Bugs & Insects

Wherever you are in Australia, you will definitely have seen this little creature in your garden or even in your house (or honey jar). Ants live all over Australia in every single kind of environment. That is because there are so many types of ants - over 1,200 known species in Australia and over 15,000 worldwide. Many kinds of ants love rainforest areas, but ants are also found in the most arid deserts and even underwater. An…

Have you ever seen a really, really big ant? Have you ever spotted a blue one? Or one that sticks its bum in the air when it walks? It is most likely a Blue Ant. The Blue Ant grows up to 2.5 cm long but there is a secret to its massive growth... it's actually a wasp. They live in Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. The male Blue Ant has a darker body with white spots on his abdomen. Males are smaller, only…

As the weather warms up in south-east Australia, the well-known Bogong moths are getting ready to make a big journey. Bogong moths migrate several hundred kilometres each year. During spring, they fly from the lowland grassy areas up to the mountainous caves in the Snowy Mountains. As the temperature heats up, Bogong moths sleep in caves, each overlapping one another - just like tiles on a roof. In autumn Bogong moths fly back…

Butterflies are a welcome addition to any garden and like many native buddies, need our help to make sure they remain regular guests. Butterflies are cold-blooded and need plenty of warm sunshine. You may see them in early spring with wings wide open to the warming sun. Or you may see them just touch the top of a bird bath or pond. Purple, red, orange, and yellow flowers attract butterflies. With a few simple changes, your bac…

Love them or hate them, caterpillars are an important part of the Australian environment. They can bring joy in the form of the promise of a beautiful butterfly, despair as they devour tender young broccoli plants, or itching and pain as a spitfire caterpillar brushes against your bare skin. Around August, moths and butterflies are busily searching for a safe place to lay their eggs. Some have already produced eggs, so it's a …

What do Christmas Beetles look like? Christmas Beetles are easy to spot; their shimmering metallic bodies set them apart. A lot of Christmas beetles come in golden brown or green colours, but the further north you travel in Australia, the more amazing their colours can be. In northern Queensland, you can even find Christmas beetles that

It's not an Aussie summer without the deafening concert of thousands of cicadas. Around October, you can see the first empty shell of a newly hatched cicada on a tree trunk or your fence. They will soon fill the air with their song before they disappear again for winter. But where have they been during the colder months? At the end of summer, each female cuts small slits into plant stems and branches and places her eggs inside…

Fluttering through gardens, parks and bushland, this beautiful buddy deserves a better name than "Common Brown" The Female Common Brown is larger than the male with quite different markings and more yellow colouring. The male is dark orange all over with darker markings than the female. The Common Brown Butterfly is easy to spot as they search for mates from October through to December. They live in eastern Australia, with a s…

Crickets live all over Australia and you have probably heard them - but maybe not seen one. The most common is the Black Field Cricket. Only the male of this species 'chirp' by rubbing their wings together. They do it to attract females, to woo them, and to warn off other male competitors. Black Field Crickets are widespread in eastern and southern Australia. It's not hard to spot one jumping around as they grow to about 2.5 c…

Many of our backyard buddies find their way inside our homes and take up temporary residence, and one of the most successful and ever-present is the Daddy-long-legs spider. Almost every house or shed in Australia has been home to the messy, tangled web of the Daddy-long-legs, especially as the weather begins to cool towards winter and the spiders seek warmth indoors. We remove them regularly on the end of a broom and put them …

The Dainty Swallowtail Butterfly is also known as the Dingy Swallowtail or Small Citrus Butterfly - but it isn't dingy at all. You'll see these stunning butterflies in flight across eastern Australia right up until May Adult Dainty Swallowtails are black with grey, white, and smaller blue and red spots on their wings, and yellow markings along their bodies. The female's wingspan is up to 7.2 cm while the male is slightly small…

Neither dragons nor flies, dragonflies are insects with more than 320 species known to live in Australia. Different species of dragonflies also have distinctive markings and colours, so with practice, you'll be able to recognise one type from another, just like birds. Different species emerge at different times of year, so keep a look out no matter what month it is. Watch out for dragonflies wherever there is water such as a p…

There are over 1000 species of native worms in Australia and approximately 80 introduced species that are beneficial as well. Earthworms are excellent buddies to have in your garden. They return nutrients to the soil from organic matter such as fallen leaves, vegetable peelings, fruit scraps, hair clippings, and even old paper. These nutrients are important for plants and will greatly enrich the soil in your backyard. They are…

During the hot nights of summer, grasshoppers are getting ready to breed. Around dusk in the disappearing light male grasshoppers sing romantic serenades to attract females. Their range of pitch and calls are endless. The male grasshopper creates music using his legs. Like a bow drawn across violin strings, the grasshopper draws his legs across his front pair of wings to make buzzes and trills. It may help attract a mate but t…

What do Hairy Flower Wasps look like? Hairy Flower Wasps are either black or blue/black. The Campsomeris genus have orange, yellow or gold markings. They are 3-4cm long, have large antennae and both the males and females have a single pair of veined yellow wings.  Male Hairy Flower Wasps are more slender than females and

What do Huntsman Spiders look like? Huntsman spiders are rather hairy and can be as wide as 15 cm. Their front legs are larger than the back ones and bend forwards like those of a crab. This shape also allows them to crawl in all directions very quickly. There are 94 known species of Huntsman

As the days get warmer, colourful Ichneumon Wasps become a common sight in many Aussie backyards, hovering above your lawn on a warm day or trying to mate with your orchids. There are around 2000 species living all across Australia. These stingless insects are Mother Nature's pest control for your garden and provide fascinating entertainment for those prepared to sit still and watch the show. At an average of 1.2 cm in length …

The Common Garden Katydid is a quite common backyard buddy and garden visitor. It's a cousin to the grasshopper and cricket, about 4 to 6 cm in length with extremely long, thin antennae, and powerful back legs for jumping. There are about 1000 species in Australia and they are part of the orthopteran group of insects, which means 'straight wings'. Like crickets, male Katydids play songs to attract females by rubbing their wing…

Some bugs are not only good bugs but great bugs that will eat other insects and keep your overall pest numbers down. Such a buddy is the Green Lacewing. This fascinating insect is as helpful as it is pretty. The larva of the Green Lacewing is a very efficient method of bug control for your garden, and they grow into delicate, winged beauties. Their vivid green colour and distinctive wings make them easy to spot. October is a g…

Ladybirds are great to have as buddies in your backyard. In many cultures they are considered so lucky that killing one will bring sadness and misfortune. There are about 6000 species of ladybird in the world, with around 500 species in Australia. You might know ladybirds as ladybugs or ladybeetles, but whatever name you use they are the fantastic at keeping your garden healthy. You might think of ladybirds as being red or ora…

If you see a spot of yellowy-green, brown or red on your plants and it's jumping from place to place and when you take a closer look it quickly scuttles around to the other side of the leaf- it could be a leafhopper. Leafhoppers bite through leaves, stems and bits of tree trunk to suck up the delicious and nutritious plant sap, particularly Eucalyptus trees. Leafhoppers often work with ants. While they're drinking they excrete…

In February you can witness a spectacular event in your backyard. Mating Leopard Slugs must be one of the most bizarre and fascinating displays of animal behaviour you can ever observe. The male and female become entwined and lower themselves from their branch on a thread of mucus to exchange sperm. Then they return to the branch via the mucous thread, eating it as they go. Like all slugs and snails, they are hermaphrodites - …

You may see them in the grass, among leaves, on walls, near lights at night or in your veggie patch. Wherever there are insects to eat you might find a mantid. There are about 2,000 different species across the world, ranging from 10 to 120 millimetres in body length and their characteristic way of standing with forelegs held together as if they were praying. Only the males have wings fit to fly, helping them to move around lo…

Millipedes are myriapods, meaning 'many pairs of legs'. They survive over much of the country and evolved from ancestors that were the first creatures to make the move from water to land millions of years ago. Australia is home to approximately 2000 species, most of which are nocturnal. Millipedes are most common in areas with a milder climate and plenty of moisture. They are common under rocks and logs, in leaf litter and soi…

During summer, for just six weeks, the Monarch, or Wanderer, Butterfly lives its short, busy life in many Australian backyards. They are not Australian natives, but arrived in Australia from North America as recently as 1871. Once its host plant, the Milkweed of the genus Asclepias, arrived as well, the butterflies began to flourish. Monarchs are very common and perhaps the most recognised butterfly, especially in urban areas.…

Although they are very similar, there are a few ways you can tell a moth from a butterfly. The most obvious is when you are likely to see them. Butterflies are active during the day and most moths at night. Though there are a few moths, such as the Queensland Day Moth Alcides metaurus and the Jacob's Coat Moth Agarista agricola, which fly during the day. If you are able to take a closer look, the antennae of moths differ from …

If you hear a wasp buzzing loudly in your garden or find a wasp's nest under your eaves or attached to your house or shed, don't panic. They may be Mud dauber Wasps which look a bit scary with their bright yellow and dark black colouring, but are actually quite harmless and non-aggressive if you leave them alone. Like all wasps, if they feel threatened, they will give a painful sting, so best to observe them from a distance. D…

Commercial honey bees came to our shores from Europe in 1822, but there are over 1,500 species of native bees across the country. Australian bees can be as small as 2 mm in length. About 10% of Australia's native bees are 'social', meaning that they form hives, and have a queen, infertile female worker bees and male drones which fertilise the queen. They are completely stingless. Stingless bees are quite a sight when they'r

The Australian Painted Lady butterfly migrates from place to place and loves to visit gardens. In southern Australia, the best time to spot them is after a few warm, sunny days at the end of winter, and from spring to autumn. In the northern part of the Painted Lady butterfly's range, they live in the same spot year round. Whenever they rest or stop to feed, they spread their wings out low to keep predators away. The vibrant c…

Native Paper Wasps are found all over Australia except in Tasmania and, although only aggressive when defending their nests, it is best to steer clear of them. But their behaviour can give you a clue to how they spend their lives. The female wasp is always busy. If she's tapping her way along a leaf, she'۪s probably looking for a caterpillar to feed her larvae. If she's fossicking on an old fence paling, chances are she's scr…

What do Rhinoceros Beetles look like? At 7cm in length the shiny black Rhinoceros Beetle or Rhino Beetle (Xylotrupes ulysses) is Australia’s largest beetle. Only the males have horns; they use them to fight with other males to win the attention of their favourite females. Rhino Beetle babies are huge too. They are c-shaped, white

Have you ever lifted a pot plant or scraped back some mulch and found some curious little 'Roley Poley' bugs underneath? These are slaters, also known as Roley Poleys, Pill Bugs, or Wood Lice. Just like worms, slaters are great for your garden as they eat organic matter and return nutrients to the soil. Having a few slaters around will keep your plants happy and healthy. Slaters need moisture and mostly come out at night when …

The leaf litter in your garden is perfect for snails who need a moist atmosphere to survive in. Snails can be infuriating when they graze on your newly planted veggie patch. But they also like to feed on dead plant and animal material and fungi. There are over 1000 species of native Australian snails and slugs but most of the snails and slugs we find in our gardens are not natives. Introduced snail species generally arrived ac…

If you are in Queensland or northern New South Wales in January, you might be lucky enough to spot one of the most interesting insects that Australia is home to. Don't be alarmed by this weird looking buddy. The Spiny Leaf Insect is also known as Giant Prickly Stick Insect or Macleay's Spectre Stick Insect. The name may change, but their odd appearance stays the same. When laying her eggs, the female flicks the eggs from her a…

What do St Andrew’s Cross Spiders look like? The webs of St Andrew’s Cross Spiders are fascinating to look at because of their decorations. These spiders get their name from the bluish-white cross pattern that they create in the centre of their web, which looks like the St Andrew’s cross on the Scottish flag. The

There are over 1,200 species of these big-jawed beetles in the world, and maybe even more than 85 different species just in Australia, but even though there are lots of different types of Stag Beetle, many are facing a loss of habitat that is threatening their survival. Stag Beetles love to live in damp woodland areas with lots of leaves and rotting wood on the ground, but unfortunately, these are also the kinds of areas that …

Somewhere amongst the leaves in your backyard is a camouflage master. Even though there are around 150 stick insect species in Australia, it's still difficult to spot one. Look closely at gum trees, rose bushes or fruit trees for these green or brown buddies. The stick insect is a Phasmid - insects that eat leaves and resemble leaves or sticks. It is a master of disguise and remains still during the day. Look for them at night…

What do sugar ants look like? There are many different kinds of sugar ants, each a slightly different shape and size. They are normally very tiny, between 2.5 to 18mm long. They have large black heads, a small waist and a rusty, orange-brown middle.  Where are sugar ants found? Sugar ants are some of the

As the weather warms up in spring and summer, termites commence their social swarming. In order to create social swarms, the colony emerges from being underground after at least three years. Flying termites are at their reproductive stage and are short lived. A swarm can be quite a sight, one minute it's clear outside and the next you may think that a part of the sky has greyed as the sheer mass of a swarm can be truly spectac…

What do tiger moths look like? Unlike many other moths, Tiger Moths has bright orange bars and spots on its wings. They have striped abdomens which has given them their name. Their caterpillars are covered in sparse dark hairs which gives them the name “Woolly Bears”.  Where are tiger moths found? Tiger Moths live on

What do trapdoor spiders look like? There are many different species of trapdoor spider. They are brown or black and can be up to 3.5 cm long. Some males look like they have large boxing gloves near their mouth. Trapdoor spiders look quite similar to the far more dangerous Funnel-web Spider. Both are large, dark

What do wolf spiders look like? Wolf spiders are often large and hairy. They are usually grey with brown or dark grey markings. Their eyes shine if you spot them under torchlight. They are anywhere between 1.2 to 5 centimetres in size.  Where are wolf spiders found? Wolf spiders are found all over the world