The black-tailed skimmer is a dragonfly belonging to the family Libellulidae.
Thrips are minute, slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Entomologists have described approximately 7,700 species. They fly only weakly and their feathery wings are unsuitable for conventional flight; instead, thrips exploit an unusual mechanism, clap and fling, to create lift using an unsteady circulation pattern with transient vortices near the wings.
A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp (Pompilidae) that preys on tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera Pepsis and Hemipepsis. They are one of the largest parasitoid wasps, using their sting to paralyze their prey before dragging it to a brood nest as living food; a single egg is laid on the prey, hatching to a larva which eats the still-living host. They are found on all continents other than Europe and Antarctica.
The gang-gang cockatoo is a parrot found in the cooler and wetter forests and woodlands of Australia, particularly alpine bushland. It is the only species placed in the genus Callocephalon. Mostly mild grey in colour with some lighter scalloping, the male has a red head and crest, while the female has a small fluffy grey crest. It ranges throughout south-eastern Australia. The gang-gang cockatoo is the faunal emblem of the Australian Capital Territory. It is easily identified by its distinctive call, which is described as resembling a creaky gate, or the sound of a cork being pulled from a wine bottle.
Schinus is a genus of flowering trees and tall shrubs in the sumac family, Anacardiaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as pepper trees. The Peruvian pepper tree is the source of the spice known as pink peppercorn.
Adalia bipunctata, the two-spot ladybird, two-spotted ladybug or two-spotted lady beetle, is a carnivorous beetle of the family Coccinellidae that is found throughout the holarctic region. It is very common in western and central Europe. It is also native to North America but it has heavily declined in many states and provinces. It is commonly introduced and imported as a biological control agent.
Schinus terebinthifolia is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to subtropical and tropical South America. Common names include Brazilian peppertree, aroeira, rose pepper, broadleaved pepper tree, wilelaiki, Christmasberry tree and Florida holly. The species name has been very commonly misspelled as ‘terebinthifolius’.
Tholymis tillarga, the coral-tailed cloudwing, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found from tropical West Africa to Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Common names include old world twister, evening skimmer, crepuscular darter, foggy-winged twister and twister.
The comet moth or Madagascan moon moth. is a moth native to the rain forests of Madagascar. The species was first described by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville in 1847. The adult moth cannot feed and only lives for 4 to 5 days. Although endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, the comet moth has been bred in captivity.
The bush coconut, or bloodwood apple, is an Australian bush tucker food. It is an insect gall with both plant and animal components: an adult female scale insect and her offspring live in a gall induced on a bloodwood eucalypt tree (Corymbia). Bush coconuts can vary from golf ball to tennis ball size. They have a hard and lumpy outer layer. The inner layer is a white flesh that contains the female insect and her offspring. There are three known species of Cystococcus responsible for forming the bush coconut: Cystococcus pomiformis, Cystococcus echiniformis and Cystococcus campanidorsalis. C. pomiformis is the most common species. The bush coconut is found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales.
Schinus molle is an evergreen tree that grows to 15 meters. It is native to an area from the Peruvian Andes to southern Brazil. The bright pink fruits of Schinus molle are often sold as "pink peppercorns" although S. molle is unrelated to black pepper. The word molle in Schinus molle comes from mulli, the Quechua word for the tree. The tree is host to the pepper-tree moth, Bombycomorpha bifascia.
The green longhorn is a lepidopteran from the moth family Adelidae, the fairy longhorn moths.
The double-banded sandgrouse is a species of predominantly terrestrial, or ground-dwelling, bird in the family Pteroclidae. It is found in arid parts of southern Africa.
Diplolepis rosae is a gall wasp which causes a gall known as the rose bedeguar gall, bedeguar gall wasp, Robin's pincushion, mossy rose gall, or simply moss gall. The gall develops as a chemically induced distortion of an unopened leaf axillary or terminal bud, mostly on field rose or dog rose shrubs. The female wasp lays up to 60 eggs within each leaf bud using her ovipositor. The grubs develop within the gall, and the wasps emerge in spring; the wasp is parthenogenetic with fewer than one percent being males.
Chalcolestes viridis, formerly Lestes viridis, is a damselfly of the family Lestidae. It has a metallic green body and at rest it holds its wings away from its body. Its common name is the willow emerald damselfly, the green emerald damselfly, or the western willow spreadwing. It has an elongated abdomen and pale brown spots on its wings and resides in areas of still water with overhanging trees.
Parosmodes morantii, the Morant's skipper or Morant's orange, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe and from western Kenya to Ghana.
Biorhiza pallida is a gall wasp species in the family Cynipidae. This species is a member of the tribe Cynipini: the oak gall wasp tribe. Cynipini is the tribe partially responsible for the formation of galls known as oak apples on oak trees. These are formed after the wasp lays eggs inside the leaf buds and the plant tissues swell as the larvae of the gall wasp develop inside. This wasp has a widespread distribution within Europe.
Phylloxeridae is a small family of plant-parasitic hemipterans closely related to aphids with only 75 described species. This group comprises two subfamilies and 11 genera with one that is fossil. The genus type is Phylloxera. The Phylloxeridae species are usually called phylloxerans or phylloxerids.
Callococcus is a genus of Australian scale insect that feeds on species of Leptospermum, Hypocalymma, Kunzea and some other members of the tribes Chamelaucieae and Leptospermeae in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. Callococcus leptospermi induces stem-swelling galls on some species of Leptospermum, and it is considered to be a potential biological control agent of Leptospermum laevigatum in South Africa. The other described species of Callococcus do not induce galls.
Eutricha capensis, the Cape lappet moth, is a species of moth in the family Lasiocampidae primarily found in South Africa. During the larval stage, Cape lappets feed on a wide variety of African plants and can often be found aggregating in gardens. The caterpillars are brightly coloured and conspicuously hairy, while the bulky adult moths are mostly brown and much less striking in appearance.
Calophya schini, adults with scale
Calophya schini, adult female
Calophya schini, adult male
Calophya schini, female terminalia
Calophya schini, male terminalia
Calophya schini pit galls on Schinus molle
Calophya schini larva in pit gall on Schinus molle
Presumed egg of Calophya schini in pit gall on Schinus molle
