Blue triangles, also called common bluebottles, are swallowtail butterflies native to eastern Australia and southeastern Asia. They are very quick and skillful fliers and reach a wingspan of 8 cm. The butterfly itself feeds on nectar, its caterpillar specialises on the leaves of Australian native trees and doesn’t affect any of the crops in our garden. [more]
Black soldier flies are slender flies about 18 mm long and 5 wide with a dark black body and transparent wings, usually folded together on their backs. The flies are fairly slow moving, often not even trying to escape. They mimic the appearance of wasps to scare off predators but can’t sting or bite. The [more]
This shy little beetle is just 3 mm big and a native to eastern and southern Australia. It will drop or fly away quickly if disturbed. If we think of beetles the picture of a ladybird is very often the first thing that comes into our mind. The minute two-spotted ladybird doesn’t really match this [more]
If we think of beetles the picture of a ladybird is very often the first thing that comes into our mind. The funny little red or orange beetles with black dots are frequent visitors to our gardens and usually people don’t mind them and find them rather cute. Some people find they bring luck. Some [more]
Just shy of 1 cm long and a couple of millimeters wide this little hunter certainly looks like a little alien. Don’t worry, it doesn’t do any harm to humans, neither does it harm any plant. It does mean business though when it comes to its favorite food: aphids, scale insects and mealybugs. Ladybird larvae [more]