Journal 2
The buzz started in the carpark at the Wildflower Walk / Ferny Forest, Landsborough, meeting and greeting 11 ready and willing amateur entomologists. We walked through the forest to a cleared area with picnic tables and set up a base to work from.
Our gear kit included our special "Bug Club Citizen Science Entomologist" lanyards with hand lens, 2 handmade "Beat Sheets" and sticks, a butterfly net, collection jars, a microscope, magnifying glasses and journals.
Our aim for the afternoon was freestyle insect observations using our Beat Sheets, butterfly net and by carefully looking under rotting logs and sticks.
We demonstrated how to use a "Beat Sheet" and explained that it requires you to use a stick to "Beat" at vegetation while holding the sheet underneath to collect any insects that fall out. The sheet is then laid on the ground and specimen jars are used to carefully collect the insects making sure they aren't harmed.
We set out looking for insects and took our finds back to our base to share and document our finds with each other.
When we made observations, we used iNaturalist to help us make identifications and record them in our "Bug Club" iNaturalist Project. We let iNaturalist help us guess the species and then over the next few days we wait to get our identifications confirmed. We also made lists in our journals, counted the number of species found and drew pictures.
There were lots of spiders collected and the star of the afternoon was the Four-spined Spiny Orbweaver (Gasteracantha quadrispinosa) which is distinctively shaped and coloured yellow to red. Our specimen was yellow. It builds a vertical orb web approximately 1.5 m across and hangs in the centre of the web to wait for prey (Wikipedia).
Another very interesting observation was the Lacewing Larva or "Junk Bug" that carries the remains of their prey on their backs as a way to camaflouge themselves.
iNaturalist has so far confirmed the Green Jumping Spider (Mopsus mormon), the Stretch Spider (Genus Tetragnatha) which can run over water, and an Entelegyne Spider.
Other insects observed but not yet confirmed were a Pygmy Grasshopper, a Long Green Crab Spider, a Milky Flower Spider, a spider from the Subfamily Salticinae, a Brown Shield Bug, a Lacewing Larva (Junk Bug) and a Green Garden Looper caterpillar.
Satisfied that we had documented our observations, we released our bugs and made plans for our next Bug Club adventure.
To keep up to date with our observations and identifications and for more information about these insects and arachnids join the project on iNaturalist.
Thanks to everyone who came and for your enthusiasm. Your efforts in finding and documenting our natural world matters.
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