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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
04-07-2021, 01:08 AM
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I've not been able to find the species for this stink bug, but like it's brown and gold coloring. Pentax KP & Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO Lanthar SL
 IMGP4720 Stink Bug by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-30-2021, 03:54 PM
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That is nice clear crisp detail Arjay, and well caught. We get a lot of these Lemon Migrant (or Emigrant) butterflies down here in Brisbane, and they move fast and rarely settle. Bush Cockroach, one of our endemic species, Pentax KP & Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO Lanthar SL with Kenko AC +5 close up filter;
 IMGP4943 Bush Cockroach by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-15-2021, 04:42 PM
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Green Jewel bugs. I have seen them on other plants but they seem particularly fond of these wild growing Persicarias. I've found them particularly difficult to photograph well as in good light they tend to cling to the undersides of leaves, and this is the first camera lens combo that I've felt gives some idea of the texture of their shells. Pentax KP & Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO Lanthar SL with Kenko AC +5 close up filter;
 IMGP4888 Green Jewel Bug by Richard Brett, on Flickr
 IMGP4969 Green Jewel Bug by Richard Brett, on Flickr
 IMGP5009 Green Jewel Bug by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
03-10-2021, 03:20 PM
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Harlequin Bug on a native Hibiscus, apparently a favourite for them. There were a number of these bugs there on the day I took this, but they were all higher up, and despite repeat visits to this shrub I wasn't able to catch a good photo showing the continuation of the blue and red pattern on their back that gives them their name. I keep stopping by, in hope of finding a good opportunity, but never for long as it's close to the river, the mosquitos are fierce, and I usually forget the insect repellent :). Pentax KP & Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO Lanthar SL;
 IMGP3830 Harlequin Bug by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-06-2021, 01:42 AM
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Interesting :). iNaturalist is a great resource - not infallible, but a great resource. I have an account and contribute what little I can.
Another Polsites wasp, a Tropical Paper Wasp, by coincidence photographed here this morning eating a small green caterpillar. Pentax KP & Voigtlander 90mm F3.5 APO Lanthar SL;
 IMGP4690 Tropical Paper Wasp by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
02-05-2021, 07:40 PM
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Dave I took the liberty of downloading your pic (hope you don't mind - it's not something I'd usually do) and running it through iNaturalist, an online natural history web site, and then leaving the page before it saved as an entry into that database as a new observation. I used a Baltimore-ish location, and it came up with a list of possible matches. This one looks a bit, to me, like the wasp in your photos;
Dark Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) · iNaturalist |
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-26-2020, 01:48 PM
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Mealybug Ladybird larva, taken with Ricoh WG-6. At first I thought this was a mealybug, or woolly aphid, but on looking it up I found it actually mimics these garden pests so it can blend in and prey on them. It is a bit of an eastern Australian specialty, has apparently been exported world wide, and is now naturalised in places such as California and the Mediterranean;
 R0010798 Mealybug Ladybird larva by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
12-23-2020, 04:14 PM
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Thank you! - I like the final blue segment myself :)
Have you got the hang of leaning in or out to get focus? - many of us find it easier than focusing the lens once you close to finding your focus, even with auto-focus. I have the Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 50mm, and think it is the same optical formula. Very nice lenses.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-27-2020, 10:06 PM
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A humble bag moth that I've seen around the front porch over the last week or more. I think it is a female as they apparently often live in their bags their whole lives where as the males go on to take a flying form, and only live for a few days. This one seemed to make regular trips to a small mulched bed nearby at first, I'm guessing to find material to build up its' bag.
Pentax KP & SMC D-FA 50mm f2.8 Macro
 IMGP1628 Bagworm moth by Richard Brett, on Flickr
 IMGP1588 Bagworm moth by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-12-2020, 02:11 AM
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Rattle Ants beginning to build a nest (K5 & Super-Multi-Coated Macro Takumar 50mm f4) & then a mature nest (Pentax K5 & Vivitar AF 100mm f3.5 Macro). I had to tap the branch holding the nest to bring the ants out in these numbers. They are called rattle ants as they rattle their feet on the leaves when they think danger is around. It's quite audible - my brother in law and I had always called them the "chittering" ants till I looked them up after taking these photos;
 IMGP0549 Chittering ants by Richard Brett, on Flickr
 IMGP9857 Chittering ants by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
11-08-2020, 04:43 PM
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That's a nice photo for someone who cares less! - nice look at the weeds too. They're pretty cosmopolitan species but somehow look local..... :)
Bag Shelter Moth taken with Ricoh WG-6. Apparently so called because it's caterpillars live together in a silk bag woven amongst the leaves they feed on.
 R0010698 Bag Shelter Moth by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-21-2019, 02:58 PM
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Thanks! - on a behavioural note I got lucky as this one was preoccupied with the larger web & contents behind it when I first saw it, not sure if I was a threat when I approached with the camera and lens, and hesitated for the two long minutes I needed to focus and flip the A/M switch.
---------- Post added 01-21-19 at 03:01 PM ----------
What's an extra pair of legs between friends :) ? - It's been quite warm and dry here in Brisbane these last two months or so, and I'm not seeing the number or range of insects I saw last year. The Gums and Lillypillys, and other native plants in the surrounding streets and suburban gardens, are slow to flower, or giving it a miss altogether. I think these are a major drawcard for insects in good years.
Found the thread and duly reposted, thanks.
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Forum: Mini-Challenges, Games, and Photo Stories
01-20-2019, 03:45 AM
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Green Jumping spider, K5 & Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 50mm f4 on 11mm ext tube, and heavily cropped. Previously posted on last weeks' Picture of the Week.
 IMGP8878 Green Jumping Spider by Richard Brett, on Flickr
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