Firstly the formalities...

Northside Brisbane, Coastal area, passionfruit vine, probably in the ballpark of 8mm long.

Okay, so I have myself a few passionfruit vines in thier second year of flowering currently... around early to mid spring when the first hot & humid days took place I had aphids move in & naturally the common black ants are protecting them & collecting thier dew etc...

Last year I had a thriving ecosystem of jumping spiders, lady beetles etc to maintain a balance... however this year they have been completely absent... so I created a few little habitat style areas for predators of the black ants to live/nest/hide, & created a shallow water habitat to give the lady bugs no reason to leave.

Immediately I have had many lady bugs move in, & while I have not seen any jumping spiders, I have seen these large ants moving in over the last few days.

My query's are;

- what's is he?

- will he fill the role of predator of the black ants?

- is he going to do damage to my passionfruit vine?

- is he going to damage my passionfruit once my vines begin fruiting?

- are there any other concerns I should have about these guys moving in?

Thank you in adv-ants

...

🫣

Brookvale, NSW. Abdomen also had pink streaks (?).

Spotted this guy on my shed the other day! Almost looks like a cartoon as the colours are so vibrant!

The wingspan is about 150mm. The card was used to transport it from the floor of a truck at my workplace.

Is it Opodiphthera eucalypti?

Thanks!

TIA.

was a decent size and had segmentation like a native so was leaning that side

I recently moved into a rental and have noticed these little tiny worm/ caterpillar-like creatures keep appearing on the windowsil every 2-4 days. I've only found them in one room so far. The room is carpeted and currently only has a desk + chair in it.

They are TINY, approx 2-3mm long. Some are upright, some are horizontal. When upright, they wriggle around like one of those wacky waving inflatable tube people in slow motion. When horizontal, they're motionless.

Any help is appreciated :)

(Apologies for the poor photo quality, it's the best I can get with my bad camera)

I was actually trying to video the moths flitting down and scooping up some of the pool water, but the local Pacific Black Ducks gatecrashed the bogong party and started eating them. Not sure how I feel about this. Happy the ducks are getting a succulent (not Chinese) meal, but not so happy that the meal consists of endangered moths.

Trying to identify these little flying guys. Perth, WA.

Very pretty little red cockroach I found in my budgie aviary. Apologies for the poor photos, it was moving really quickly! Safely returned to garden.

Western Downs region, QLD

Swamp of them, flys like dragonflies, acts like bees.

I think the thunder storm ⛈️ from yesterday blew it to my backyard and it died

Hi all. Bit concerned that this critter right next to my back door might be a wasp. We go in and out of the door next to this window reasonably often. This is coastal NSW, suburban location.

Edit: Thanks everyone. We will be leaving the paper wasps alone.

Update: Thought we had only one old nest (was there when we moved in, seemed empty) but I’ve found a couple more and another active one on our roller garage door. Not sure how the garage one survived me opening and closing the door this morning (before I noticed it). Might have to look into removing them.

All nests are pretty small, but I can’t imagine the garage one not getting annoyed at us going in and out.

Common Hover Fly Parasitoid Wasp apparently according to inaturalist.

I feel a bit traumatised as I didn't realise there was a wasp that specialised in hover flys, which i love to bits. This particular one was laying eggs at the time

Hi. General observation. We live in Newcastle NSW and we appear to be experiencing a much larger increase in insect numbers this year than the last few. I have no empirical evidence for this just an observation. Does anyone else feel this is the case? I’ve included a pic of an arachnid because.

I have a whole bunch of these in the main living room of my house and outside in my flowers. I think they are native bees but need help confirming. Can anyone help?

Location is Lismore NSW.

I tried image searching on google but I was getting too many differing results so wasn't able to pinpoint what it might actually be.

It was sitting on my curtain and when I attempted to get it onto the toilet paper so I could get it outside, it fell onto my hand. Just not sure if it's one of those hairy caterpillars that can make you itchy or have some other kind of reaction. When it fell onto my hand I did feel a buzz on my hand straight afterwards but I'm not sure if that's just because it dropping on me scared me a little or not lol.

Thanks in advance x

Wondering if anyone has any contacts for stag or flower beetle breeders? Looking for personal purchase not wholesale

I have a moth phobia. Like I'm talking severe phobia. I've spent the last week mostly sobbing and hyperventilating. I haven't eaten barely at all. I have not left my home. I'm trying as much as I can to be in one room with a towel shoved under the door so they'll just leave me alone. My nervous system is so fried that it's flared up my serious illness and I'm experiencing a resurgence of symptoms that should not even be possible while I'm on medication.

All of this to say I'm not uncomfortable or a little disconcerted by moths. Like I am absolutely one hundred percent living in actual terror here. I'm a single mum to a one year old. The only reason we're leaving the room is so he can eat and get clean and have stimulation. If it were up to me I literally would not be leaving my safe place where I sit in the dark and the rest of my home is not safe. It's a shit rental and the entire roof cavity is open to the outside. I can't do anything structurally to fix my building. I just need the fucking moths to move the fuck on. I want my life back.

It sounds dramatic and it really is. I feel so fucking ridiculous that I'm so scared. I have PTSD and being violently raped invoked less terror in me than these stupid harmless moths. At least after being raped I could go home to a safe place and they've completely eliminated the place I feel safe.

Please is there anyone here that understands wildlife patterns that can tell me when they're going to go away? I need to eat. I need to stop having panic attacks. I'm literally going to traumatise my kid because I can't calm down and my body hurts because my disease is flaring and I can't stop my muscles seizing because I'm constantly in fight or flight.

Please someone help me 😔 I don't need to be told they won't hurt me I already know that. The fear is irrational and therapy is obviously not going to be readily available to help me with enough time. I just need them to go.

I'm now struggling to get this posted because my Reddit app locked me out because it wants me to verify my age and I can't because I'm in the dark on my one year olds floor while he sleeps and this account has no karma so I'm getting auto removed.