lj's bug blog

hello, I'm lj. This blog is an ongoing collection of wildlife-- mostly insects and arachnids-- that I find here in Yuggera country (a subtropical region of eastern Australia).

while I am not a professional entomologist, I do my best to accurately describe every creature I post, from family to species. For easy navigation to a particular family, check out the Tag Directory.

I like/reblog from @oorionjeann, and I make infrequent illustrations over at @ljingham.

my asks are always open, and I am happy to chat about anything and everything. as my specialty is amateur and limited to my small corner of the world, I cannot help with identification beyond the basics, but feel free to show me cool bugs anyway.

little lady with some rediculous femora. she is a parasitic wasp in the Chalcididae family, which target the pupae of other insects to lay their eggs in.

she was super hard to get a good photo of, very small and always on the move!

handsome little treehopper resting on some grass. I really love how these photos came out :)

fuzzy, frowny man doing his best to camoflage against the tree bark.

had the pleasure of witnessing the growth of some tiny little stinkbugs last year. at the time I had no expectations that any of them would hatch, but sure enough I checked on them one day and 10 perfect little guys were looking back at me.

soon enough they had moulted a few more times, and began to disperse into the garden.

once they dispersed I was no longer able to keep track of them, so I'll likely never know what species they are. around the time I found the eggs, I saw this adult bug hanging around the area, so I like to speculate that they might be the parent.

gorgeous little mantidlfy! despite their name they are not related to the praying mantis, but are part of the order Neuroptera along with antlions and lacewings-- a great example of convergent evolution!

the flash makes their eyes look like little galaxies ✨

a female Two-spotted Sandalodes, the biggest jumping spider I see around the garden, and so so lovely to look at. I've made a post about the male on the blog before too!

a gentle giant trying to catch some z's on the garden bed last year. she's an Australian 'Hornet' (not a true hornet), and is the largest species of wasp in the country, with a 30mm body length!

it was fascinating to watch her, at first I thought she was injured or dying, as I've never witnessed a wasp sleeping like this before. every now and then a little ant would come along and disturb her, so she'd get up, walk around and find her comfy spot again, and lay back down.

Potter Wasps work so hard, flying back and forth all day with mud and provisions to build nests for their babies. it's nice to know they stop to relax sometimes too.

a nicely camoflaged Fickert's Tamopsis! A member of the 'Two-tailed' family Hersiliidae, named for their unusually long spinnerets.

one of my favourite moth finds of all time. Comostola laesaria has a wingspan of only 20mm, so it was truly like finding a tiny gem amongst the nighttime gumleaves.

in the closeup below you can even see tiny little hyaline sections (little bits of transparent scales, in the middle of the larger orange spots).

a Common Assassin Bug, mouthparts extended as she sneaks up on an unsuspecting Grass-dart (who escaped unharmed). definitely some of my favourite photos I've ever taken, and such a fascinating moment to witness!