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Project Noah Nature School
Monophlebulus sp.
This soft hemipteran was about 20 mm long with bright orange over all body segments and a bluish hue in the intersegmental areas. There was a lateral ray of soft setae.
Spotted on a tea-tree in a national park (Churchill NP)
It was a pity I could not get any sunlight on to this mealybug to show more of the colour.
Females are wingless. They feed on plant sap and develop a waxy substance over their bodies for protection.
Family: Pseudococcidae
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
Spotted on Sep 28, 2017
Submitted on Oct 9, 2017
4 Comments
I agree Jim - creatures here are fascinating. I wish more people would take time to understand and appreciate these smaller invertebrates. I am lucky and I've learnt heaps since joining PN and actively spotting for the project.
Anything from Australia is fascinating to me...I envy your access to such amazing creatures, Leuba!
Thanks Christine. I have always been envious of Mark, my husband, who always spots these. Like you, I have only ever found the small ones. They are amazingly colourful aren't they ?
Beautiful and so primitive looking! Not to mention HUGE! I saw some mealybugs over the weekend and the largest was about 3-4mm, lol. Yours are definitely more colorful and much larger. Great find :)