Discovering a ‘World of Insects’ on the Limestone Coast
Our popular six-week World of Insects course is underway! Weeks 1 & 2 commenced in November and Weeks 3 & 4 were completed this month. Over 20 participants have braved the heat, the late nights, and the mosquitoes and flies to become immersed in the insect world of the Limestone Coast. During the first 2 weeks the participants learned about basic insect anatomy and function, how to differentiate between insect orders using dichotomous keys, and what specific species we were looking at using iNaturalist. While we have wandered around the Limestone Coast region the course has exposed participants to species from rare through to abundant. We have used transect walks, bright ultra-violet lights, targeted inspection of plant leaves/bark, dead animals, and our exceptional aquatic environments to discover insect species. We learned about the differences between moths and butterflies and the importance of moths as a food source for the Southern Bent-winged Bat.
The theme for Week 3 was aquatic macro-invertebrates and ultra-violet light trapping. We were treated to a short walk at the Mt Burr Swamp wetland to fossick through water samples, looking for a bunch of neat macro-invertebrates (or ‘waterbugs’). We saw larvae from the orders: Odonata – dragonfly and damselfly, Coleoptera – water scavenging beetles and water boatman, plus some Hemiptera (Backswimmers) and mites, as well as some other tiny critters. This activity was kindly led by our resident ‘water-bug-nut’ Jess. To finish the week, we had a lovely BBQ dinner (cooked by one of our valued volunteers – Peter) with salads and a short presentation of other insect orders including Mecoptera, Ephemeroptera, Neuroptera, Odonata, and Orthoptera.
After dinner, the excursion commenced at a carrion beetle frenzy in the pine plantation where we saw beetles ,helping to decompose a dead animal. Then we headed off to check the UV light trap at Honan Native Forest Reserve which we had set up earlier that afternoon. AT the UV light trap (a white sheet) we saw some neat critters from numerous insect orders. Then we headed back to Mt Burr Swamp to pack up and check the UV light trap set up in the revegetation area – and that was a treat!! Hundreds of water-beetles and Christmas beetles, massive wood-boring beetles, lacewing, wasps, bugs, flies, moths, etc. were all attracted to the light. There were lots of insect orders to look at, which was a brilliant end to a long and rewarding day.
The theme for Week 4 was to learn a survey technique called the Pollard Walk, which aims to gather butterfly data along a defined and regularly visited transect walk. The group slowly walked two pre-determined transects at Mt Burr Swamp. We noted the weather conditions, and all the species encountered in four sections along each transect. The beauty of adopting such a transect walk is that it benefits our well-being and interest in local butterflies, while also contributing to citizen science projects.
Some of the species we’ve encountered so far:
The course will take a break for the next five weeks and return in late January. Then we will have a planting day at the Penambol Conservation Park to create more habitat for the Orange Ochre, a regionally threatened butterfly species. Anyone interested to come along to our final few weeks is more than welcome, just get in touch with Jess to check availability and to register.
This workshop series is supported by the Limestone Coast Landscape Board
