Insects


A guide to Australian insect families (from CSIRO) can be found at:
http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies/

Daley, A. & Ellingsen, K., 2012. Insects of Tasmania: An online field guide

A useful introduction to Insects, visit:
http://australianmuseum.net.au/uploads/documents/9362/invertebrate_guide.pdf

A diagram of Insect morphology illustrating terminology with legend of body parts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_morphology#/media/File:Insect_anatomy_diagram.svg

A diagram of an insect illustrating terminology based on a worker ant, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaster_(insect_anatomy)#/media/File:Scheme_ant_worker_anatomy-en.svg

Photographing insects

There are two main ways to photograph insects with a camera: using a macro close-up lens or a zoom lens. If the insect tolerates your getting very close, then you can use the macro lens. For example, some moths will remain quite still when approached, believing they are camouflaged and invisible. However, many insects, especially those that can fly, will move away when you approach. This is especially true for insects like butterflies and dragonflies. So a good zoom lens is very useful for photographing many insects. If you are using a smartphone, then use a macro lens or a macro attachment. E.g. OlloClip for iPhone. If you want to have an insect identified to species then clear photographs are usually needed because minute parts of the anatomy may need to be checked. It is valuable to take several photos from various angles so that these anatomical details can be seen. Many insects are have particular plants that they feed on, and they can be identified more easily when the associated plant is known. So if the insect is resting or feeding on a plant, take note of what the plant is or ensure that a photo shows the plant clearly.

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11 Jul 2025

Hello everyone. Alison Milton has produced the June quarterly CNM newsletter. It has some interesting information about what the Nature Mappers have been doing and finding. We hope you enjoy the read....


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Discussion

JonLewis wrote:
5 min ago
Sorry Cath - these small ants are a bit generic in shape and hard to ID. Cheers, Jon

Formicidae (family)
KylieWaldon wrote:
8 min ago
Are you sure this species ID is right Alison? Looks more like a saltbush blue or one of those 'other blue' ones? :)

Zizina otis
ibaird wrote:
3 hrs ago
Although the base colour of S. janetta varies from yellow to brown to purple I think the species would be most likely S. janetta.

Syntherata (genus)
ibaird wrote:
3 hrs ago
Female.

Capua intractana
MarkH wrote:
15 hrs ago
It’s not a Melobasis Kimberi. See comment trail.

Buprestidae sp. (family)
829,846 sightings of 22,854 species from 14,365 members
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