3:30pm - 5:00pm / Wednesday the 22nd of June, 2022
Mooloolah River Landcare
This week at Bug Club we held a Bug Lab where we were lucky enough to use Jessica's new "toy", a very high tech microscope which is linked to a monitor, to get a closer look at our specimens. We foraged around the Landcare grounds looking in leaf litter and soil for insects. We had not investigated the area in a while and we noticed the impacts that the recent floods have had on the soil. Before the floods the soil was very moist and alive with microscopic organisms. What we found today was that the soil was very compacted from the silt deposited from the flood waters and there was not much diversity in the animals we found. It will be interesting to monitor the area to see how long it takes for the soil to regenerate and for the diversity to return. We found lots of Lawn Shrimp (Arcitalitrus sylvaticus), a very pretty Giant Huntsman Spider (Genus Heteropoda), a Saint Andrew's Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingi), a large beetle larva and a small undescribed caterpillar. We also investigated our Butterfly Host Plant garden and found some White Nymph (Mynes geoffroyi) caterpillars and eggs.
Using the microscope we were very excited to see the caterpillars hatching out of their eggs. The miniature world is very fascinating and using a microscope takes it to the next level.

Did you know that Lawn Shrimp are also known as a Landhopper and are a species of Beach Hopper in the family Talitridae. They are a terrestrial Amphipod (land crustacean) native to Australia. They live in moist soil and organic matter within 13mm of the surface. They die in dry conditions and drown when it's too wet. During the recent floods I heard of lots of people seeing them around their houses on concrete and verandahs. They were moving to higher ground to escape drowning. In drier times people report seeing them in puddles or pet bowls.

Daisies Place, Mooloolah River National Park - 13/07/22
This week at Bug Club we visited a remnant Lowland Subtropical Rainforest. It is hidden away right next to the highway and is a very special place filled with big old trees, ferns, mosses and the Mooloolah River runs through it.

We had a very eager group of amateur entomologists armed with beat sheets, a water net & bucket, torches, magnifying glasses and collection jars.

iNaturalist confirmed observations included : Two Pill Millipedes (Family Procyliosomatidae). The photos uploaded show the smaller one having shed its exoskeleton. It went from being black to a light blue colour. I will continue observing it to see if it returns to being black as the exoskeleton hardens.
Another interesting find was a part of the exoskeleton of a type of Scarab Beetle (Chlorobapta frontalis). We took a photo of it under UV light to see its markings illuminate. If you check our Bug Club Project you will see we had an identifier give us a lot of extra information about this specimen. Very interesting!

A Marsh Beetle from the Family Scirtidae and a Mayfly larva which were both found in the water. A very small Weevil from the Tribe Derelomini, an arachnid from the Genus Mirror-ball Spider - species the Black-spotted Thwaitesia (Thwaitesia nigronodosa), a Green Jumping Spider (Mopsus mormon), a Social House Spider (Philoponella congregabilis) with eye markings on the front and back of its abdomen which would be used to scare off predators, a Bronze Huntsman Spider (Isopedella flavida),

We are still waiting on confirmed identifications of what iNaturalist "guessed" as the Hoary Servaea (spider), Leaflitter Crab Spider, Leaf Beetle larva and Hackled Orbweaver.

Things we found that were not bugs included a Great Barred-Frog tadpole (Mixophyes fasciolatus) and a Drayton Droplet-snail (Pleuropoma draytonensis) that is only found in SEQ and NNSW.