Life in the Leaf Litter

Forget about life in the undergrowth. Go down even further to the leaf litter and you'll find a whole world of living things all busy either recycling all that organic matter or else preying upon one another. I recently sifted through just a few handfuls of leaf litter. The photos below show a small sample of what it contained.


First up is a small larva which I assume belongs to the Diptera ( a fly maggot if you wish).

(Click images to enlarge)

Fly larva - just a few mm long.

Anyone who has picked up seaweed on the strand line has probably seen hoards of little jumping creatures know as Sandhoppers. Their cousins who inhabit forest leaf litter are sometimes called Landhoppers. The one in the photographs belong to the family Talitridae which are a type of amphipod crustacean.

Edit: I had erroneously named this landhopper Talitrus sp. until seeing Bob Mesibov's comments below. The paper referred to says all 15 Tasmanian landhoppers belong to the family Talitridae. Those which were once placed in Orchestia and Telitrus have long since been moved into new genera. Only one of Tasmanias landhoppers is also found on the mainland.

A Landhopper - family Talitridae
(possibly Keratroides vulgaris)

The most obvious creatures among the litter were the millipedes. Some of those below are only around 10 mm is length. I had a go at trying to ID some of them but for now have put them on my "To Do" list..

Millipede A


Millipede B



Millipede C



Millipede D

Millipede E

A small beetle of about 3 - 4 mm in length.

An intoduced slug - Deroceras sp, probably D. panormitanum
(See Kevin Bonham's comments below)

Aside from the above, there were numerous tiny spiders which I did not manage to photograph very well, the native snail which I posted recently, and countless other organisms too small for me to photograph.

---

On the Fly

.....Formosia speciosa

I'm posting this "on the fly". The photos below show a Tachinid fly found in my backyard a couple of months ago. As far as I can tell it is Formosia speciosa and, for a fly, it's actually rather good looking. It's a member of the tribe Rutiliini and, as such, is probably a parasitoid of scarab grubs.

(Click to enlarge)

---

Tachinid Fly - Close Up

This fly (family: Tachinidae) came to the mercury vapour light last night. I'd estimate it to be around 10mm in length. It appears to be one of the Tachinid flies, also known as Bristly flies. This family are mostly parasitoids and parasites of moth larvae as well as various other insect groups.

When I lined up the second shot I saw a funny sight through the viewfinder. I noticed a much smaller fly (smaller than this ones head) which kept flying into this ones face and annoying it. Good to see them getting a taste of their own medicine. It reminds me of the old saying:

Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them,
and little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum
(from the 17th century writer Jonathan Swift)

(Click photos to enlarge)

Frontal view

Lateral view

---

No Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos - Just Insects

After reading Denis Wilson's post on photographing Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos I was quite chuffed to see a flock of seven alighting on the dead trees in the gully near my house. I quickly ran inside to grab my camera and off I went up the hill to do a bit of bird stalking. Of course we all know wearing thongs in the bush is a bad idea but I had to get there before the birds took off. (For northern hemisphere readers, thongs = flip flops or rubber sandals - not those other things :-) I slipped twice while pushing through the scrub nearly dropping my camera but I pressed on until I located a good vantage point. I arrived a little scratched up, totally puffed out and with shaky hands. (Moving rapidly uphill no longer agrees with me) . It was all worth it, I thought to myself, as I had a clear view straight across the gully to the cockies. The closest one was a juvenile begging for food. Just as I lifted my camera the clouds blocked the sun and I could see I was not going to get a sharp image. Still it would be better than nothing eh? Then, just as I pressed the button, the camera battery died. Could things get any worse? Yes. A large ant then stung me right between two toes and it is still hurting as I type. Until today I did not know that cockatoos could laugh but I'm sure that's what they were doing.

So dear reader you will just have to imagine the impressive sight of those Cockatoos or go on over to Denis's blog and enjoy his photos. Either that or you can content yourself with these images of some insects which I have come across over the last week. Unfortunately I did not get a shot of the ant as after I was through with it, it was not worth photographing.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

Dagger Fly (Empididae)

This tiny fly (around 4 or 5 mm) was attracted to the MV light. Empidid flies are predators. Note the proboscis which can be used for piercing it's prey.

Echthromorpha intricatoria - Cream-spotted Ichneumon (Ichneumonidae)

This is quite a striking wasp. The adults feed on nectar and pollen but they parasitise Lepidopteran larvae. The caterpillar below had better watch out.

Ichneumen Wasp (Ichneumonidae)

Here's another Ichneumon hanging around the trap. There are a variety of similar looking species to this which often come to light. These also parasitise Lepidopteran larvae.

Caterpillar (Noctuidae)

This one came to the MV light trap. This is not that unusual. In Scotland I often had Noctuid larvae come to the light trap. Perhaps, as a nocturnal, ground dwelling species, they simply stumble upon the box and crawl in or perhaps they are actually phototropic. Maybe someone has already answered that question. I'll have to look into it one day.

Soldier Fly - (Stratiomyidae)

This one was photographed on a sunny wall. Again. the adults Soldier flies feed on nectar and pollen. The larvae are found in aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats but some also feed in rotting vegetation. I used to have one of those anaerobic compost bins which was always full of soldier fly larvae.

---

Hover Fly

..... Family Syrphidae

I haven't seen a lot of Hover Flies around here lately although no doubt their numbers will increase as summer approaches. This one was not found attending a flower but rather, it came to my moth trap at night back on the 30th October.

It seems to belong to the subfamily Syrphinae which only has four recorded species in Tasmania, those being:

• Melangyna collatus
• Melanostoma sp. A
• Simosyrphus grandicornis
• Xanthandrus agrolas

(Click Photos to Enlarge)

#1 - Hover Fly (Syrphidae : Syrphinae)

#2 - Hover Fly (Syrphidae : Syrphinae)

---