Things loose in the top paddock

A few posts back I mentioned the insects gathered on some Bursaria growing fairly close to our house.  On a walk with the small dog I noticed another spinney of this prickly species.

A little later in the day I took myself and the small dog back there to see what was happening  in the way of photographic subjects in the upper part of the block.  As it was somewhat warm (30C) the small dog wimped after a short while so I got some extra exercise doing the trip twice.

Here are the images I captured that seem to be worthwhile bothering you with.  I will offer a viewer advisory - especially for folk who are little in the arachnophobic direction - that a couple of the images below show a close up of a spider doing business with a fiddle beetle.  The beetle still alive so there is no need for an advisory about dead things.

First is a Flower Scarab (Polystigma punctata).  It was unusual to find one of these, on Bursaria, to stay still long enough to be photographed.
 Next we have a Fiddle Beetle (Eupoecila australasiae)  grazing contentedly on the bush.  Again unusual to find one still.  Possibly due to the heat they were doing a lot of flying around, with a loud buzzing sound - like doodlebugs?
Nearby, one fiddle beetle had been a tad unfortunate in its choice of flight path.  It was still wriggling, but the spider was giving its full attention to remedying that situation.

The next three images are of what I suspect to be a longicorn beetle (family Cerambycinae): it certainly has long antennae.  This is clearest in the third, head-on shot.  From looking at the Chew family site I suspect it is a Flower longicorn -Aridaeus thoracicus. 


 The next is a butterfly - unfortunately a Cabbage White Pieris rapae
 A Pintail beetle (Hoshihananomia leucosticta or Mordella leucosticta - the taxonomists have been active again) or so I believe in view of the extended abdominal segment behind the elytra.
 I believe this next image is of a moth.  The most outstanding feature is the extraordinary length of the antennae.

The next image is of a large flywhich landed on a non-flowering plant.  I suspect it is a robber fly (family Asilidae).
On the way back home i passed one of our smaller dams and found to my delight that the native water lilies Ottelia ovalifolia were flowering.  Even better, I got in focus images of the them!

For the benefit (?) of those who do not have Strine as a first language I should explain the double meaning of the title of this post.
  1. The post obviously and mainly deals with the arthropods that were unrestrained in the upper part of our property.  They are free to come and go so to that extent are loose (apart from the one caught in the spider web);
  2. There are many Australian expressions implying someone is a little low in the intellect stakes.  "Not the full 2 bob", "a shingle short of a roof" are common examples as is " a few roos loose in the top paddock".  One might say that describes a punter wandering through spiky bushes at 30 degrees!



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