The first is the most spectacular and quite a common visitor to Sydney gardens though this year they've been quite large and gorgeous - Papilio aegeus, commonly known as the Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly or Large Citrus Butterfly (because the caterpillars eat citrus leaves).
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| in profile |
She - this is a lady, the males look quite different - has visited the garden a few times in the past few weeks (or there is more than one) about 10cm across and a delightful visitor.
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| from beneath - showing all her lovely red and blue markings |
This little butterfly / moth is a perfect leaf green - it was in our bathroom one evening quite recently - only 3-4 cm across. Those antennas look butterfly-like but - it was flying about at night and those fringed wing edges make me think that perhaps it is a Geometer moth? but I'm no expert on these things.
Now for a beetle - a wonderfully patterned little thing. On our 'Stumpy Gold' Banksia and ...
Update: With helps from wonderful folks on Flickr I've been able to identify this bug :-)
Class:Insecta
Order:Hemiptera
Family:Reduviidae
Genus:Pristhesancus
Species:plagipennis
Common Name:Assassin Bug - if you are another insect this beetle is one to avoid!
Mine isn't an adult - but an instar or nymph. These beetles change a lot from one moulting to the next. See this site for more info: OzAnimals.
Finally this little darling is a native bee - the Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla).
They've been visiting our rosemary and lavender bushes that are in flower at the moment. Usually very fast and impossible to photograph this one landed on a bit of spider web and had to free herself - which she did - no insects were harmed in the making of this blog post! :-)
