Transcript Document

PBI collecting
trip to Western
Australia
October 2004:
WA ‘04
The “bush” at
Shark Bay
The trip took
us from
Perth, to the
Shark Bay
area, Cape
Range
National
Park near
Exmouth and
back to Perth
The “WA’04”
crew, with
Gerry Cassis,
Michael Wall,
Celia Symonds,
Nik Tatarnic
and Christiane
Weirauch
(clockwise)
The habitats
sampled
comprised
coastal dune
vegetation as at
Flat Rocks
Beach, south of
Geraldton ….
...inland dunes
with cycads and
flowering
Conospermum
and Xanthorrea
near Eneabba
Reserve….
…heath
vegetation as
in Lesuer
National Park
(left) and
roadside
collecting
spots with
Acacia as the
one north of
Carnarvon
(right).
Canyons in the
Cape Range
National Park
(left) and
Kennedy Range
National Park
(right) revealed
not only true
bugs but also
the bush fly,
Musca
vetustissima.
A page from
the “PBIWA04” field
note book, with
locality data,
records of the
field hosts and
notes on
collected
Miridae and a
map with some
of the localities
Celia and
Michael
discussing
host plants
Windy
camp spot
close to the
beach, with
the big
working
tent in the
center
Hardly any
space left in
the car for the
collectors…
Eucalyptus
grandiflora, host
of an undescribed
plant bug of the
phyline tribe
Leucophoropterini
Only five of
the many
species of
Acacia that
provided
Orthotylinae
and Phylinae
Proteaceae, here
represented by
Banksia
(background and
upper right),
Conospermum
(upper left) and
Grevillea (lower
left), proved a
reliable source of
Miridae, but also
hosted other true
bugs such as
Thaumastocoridae
Some of the
24 host plant
species that
revealed true
bugs on a
collecting
site west of
Kennedy
Range
National
Park
Abandoned
termite mount
with new
inhabitant: This
harpactorine
assassin bug
(Reduviidae)
hides in the
crevices
Some arthropods…
…and
vertebrates on
the trip: a
“stumpy”
skink and
family of
emus
Trip results
54 localities
336 hosts
> 10,000 Miridae