kept turning away and wouldn't keep still.

Camera shy

Ladybugs

A tiny ladybird.  Probably a Steelblue Ladybird - Halmus chalybeus - introduced from Australia.

What struck me about this photo is that the insect is so small that before the photo was enlarged I had no idea that I actually had those tiny hairs on the back of my finger! 

Ladybugs

I have a friend staying at the moment so blog time is limited but I thought that this evening I would just post a quick picture before bed. We have lots of Ladybirds/Ladybugs around at the moment.  In this case an Elevenspotted Ladybird.  These were introduced from England in 1874 to help control aphids.  It's now common in New Zealand in gardens and orchards.  In its lifetime each ladybird cane eat 1000 aphids!

Insects At Daybreak

Yesterday was a cold crisp morning and the conditions must have been exactly right for certain small flying insects to hatch and fill the sun’s rays with their being.  Oddly they didn’t come under the roof of the deck of The Cottage although they were swarming all over the paddock wherever the sun’s rays shone.  They didn’t appear to be irritating the cattle and were not interested in me if I walked outside.

Breath in cold air and insects dancing in the sun

I’m sure that there must be a poem about light dancing in the rays of the sun

Magical

And as the sun rose higher the insects disappeared

They Are Beginning To Irritate Me

For about a week I have been experiencing more of the little black flies in The Cottage than I have done before.  I had always just assumed that they were ‘fruit flies’ but had no real evidence to support that because to the human eye they are just tiny black irritants.  Then a couple of days ago I decided to try and photograph one that was walking about on the bathroom mirror.  Have you ever tried to photograph a moving 3mm creature using the available light from a household bulb?  It’s not easy I can assure you.  Then this evening for the second evening running I found one in my wine – actually yesterday there were so may it got tipped out instantly.  Tonight I had the presence of mind to photograph it first.  Then, as the fly could have been there for quite a while, I tipped it out.  This was getting serious! So now I had a clear enough picture for identification.  They are called Vinegar Flies (Drosophilidae) and are attracted to the smell of fermenting fruit and other plants.  There are about 2900 species of Vinegar Fly known worldwide (at least 17 in New Zealand) and have taught us most of what we know about genetics.  Fruit flies (Tephritidae), on the other hand, are not found in New Zealand.

There you are, Pauline, I did manage to blog on the little creatures.  Wasn’t that interesting?  I bet you can’t wait for the next one.

Northern Wattle Moth

With apologies to Friend Who Knows Too Much who is not a lover of moths.  On Sunday morning a large moth (wingspan about 8 cm) flew into me in the living room.  It was a bright sunny morning and the moth was obviously unhappy at being out and about.  Originally from Australia the caterpillars eat the leaves of wattle trees.  Hence the name Northern Wattle Moth (Dasypodia cymatodes).  Maori called the moth Pepe Atua amongst other names all of which refer to the belief that these mysterious moths were the returning spirits of ancestors (a similar belief about noctuid moths is found in Madagascar).  It is also known as Owl, Moon or Peacock Moth from the ‘eye’ pattern on the wings which shine like a new moon or the tail feathers of a peacock.

Very Pregnant Praying Mantis?

I’m no authority on the subject of Praying Mantises but this one looks extremely pregnant to me.  She – I’m assuming that if I’m correct and it is pregnant that it’s a ‘she’ – was struggling to get any speed up at all and I’d have been a bit concerned if she’s tried to climb up some of the places that they do inhabit under the eaves.  She decided to climb up Fraser’s leg.  Now Fraser is not known for his squeamishness or fear of insects but he said that having the mantis climbing up his leg was a decidedly odd experience and one he’d rather not repeat.  He was good enough, though, to keep it there whilst I finished photographing it.  One of the wing casings was, I noticed, damaged.  I wonder how that happened?

The Giant Weta

L'Archiduchess as an aside in a posting What's the etymology of the phrase 'to levy taxes'? asked whether it was true that there are no snakes in New Zealand and that there is an insect as large as a hand.

There are no snakes in New Zealand.  In fact, unlike Australia where almost everything is a threat to life or its enjoyment,  there are almost no insects, reptiles nor animals that are deadly in this country.

However we do have a huge insect with a body about 10 cm long and a leg span of 20 cm.  It is called a Giant Weta  and it is big by insect standards with a maximum recorded weight of 71 grams - the weight of a song thrush.  It's a docile creature and it's only defence is its tough exoskeleton.  This was sufficient defence against indigenous potential predators such as morepork, harriers, kingfishers and tuatara.  However it has meant that it has become the prey of many introduced manals and rodents.

(Photo: Richard Sharell.)

What Heather Would Do

On her blog Simply Heather a day or so ago, Heather posted 37 Random Questions and My Answers. One of these was: '32. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than...be forced to eat many things.' Well I have my doubts frankly. I assume that we are talking about food here and not something from a Japanese reality TV show (not that I've ever seen one but I have heard about them!).

Now I shall digress for a second or two. I live in the country surrounded by orchards, trees, fields, and insect life of all sorts. Many of the insects feel that they have the right to share my space. I regret to say that, although I don't have a problem with many of them I resist their attempts by having The Cottage sprayed. So those that do enter tend to have short lives. One of the most persistent creatures is the Gisborne Cockroach or Gizzy as we know them. I have seen less appealing creatures. However I would definitely not wish to lick one!

And here is the coincidence to which I referred when I commented on Heather's posting. I haven't seen one for several weeks but as I was writing it I saw under the settee (couch) one of those very creatures. Fortunately it was upside down which is a fairly good indication of its state of health. In this case dead.

So here, for your delictation is a picture I took earlier (several years ago in fact):

Gisborne Cockroach (Drymaplaneta semivitta - family Blattidae)

A Victim of The Bug Man

The spraying of The Cottage by The Bug Man has been wonderfully effective in preventing the spiders, cockroaches and many other bugs from living in with me. The downside is that many innocent moths and unidentified insects also die. So far nothing apart from the seriously unwelcome have been left on the deck in the morning by the scavenging birds. Yesterday the above was on the deck and presumably not thought to be a tasty morsel by anyone. I may have seen one before but am not sure. CJ may remember because I would certainly have asked/told him depending on the state of my knowledge. I cannot find it in my Insects of New Zealand but have a sneaking feeling that I decided last time that it might have been an Ichneumonid Wasp and CJ agreed. Am I correct or am I dreaming?

The Bug Man Cometh

I am a peaceful man and I don't enjoy killing things. The only things I actively seek to destroy are wasps which I detest.

Be that as it may today the Bug Man came. Every year The Cottage is treated to deter the potential bug invasion which inevitably occurs without it. It is sprayed outside and in with something which, whilst presumably not beneficial to me, is less beneficial to the potential bug population. Well, actually, it doesn't stop the bugs entering my space but it does ensure that once they have entered they don't last long enough to do much damage.

The problem is that I live in the country surrounded by a myriad of bugs which find my space irresistable. Without the treatment I would spend my life chasing Gisborne Cockroaches (with which I am quite at peace when they are outside). From the magnificent (and huge) Huhu Beetle to tiny unidentifiable ones. Flies from minute sand and fruit flies to huge flies which, oddly, are no nuisance at all because they buzz (very noisily) in, bang against the windows and buzz out again and are not interested in me or my food. By far the most irritating (though they don't bite) are the common house flies (or whatever) which are determined to irritate me and crawl on every thing with which my mouth is likely to come into contact. Moths I can live with in reasonable numbers but when you can't see the (very large) TV screen because of them that's excessive. And the spiders. Oh the spiders. I've got used to the ones which measure less than 8 mm but anything over that is verboten and there were hundreds in the space above the deck: the last year's spray having worn off more quickly outside than inside.

So I'm sorry but the Bug Man came and in the morning the deck will be littered with bug corpses. C'est la vie. En fait c'est la mort.

An Odd Newcomer

Poecilopachys australasia (Araneidae) known as the two-spined spider is a comparatively recent immigrant from Australiahaving arrived in the Auckland area some 40 years ago. The female (of which these are photos) is a medium sized orbweb spider and has the two dorsal horns whilst the male is quite small and is without horns. This lady appeared in the garden last weekend.

New Zealand Praying Mantis

Yesterday I wrote a post entitled Praying Mantis. It was the first Praying Mantis I'd seen in the wild. What a surprise I had, therefore, when I went up to Wendy and Martin's last evening and there on the bargeboarding was another one. It wasn't the same type however. It was a New Zealand Praying Mantis (Orthodera novaezealandiae). You may recall that that's the one where the female doesn't generally eat the male after mating (or any other time for that matter). The two types can be differentiated by the presence of a blue/purple spot on the New Zealand one's front legs and it's broader 'neck' (I'm not sure what that part of an insect is called).

The pictures are not as clear as I would have hoped but for once I didn't have my camera in my hand and borrowed one with a 3X zoom. The Mantis was a metre or so away from the camera and it was evening. In the circumstance I was pleased with the result.

Praying Mantis

Insects will never really be my first love (or probably even in the top ten) but I have come to enjoy seeing and photographing them and trying to identify them. Even with a wasp, hornet or cockroach my first objective (unless they are being distinctly troublesome) is to see if I can identify them before dispatching them to their collective soul in the sky (or probably in the bowels of the earth). My latest sighting was, to me quite exciting. It was a male African Praying Mantis (Miomantis caffra - family Mantidae) on the window. They are a recent introduction (1978) to New Zealand and are now spreading down the North Island. They can survive the winter giving them an advantage over the indigenous species which generally does not. The female cannot fly and often eats the male during (!!) or after mating. The native species female can fly and rarely eats the male at any time!

An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles

When asked what his study of biology had taught him J B S Haldane (who said "The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but is queerer than we can suppose.") replied that he'd learnt of God's 'inordinate fondness for beetles'. Indeed there are more beetle species on Earth than all the world's plants put together.

Like, I suspect, the majority of people I had never shared the love my Brother and his daughter, Helen, have for nature's insects. Their enthusiasm has, however, rubbed off on me over the years and for quite a while I have been photographing bugs and things. I'm not even afraid of hornets and wasps whilst I'm trying to photograph them - only when I don't have a camera to protect me do I become a nervous wreck in their presence!

When I came to New Zealand a whole new world of insects opened up in front of me. Not that we don't have millions in the UK but at the Cottage they appeared every night and day and persuaded me to photograph them. I have already posted an entry about the Wood Wasp but one of my first beetle encounters was with a Huhu Beetle or, in Maori, a Tunga Rere which is New Zealand's largest and heaviest beetle with a body length of about 4cm and antennae of up to 12cm.

Beetles can range in size from a fraction of a millimetre to more than 20 cm in length. The heaviest beetle is the African Goliath Beetle which can weigh up to 100grams - enough for it to crash through a glass window. The bodies of most beetles are very strong and well armoured. Some can carry 1700 times their own weight - the equivalent of three people carrying a 747 jumbo jet.

Beetles make up about 40% of all insect species making it the largest order of insects in the world. About 370,000 are known world wide: over 5500 in New Zealand with 90% of these unique to this country. Most are found only in native forest so their survival depends on the protection of this unique habitat.

Traditionally beetles were grouped by Maori into broad behavioural categories, a few tribal names for which are still in use. Mumu (or mumutawa or tanguru) includes the rounded beetles like scarabs, ladybirds and leaf beetles which often fly in swarms and often with a humming sound. Papapa or papaka are the broad, flat scuttling beetles (like tiger beetles) and other scurrying beetle-like creatures such as slaters and cockroaches - the name means 'flat' or 'lying close to the ground'. Tataka traditionally refers to beetles (and some moths) which fly around clumsily at night (eg longhorn beetles like the 'huhu').

I bought a wonderful book by Andrew Crowe when I came to New Zealand called Which New Zealand Insect. The categories are logically arranged and well set out and it has over 650 life size photos. I've found it invaluable. I was therefore rather surprised when I photographed a tiny (4mm long) insect yesterday which I took to be a beetle of some kind and of which I could find no parallel in the book. I could not, therefore, be sure of an identification. What I always do in these circumstances is seek CJ's help. However sometimes asking someone about an insect which may be a native to a country on the other side of the globe stretches knowledge a bit too far. So the jury is still out on Number 3.

Huhu Beetle - Tunga Rere (Prionoplus reticularis)

Burnt Pine Longhorn (Arthopalus tristis - was Ferrus)

A distinctive and tiny 4mm long insect - name awaited