Australian Insect Farm | Interest
Australian Insect Farm
Phone: +61 7 4063 3860
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25.01.2022 Giant Rainforest Centipede. This female rainforest centipede has just had her babies emerge from their eggs. At this stage they remain with her for some time and she will continue to protect them until they are ready to leave her. If one falls out of her clasp, she will scoop it up and add it back to the others. Here in the forest they mostly live under logs but the biggest and oldest specimens live higher up the trees, taking refuge in the various types’ epiphytes.
25.01.2022 a visitor that should have never been invited to the party.
25.01.2022 rhino beetle pupa
23.01.2022 And the WINNER is? Had a whole load of great entries to the Complete Giant Litter Bug kit competition, Thank you all. There were no right or wrong answers and they were certainly varied but most answers revolved around the fact that bush cockroaches are great for the ecosystem and the house cockroaches are introduced species we don't like and can spread disease. Ok. now to the winner: Damien Barker from Brisbane, your kit is coming your way, congratulations! cheers
23.01.2022 Leftovers! Always talking about the damage the introduced cane toads are doing to our native insect fauna but have a look at just the amount of insects that they can eat. pic. 1. A few toads being held in household garbage bin. pic. 2. Once those toads have been removed you can see in the sawdust all the remnants of many types of insects, mostly beetles that the toads have eaten. As you see it’s usually only the insect wings which are left behind from feeding. These are the leftovers from a visitor that should have never been invited to the party.
23.01.2022 Weevils, Weevils, Weevils Everywhere! I was going to write about Weevils but my thoughts focused on a colleague who sadly passed away a number of years ago, the wonderful Elwood C. Zimmerman (Zimmy). He spent most of his life work devoted to weevils and did tremendous work on the Australian species in his works Australian Weevils. In volume 1, he wrote an interesting section titled ‘Weevils, Weevils, Weevils Everywhere’ and I think it explains it all. Enjoy reading. Weevils... inhabit all the earth where there is terrestrial vegetation. They are among the most successful and multidinous forms of terrestrial life. They constitute the largest family group of the animal Kingdom. They may be found from the Arctic to the subantartic, and no habitable island, no matter how remote, escapes their colonization. No desert that supports vegetation is too dry for them, but it is in the humid tropics where they reach their greatest diversity, and there great numbers of species and individuals occur. Some live along the seashore in or under driftwood or algae or among cryptograms on rocks where they may be wet by sea water, but none is known to invade the sea. Many are aquatic and their larvae may be internal or external feeders on fresh water plants. Many live in the soil in both larval and adult stages; many are blind troglodytes. They feed upon lichens; fungi, mosses, and some transplant and cultivate fungi for food for their larvae. Many feed upon ferns, others on cycads. Multitudes feed upon grasses and conifers. Probably no flowering plant escapes their notice, and many species of higher plants have many species obligately attached to them. Many higher plants depend upon weevils for pollination. All parts of plants are eaten by weevils from roots, bark, sapwood, heartwood, stems, twigs, buds, flowers, pollen, fruits, seeds and sick, dying, dead and decaying plant material. Many are leaf-miners, others make galls on plants and others inhabit plant galls made by other organisms. The larvae of one Australian species developes in marsupial dung. A few are predaceous on other insects. Many species such as the grain weevils, cotton ball weevils, various stem, fruit and nut weevils, palm, sugarcane and banana weevils and numerous defoliators are pests of major economic importance. A number are being used in the successful biological control of weeds. Most weevils are able flyers, but many have reduced wings and are flightless. Many are parthenogenetic with males unknown or rarely produced. Many are nocturnal and are rarely seen. Some are myrmecophiles. Many adults are ravenous defoliators, others feed upon pollen. Great numbers are inhabitants of forest-floor litter and are valuable aids in the decomposition of dead vegetable matter. Weevils, Weevils, Weevils Everywhere! Zimmy, a great mentor to many. See more
23.01.2022 It’s baby time! Giant litter bugs had their first babies last week, here in the breeding. If your breeding at home, make sure you keep the humidity up to them while they are having their babies. Cover shot of the opening to a burrow in the breeding tanks.
23.01.2022 Blue Tiger butterfly
22.01.2022 Close- up of the bug and bee
18.01.2022 Back into breeding after some months. Cover Image of Union Jack butterflies just freshly emerged in the workshop. Food source for this species - Delias mysis, Mystletoe.
17.01.2022 It Started With A Photo. One of Jacks main interests has always been stick insects. This led him to breeding many species and documenting their biology. To do this work he would collect specimens from the different areas he would visit while on field trips. These specimens would be brought back to the farm, fed on relevant food plants and reared through to obtain eggs. From there it was just a formality of breeding a couple of generations of each species. This would give Jac...Continue reading
17.01.2022 A Roosting larryi. In general, Stick insects are always on a continual move around their host plants, resting in a new location daily or nightly, which ever suits the species. But there is always someone to do it differently. It was some weeks ago we noticed a Sipyloidea larryi choosing to return each day to the same location. It had selected a coconut plant holder which houses a Tillandsia plant, also known as an air plant. Here, amongst the leaves of the air plant this one ...stick insect would return every morning to roost, then after dark would venture up the wire and tree to feed. Larryi sticks are usually brown in colour but this was a really nice dark almost black specimen that was obviously taking its camouflage from its coconut roosting spot. We have never really noticed this roosting act, that’s not to say it does not happen. Jack and Paul Brock named this species after Cyclone Larry which hit us in 2006. Larry has been the largest cyclone here, a cat 5 which unfortunately took most of our farm and its usually dense lowland rainforest canopy along with it. The best description I can give to put the cyclone damage in perspective is of the forest post cyclone. It was the morning after Larry that we first ventured outside. The view that greeted us was devastating. What was once green was now brown. It was like looking at a dry very open Eucalypt forest, with hardly a leaf left on a tree. The forest was simply burnt brown. It is a sight I hope I never see again. Living in the tropics you have to accept living with a regular sized cyclone, which is tolerable by all means. But since Larry things changed a little for me and now when I hear a big cyclone on the forecast, I get more than a little anxious. See more
16.01.2022 hear no weevil, speak no weevil, see no weevil
15.01.2022 Giant litter bug, Macropanesthia rhinoceros. When feeding the roaches you often catch one in middle skin change mode. They usually do this change in the early hours of the morning, so working early in the day can catch them out. In about 48 hours the roach will retain its brown colour and exoskeleton hardened up. Take a close look at the size difference between the old brown skin and the new larger white roach. Remember, shedding the exoskeleton is the only way an insect can grow in size. My biggest here in the workshop was a 9.1 cm male roach, age 9 years.
13.01.2022 a super neat straight snouted weevil - Brentidae
13.01.2022 Competition time. Easy as: what do scarab beetles eat when growing in the grub stage and once developed into a beetle, what does the beetle stage feed on? So there is two parts to this answer. The person whose name is picked out of the hat will win a mix pack of scarab beetle grubs along with a food pack. Open to all ages, so send through your answers. Good luck to all, cheers.
11.01.2022 Gotta love those flies! No matter where it is, if it smells rotten then flies will find it. As they did the other afternoon on this aptly named ‘corpse plant’. In the genus Amorphophallus, this flower only comes out for one day a year after an amazing rest period of one year underground as a bulb. When it opens up it stinks just like a dead animal in order to attract flies and small beetles to pollinate it. There were plenty of flies attracted and later on the ants came in.
11.01.2022 Lamprima stag beetle waiting to be released from its jar.
11.01.2022 Earwigs- another group of insects that get a bad wrap! Watch out for Earwigs, they go in your ears at night . Well that’s what I was told as a child and have to be honest it had me terrified. So much, that I remember going to sleep with my hands over my ears. But that was a long time ago and now look where I am, an insect farm. Just goes to show there’s hope for anyone? In fact, earwigs are another amazing group of insects that has maternal care over their young. As a wonderful mother, she will defend her eggs from any intruders- predators. She will even go without feeding until her eggs hatch. Now, this should change your outlook towards earwigs. This guy came into the porch light last night, insect season will soon be here!
10.01.2022 Xeroderus kirbii - one of the species Jack collect in the nets (see post below) and bred.
08.01.2022 Competition Time for the Kids. Here's your chance to win a Rhinoceros beetle grub pack, food pack, care sheet and shipping, valued $100.00. Just follow the steps below and you will find the answer. Not sure on some of the clues, just do a bit of research and you will be on the right track. Good luck to all the school aged children. You can send your answer by message on our facebook page if you wish to keep it quiet or comment under this post. As usual the comp will run for ...two weeks and winner will be posted on 18th August. Clue 1. The tough, outer covering or skeleton of insects Clue 2. The immature stage of many insects .. Clue 3. The last segment of the leg, the insect ‘foot’ .. Clue 4. The egg sack from a Praying Mantis. Clue 5. The same family as Butterflies but flies at night . Clue 6. The insect ‘eye . Clue 7. The immature, often grub like stage of many insects Clue 8. The egg-laying apparatus of female insects Clue 9. The mouth-part of Bees Clue 10. The adult stage of an insect . Clue 11. The production of sound by rubbing two parts of the insect body . Clue 12. The middle of the three major body segments How to find the answer: Take the first letter from each of the answers to the clues and in order, put them together to form a word. Now with that word answer this question: What does a person with this profession study?
08.01.2022 Tigers in the Sand. One usually thinks of sandy areas as barren wastelands where nothing lives. Not so! Among the fascinating creatures adapted to the sandy habitats are Tiger Beetles. These insects are nomads that prey upon the unwary travelers that venture into their areas. The ferocious denizen of the sand, the tiger beetle derives its name from its aggressive attack mode when it takes down prey with its long curved mandibles. And watch out if you handle one of these ins...ects, they can administer a painful bite with those formidable jaws. ‘Tigers’ may be red, brown, black, green and often have a metallic sheen with some having beautiful patterns. Indeed they are certainly the most agile of all beetles swift of foot and quick to take flight. The larval stage of the tiger beetle is as ungraceful as the adult is beautiful. It is as ferocious as the adult, and spends its days at the entrance of a vertical burrow. There it waits in ambush with its large jaws wide open ready to seize unwary passersby. Once captured, the prey is dragged to the bottom of the burrow, which may be more than a foot underground for some species, and then devoured. With a large number of Tiger beetle species in Australia, they can be found in a range of other habitats. image: Cicindela semicincta See more
07.01.2022 Jack's drawn the lucky winner: Lowan Dale. congrats Lowan and the rhinos are coming your way. thanks to all the other entries and of course the answer was: Entomologist studies insects. Re-launching the complete insect kits, so next months comp will be for a Giant Litter Bug Complete Kit. So keep an eye out for that. cheers
07.01.2022 From the workshop. stag beetle- Lamprima latreillii. Just emerged in the last day is a fresh Lamprima stag beetle specimen. This species can range in colour from blue, red, green and almost golden making it sometimes referred to as the Golden Stag.
06.01.2022 A Butterfly Chastity Belt? A rare visitor to the farm is the Big Greasy Butterfly Cressida cressida. The only time we see this butterfly here is when the conditions out west from us are dry. With this seasonal change they take flight to our coastal area and feed on Aristolochia vines, also the food plant for the Birdwing Butterfly Plant. (They are in the same family Papilionidae.) Where this butterfly differs from others is the use of an external mating plug, known as a s...phragis. For other butterflies, mating takes place with many suitors. In this instance it’s rather a short story. Once mating has taken place the male will protect his investment with the use of a sphragis thus preventing re-mating by any other males. And so this increases his chance of successfully having his offspring produced. In Australian butterfly species the use of a sphragis is unusual and only in the genus Cressida is this ‘mating plug’ produced. Having bred this species in the past, you can visibly see a female wearing her ‘butterfly chastity belt'. female is clear wing, the male has all the colour See more
04.01.2022 Just from the garden. Leafwing butterfly - Doleschallia bisaltide. Feeding on flowers in the garden, this Leafwing has beautiful top wing colours, bright orange -brown. Unfortunately, this species is a fast flyer and I was unable to get a shot of its top colour. But its when this butterfly sits with its wings closed that it gets its name Leafwing, perfect camo like a leaf. Wonderful!
04.01.2022 Take a break time! All's quiet in the workshop at this time of year, thank goodness. Beetle grubs have changed to pupa, the very first female Rhino Beetle actually emerged a couple of days ago, she is an early girl. Won't expect any others to happen until late November. Sticks are only emerging from their eggs. And the Giant Litter Bugs will be having their babies any day. So not much on the taxing feeding routine, so nice to slow down a notch. But that won't last long, as soon as the weather starts to warm up, so will the insects and the hotter it gets the more demanding they are. But that's summer time, full on insect activity. Below is an image of a rhino beetle grub, a grub just shedding its last grub skin and a fresh pupa at the top.
04.01.2022 And the Winner is.......Tim Astin from NSW. Tim wins a mixed scarab beetle grub pack with substrate. Most hit the answer with grubs generally feeding on organic detritus matter and the adults feeding on nectar. Cheers
03.01.2022 Spring time is here! Well, the first signs of it anyway. Flowers are starting to happen and flying into them some butterflies. Have had various species all ready active but only in low numbers yet of course, Dalias, Triangles, Lemon Migrants, the occasional Ulysses and quite a few Birdwings. The video below is in the forest here, three male birdwings and one female. Larryi is definitely a rooster. A couple of weeks ago we had a bit of a storm which ended up with some broken ...branches in the green house. Along with those branches went the branch that our roosting Larryi was using. Didn’t think anymore of it until we surprisingly spotted her on another Tillandsia plant. Sure enough, she comes back to roost everyday. Only this time she has to physically come down her roost walk across the ground to climb the closest food plant. Amazing! But the forest has woken up from winter in many ways. Birds like the beautiful Sunbird are frequent garden visitors. While I don’t get to see all the birds their calls are increasing with the warmer weather. One bird who is doing a seasonal change right now is the male Cassowary who we see at the moment chasing off his young he has reared all year. Females will be producing their eggs soon and the males will take over from there. Still just a little early for insect activity to really take off but the signs are happening, spring is happening. See more
03.01.2022 Entrance to giant litter bug burrow (in captivity)
03.01.2022 Out in the dry country again, an assassin bug feeding on a bee.
02.01.2022 Sipyloidea larryi
02.01.2022 Big sell-out time! Having a super special on all beetle grubs while stocks last. Flower scarabs available: Trichaulax, Dilocrosis balteata, Hemipharis, Ischiosopha and Rhino. 10 grubs for $55.00 plus shipping $16.50. We are taking a break from breeding for a while as we focus on the care of our 3 elderly parents. We will still be operating in all other avenues, just refining the load.
02.01.2022 COMPETITION TIME AGAIN! To celebrate the re-launch of our complete insect kits, this months giveaway is a complete Giant Litter Bug kit. The kit includes an insect house, 1 substrate pack, 1 food pack, 3 nymph giant litter bugs and care sheet. Value $110.00 plus free postage for the winner. As we are talking roaches, in 30 words or less explain the difference between bush cockroaches and the ones we have in our houses. A little research will lead you in the right direction. Send your answers through by message on facebook or to our website: [email protected]. Comp will run for two weeks as usual and Jack will decide the winner. No age limit. Good luck to everyone. cheers
