#1561 - 1564 - Misc.
#1561 - Stenolemus sp. - Thread-legged Assassin Bug
Another find by Cheryl Macauley, in Northcliffe WA.
This Assassin Bug is a predator of web-dwelling spiders, stalking them and if necessary luring them to the edge of the web by plucking at the silk. Quite the risky lifestyle, I’m sure you’ll agree.
#1562 - Epicoma tristis - Dark Epicoma
Photo by Faye Arcaro, found in Jandakot, Perth, on their property.
A Notodontid moth, more common in the Eastern States, but I found a few records of it over here too. The caterpillars eat various Myrtaceae, including Kunzea, Leptospermum, and Eucalyptus, and are occasionally seen in procession, each caterpillar following the silk line laid out by the one in front.
Adult males may have wings that are dark grey, brown, or white with silver scales, but the yellow and cream spots, and the black and yellow spot, are consistent. On the other hand, they may have the diagonal stripe or not. Happily, this bush had one of each, and since the bush is probably a Regelia, may well have been a foodplant as well.
#1563 - Cylindromyia sp.
A small Tachinid fly, spotted by Cheryl Macauley in her usual stomping grounds at Northcliffe, down towards the WA south coast.
Though nothing is known about the biology of this particular Australian species, Palaearctic species in the genus are endoparasites of various Hemiptera -mostly Stink Bugs, (Pentatomidae). They lay a single egg on the nymph of the host species and it will feed and grow in the abdomen. The adults are
#1564 - Isoodon obesulus ssp. fusciventer - Quenda
I’m rather surprised that I haven’t covered these before.
Also known as the Southern Brown Bandicoot. As you can see for marsupials they’re pretty rat-like, and indeed it seems likely bandicoots were so named after an Indian rodent Bandicota indica that the explorer Bass knew about, in 1799.
Quendas are omnivores (again, like rats), and like all bandicoots, thrive on insects, fruit, seeds, and fungi. These marsupials also enjoy the shortest gestation of any mammal - 11 days - but for some reason still felt the need to independently invent the placenta (not feeling so special NOW, are you ‘higher mammals’?).
Brown bandicoots breed all year around as long as they have water available. A litter of two to five joeys spend six weeks in the backwards-facing pouch before mum kicks them out. A bit rude, because despite being born with claws - 'milk claws’? - the babies loose them again after reaching the pouch. Probably just as well though, I doubt she’d enjoy being kicked repeatedly in the nipples with their adult claws, once they grow them. They reach breeding age a month after being turfed out, and patrol their territories usually at night, and rest in grassy nests during the day.
Despite the threats posed by cars (as here) and cats (as happened to the last one I rescued) Quendas are quite common in Perth suburbs, and quickly become used to humans, and will forage in daylight hours especially if tomato sandwiches are in the offing.