Similar Australian site?

Natalie:

Try WhatsThatBug.com. There are many Australian species imaged there, and Webmaster Daniel Marlos is now pretty savvy at identifying Australian insects, as he gets tons of submissions from "Down Under" during 'our' winter season. You could also add the images to your Flickr photostream and ask for identifications. Also, there is a Flickr group called "ID Please" that is very useful. Good luck, let us know where your images are going and we can have a look there ourselves.

… Eric R. Eaton, 14 August, 2009 - 4:10pm

Re: Natalie:

Thanks for the reply! I sent a letter into to What's That Bug, so hopefully at some point in the future I'll get a reply. Unfortunately the form to submit identification requests only has places for three photos, so I had to host them on a separate site and post the links in the letter.

Here are the links to the photos...

Orb-weaver with a 5-6" legspan:
http://i25.tinypic.com/287245y.jpg
http://i32.tinypic.com/157z04h.jpg

Red and black bug:
http://i25.tinypic.com/34ffdd5.jpg

Bug nymph:
http://i25.tinypic.com/24b9k51.jpg

Mole cricket:
http://i25.tinypic.com/2wlrnmd.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/8zqo9e.jpg
http://i32.tinypic.com/dbqp3c.jpg

Giant water bug:
http://i32.tinypic.com/332m1yt.jpg
http://i25.tinypic.com/723a7p.jpg
http://i27.tinypic.com/16aqyy0.jpg

Katydid(?):
http://i30.tinypic.com/rrv9fd.jpg

Huntsman spider:
http://i30.tinypic.com/2zi4y1e.jpg

Interesting moth:
http://i29.tinypic.com/339m6x5.jpg

Shiny yellow ants:
http://i25.tinypic.com/24m6o81.jpg
http://i26.tinypic.com/20pyau8.jpg

Small spider:
http://i27.tinypic.com/k182so.jpg

VERY strange beetle larva:
http://i27.tinypic.com/30ms5fp.jpg
http://i31.tinypic.com/de2wdu.jpg

Grasshopper/blade of grass:
http://i31.tinypic.com/35m1mzd.jpg

Really cool praying mantis:
http://i28.tinypic.com/23hnkox.jpg
http://i29.tinypic.com/312ber9.jpg

(Hopefully it's not against the BG rules to post links to the images.)

… Natalie McNear, 15 August, 2009 - 1:19pm

Red and black bug = Coreidae; VERY strange beetle larva = Lycidae
i wish i could help more...

… v belov, 16 August, 2009 - 12:24pm

Thanks! Are the Lycids relate

Thanks! Are the Lycids related to the fireflies? Their larvae appear similar.

EDIT: Oops, I just did a quick search on here and saw that they are.

… Natalie McNear, 16 August, 2009 - 11:17pm

More answers, resources

Ok, orb weaver is in the genus Nephila. One shot shows the spider eating liquified prey (yum!), and the other image shows a pair: The big one is the female. The little tiny thing is the male (you can just make out a few legs on the underside of the female's belly). I'm not kidding! Some species of Nephila have the female forty times (40X!) the size of the male. You might look through the Life Unseen website for images of the various species in Australia.

The small spider is a "spitting spider," maybe Scytodes fusca, but certainly in that genus.

You might be able to identify the huntsman spider from this Life Unseen page.

The giant water bug is in the genus Lethocerus.

The "shiny yellow ants" are Polyrhachis ammon.

Couldn't ID the moth for you, but you should look at this Moths of Australia Online website. Use the CSIRO website period as a great resource.

Lastly, this site on Brisbane Insects has more images and information. You didn't specify which part of Australia you visited, which could affected my own search results.

Next time, just take me with you:-) Have fun, Natalie, and thanks for sharing the links!

… Eric R. Eaton, 18 August, 2009 - 8:57am