Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

nice shot Faye!

Thanks Adrian

Nice shot Faye - but are you sure it's not a blue banded bee. We get them here also.

That looks like him, thought they were white stripes, but hey...
You do so take better photos than me :-)
Pity he wasn't facing the right way.

This fella seemed pretty active, loved the French Basil. Gave me enough time to stare in wonder, run down the drive, up the stairs, sneak inside cos DW's sleeping and get the camera and return, to take 4 shots, of which that was clearly the best He was clearly posing too.
Sports mode... damn, tried general and macro... sports... I will try to remember next time

Thanks for the quick ID, I had though native bee, but the solitary thing makes sense, as there was only one, and I know of no hives in the area. We never get bees, thinking of getting a hive.

Nice photo Faye. Good to see you in Perth in Jan. thanks for the help.

Aaaha I found out what they are. By a process of elimination and good fortune an orange bug flew past and land in the bushes, so I followed it and picked it up carefully in my cupped hands. I took it in to the office and placed it in one of my two precious bug catchers (Soldier fly pupas in the other.) I have identified it as a Crusader bug, or Holy Cross Bug after looking at the eggs it appears what I photographed was the first instar of this bug and they were less than 5mm in size. I thought I might be on to something when I noticed the orange markings on the antenna, one of the few parts to remain the same from hatchling to adult, as they have 5 instars or stages.
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane ... derBug.htm

I think these are pumpkin bugs or something they are suppose to be bad for your plants
can anyone else confirm this ?? as they have turned up in the soil veggie patch 20 ft from the aquaponics set up and i dont want them to jump across if i can help it

have just been squashing them as i see them so far

My journey of discovery has led to viewing and documenting the stages of the holy cross bug as shown in these pictures. I found the eggs laid in 2 runs of 7 on a gotu kola leaf in the barramundi fingerling tank a few days ago. After nearly losing sight of it I removed the leaf from the plant and placed it in the bug catcher on my desk. Today I discovered that we were blessed with 7 little hatchlings. As the day went on I noticed a bright orange coloured thing and quicly took photos. I have just realised that when I witnessed this magical event it was still emerging from its egg. These little critters are only orange for the frst few minutes of their life before they darken in colour retaining only the bright orange on their antennae and as adults the wings when in flight are bright orange, which is how I put together the pieces of the puzzle.

What's this fella?
Something's eating my lettuce.

Faye: Assassin Beetle? Crusader Beetle
KP: Aphid

Really? so WTF are all the little green things that the ants farm? I thought they were aphids...
How do I get rid of the blighters, I have a plethora of them, at least the little green things did little damage.

Edit: Never mind: Reading the "Aphids" thread...

I was photographing a spider when I saw what appeared to be this tiny green bug out of the corner of my eye.
Amazingly when I put the photo on the computer he no longer looks green but has the appearance of multi colours and almost transparent wings, any ideas anyone?

Looks a bit like a lacewing. Lacewings look pretty under the microscope.

You are correct Duff
I found this
Lacewings, like ladybugs, are a gardener's best friend because they eat large numbers of pest insects such as aphids and other small bugs. Lacewing eggs are glued to plant stems; each egg is at the tip of a very fine bristle. This arrangement keeps the eggs out of reach of predatory insects (including other lacewings) that are searching for a meal along the surface of the stem.

So if you see some tiny blobs on the end of hairs on your plants, don't kill em'.