In November Denis Crawford treated us to a fascinating and entertaining photo-talk on our insect life. We are lucky to have such a keen entomologist living locally who is happy to share his knowledge in a way that is relevant to us in our daily encounters with ……. Insects!
Denis is a regular contributor to Gardening Australia and Co-author of Backyard Insects.
Did you know that less than 1% of our insects are pests – out of the more than 85,000 species known in Australia? Maybe it will be a surprise to learn that half of these are beetles and moths, and approx. half feed on plants.
We also learnt that beetle species were one of our 1st important pollinators and that termites have been around for about 25 million years, diversifying their feeding as grasses then flowering plants developed? (I think I have that more or less right)….
As for moths, well, there is one that feeds on blood! (NOT in the Grampians!!) and 2 that feed on the tears of mammals; if you think that’s specialised, how about the moth that in its larval form lives only in the dead trunks of grass-trees, lining its tunnels with silk!
Need some help pruning? Leaf-eating insects are the pruners of the bush. Ants are our seed dispersal experts and Jumping Jacks have another valuable function (apart from a painful nip) – they are one of the few predators of those numerous, unwelcome little black introduced millipedes.
Talking about bees, there are 1,500 species of native bee, all with valuable pollination methods, in contrast to the introduced honey bee. For instance, the blue-banded bee, which vibrates the flower as it hovers with an audible buzz; this buzz is at just the right frequency to release the pollen in the flower – wow!
All this and much much more; cicadas, other beetles – dung, scarab, golden stag, jewel; flies – greenbottle, bird-of-paradise, scorpion; raspy crickets, antarctic midges, magpie moths ……
Many questions and lively discussions completed a great evening. Denis’s overall message is that insects do more good than harm; leave them alone unless they’re obviously doing serious damage, as mis-identification is extremely common.
Thank you Denis!
Leigh Douglas.