Here's another visitor.....my wife, who is very observant, saw her up under the eaves of the house.....
we kept her in a butterfly enclosure for a few days (the butterflies were already gone), and fed her a few
meal worms to plump her up.

Today I coaxed her out of the butterfly safe house,


and on to an anise branch,


then transferred her to a water hibiscus that just happened to be
in bloom, and in the sunlight.



After regaining her footing, she turned her head to gaze back at me with amazing awareness, as if
to say, "Thank you".


Please click on this link to see, "The Queen of the Garden"
("rollover/rollout" to see the details revealed by the pseudo HDR image created from the jpg)

I love mantids!

Glad you liked her.....only get one per year, and have protected them so they could form an egg case,
but still a rare find.

Always special.

Ginger, my DW, who has the eyes of an eagle, called my attention to this striking male
Valley Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, on our wisteria.

We've seen the large black females each year (just one each season), but this was
a complete surprise as we've never seen one of the golden males.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

AND THEN ... the insect managed to come unstuck and dropped down into one of the birds water dishes below it! I scooped it up with a leaf and set it onto Mother Earth, maybe to live another day.

Back up into the hidey-hole, defeated.


Late addition: https://australianmuseum.net.a...

Spiders have to eat too, you know .

Great pics Carole! The victim looks like some type of wasp? Good of you to rescue it.
We keep a colony of meal worms just to feed our local lizards & spiders, but I would have
saved the wasp, too.

What kind of spider is that? The body type reminds me of our Black Widow spider....
I've found them everywhere, even in a drawer. But have never been bitten, knock on wood.

I don't see yours on this page..... https://ednieuw.home.xs4all.nl...

Looks like you're only ~50 mi north of Sydney.......do you get the Funnel Webs? They look scary.
The only bug thing that really creeps me out are scorpions.

@EscondidoCal, it is a leaf-curling-spider. I hadn't heard of a spider with that name before so it's easy to identify them "just hanging about..." I updated the original post to include the name.

https://australianmuseum.net.a...

Yes there are funnel-webs up this way, though fortunately I haven't encountered one. Do have the red-backs though which you don't need a bite from.

The location I live in the lake region, is 117 kms from Sydney, so about 72 mile.

Scutigera coleoptrata
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...


@EscondidoCal thanks for the tip off!

that is a scary looking one carolem, it also resembles house centipedes I found some times here, in my place.

Hey Carole!

that's a centipede! =O
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Not a caterpillar!
https://www.google.com/search?...

In 1902, C. L. Marlatt, an entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture, wrote a brief description of the house centipede:[1]

It may often be seen darting across floors with very great speed, occasionally stopping suddenly and remaining absolutely motionless, presently to resume its rapid movements, often darting directly at inmates of the house, particularly women, evidently with a desire to conceal itself beneath their dresses, and thus creating much consternation.

Reminds me of when my mom found a tarantula under her nightgown when I was 3. =O

BTW, also found this tidbit.... https://bugguide.net/node/view...

You'd be lucky to get a good look at one of these since they run away very quickly when approached.
House centipedes are aggressive predators of creatures their own size but are not considered dangerous to humans. Their small jaws (actually modified front legs) cannot easily pierce human skin. In the rare event you are bitten, pain and swelling may result, but it will probably be no worse than a bee sting.

Good to know. ;)

@EscondidoCal appreciate your ID for the House Centipede. The 1902 reference was humorous; it's very interesting to read the words/references, from days of old.

Off Topic: (I've read over online some children's books of yesteryear and wonder how they ever learnt to read them and understand the wording?)

carolem said:@EscondidoCal appreciate your ID for the House Centipede. The 1902 reference was humorous; it's very interesting to read the words/references, from days of old.
Off Topic: (I've read over online some children's books of yesteryear and wonder how they ever learnt to read them and understand the wording?)

Glad you saw the humor in the quote......very Victorian.

Also that you didn't find out the hard way it was a centipede.....not funny.....could have been a nasty surprise even if only
like a bee sting.

A friend of mine woke up in bed with one on his chest that bit him! A different one that is more poisonous.....but he was OK anyway.....
just freaked out.

Wasn't sure how dangerous the one you saw was.......it's a well known fact that everything is 10X more dangerous in Oz.
"Snakes, spiders, & octopi! Oh, my!" =O

Do any of you know what this one is?

Sorry, I don't think I've seen that beetle before. Maybe someone else
knows(?)

I wouldn't let them reproduce, though.

Hi all, insects are my favorite subject matter. But, I'll try not to overload.

These are for @EscondidoCal who said "Me luv dragonflies!" .







And a close encounter with a hairy fly ~

@wildflowers,
spectacular DF's, Christine!

Are the last 2 biting flies? e.g. Texas tsetse??? =O

Thank you. I think the fly might be a Tachinid fly, a beneficial fly. Not one of the biting ones of which we have several!!

@EscondidoCal....I love those Carpenter Bees! Neat pictures!

Robberfly dining on leafhopper.


Poser Dragonfly


Yikes!!


Another dragonfly landed right in front of me and smiled for the camera!


Spider and walking stick on the wall.


Lynx spider blending in.