Chris Reid

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Articles

Beetling About in the strange world of Strepsiptera

Sep 3, 2024 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

Continuing in the theme of obscure insect orders that I tend to ignore, this month it’s Strepsiptera (literally ‘twisted wings’). It’s one of the least diverse of the 28 insect orders, with only about 600 species known, including 160 in Australia. I suspect that none of you have heard of them but that’s not surprising – they are tiny, the males cannot feed, so die within a few hours, and most of the females live as maggots inside other insects, with only their heads sticking out of the hosts.
Beetling About with Silverfish

Aug 6, 2024 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

Silverfish. What I know about silverfish – ‘offishially’ called Zygentoma, an order of insects – could be written on the back of a beermat. So let’s find out about them together. Why are they significant? ‘The silverfish’ in Australia is a species of Ctenolepisma but usually misidentified as Lepisma saccharinum which is the dominant species in the northern hemisphere (NB: Wikipedia is muddled on this). Whatever the correct name, the domestic silverfish all do much the same thing.
Beetling About with Weevils

Apr 16, 2024 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

Dear reader, you are among the privileged few to see the first record of the Lesser Coconut Weevil (Diocalandra frumenti) south of Byron Bay. It is about 6mm long. The beetle flew onto the head of a colleague at the edge of Sydney’s Domain. Perhaps it mistook their head for a coconut? (I’m not passing judgement on anybody.) Landing on entomologists is a dangerous occupation for young weevils and this one is now safely ensconced in the museum collection, after being posted on iNaturalist.
Beetling About: Beetles vs Bugs

Feb 13, 2024 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

The other day I was asked to identify some ‘christmas beetles’ seen at Stanwell Park. There was a photograph – they were brightly coloured and it was Christmas, so why not christmas beetles? This is an example of the insect:I could see instantly that the ‘beetle’ was a bug. Hopefully some of you also know it’s not a beetle, but why? What makes a bug (or a beetle), and how do we classify insects generally? There are three things in this photo that set off ‘beetle’ alarm bells.
With wasps and hornets

Jan 2, 2024 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

The other day the train was late so I sat down to get a twig out of my shoe and got talking to my neighbour on the bench. She discovered I was a bug person (‘bug-a lugs’ when I was a student) and told me she had hornets in the back garden. That surprised me, as Australia (fortunately) doesn’t have true hornets. The real hornet is a northern hemisphere thing of the genus Vespa.
Download Christmas Beetle ID app

Nov 30, 2023 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

Just a reminder, in case anyone didn’t know, that this is a particular time of year. Yes, it’s Christmas Beetle season, and there’s a Christmas Beetle survey on, so get out there and record…The photo below shows such a beast. It’s a terrible photo (by me) and the animal is crushed (found on the steps to Helensburgh Railway Station), but the photo shows enough to identify this species. The plain brown colour and uniform scattering of flat white hairs are diagnostic.
Beetling About in Museums

Oct 3, 2023 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Chris Reid

By Dr Chris Reid of the Australian MuseumToday, a little bit of esoterica. What is a museum for? Hopefully, a museum includes education, research, exhibitions and local regional concerns. However, museums are primarily collections, and natural history museums, like ours, are collections of dead things. From a zoologist’s perspective, the most important things in a museum collection are ‘primary types’. A primary type is a specimen that represents a scientifically named species.
What's that clover thing in my lawn?

Aug 15, 2023 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Amanda De George |Chris Reid

Sometimes it really pays to know what's a local native and what's an introduced species, because it can mean the difference between hours of weeding work on the one hand, and just relaxing and admiring a natural area or garden on the other. This is one species that really caught me out when were were new to Illawarra and didn't know any of the plants. It just appeared in the garden one day, a small plant in a shady spot.
Family-friendly Lyrebird Loop Walk reopens at Minnamurra Rainforest

Aug 15, 2023 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Amanda De George |Emma Rooksby |Chris Reid

If exploring the Illawarra’s rare remnant rainforest sounds like your thing, but doing it via the thigh-trembling, grade-4 Minnamurra Falls Walk less so, good news is at hand. The much-loved, family-friendly Lyrebird Loop Walk has reopened at Minnamurra Rainforest. And it’s better than ever. The Lyrebird Loop is the walk with the swinging suspension bridges. Yes, the ones that kids, young and old, like to jump on. It’s as iconic as the Superb Lyrebirds that give the walk its name.
Box Jellyfish found in Wollongong, but it's not what you think

Aug 15, 2023 | theillawarraflame.com.au | Amanda De George |Emma Rooksby |Chris Reid

It makes sense that, as a wildlife writer, I’ve seen a lot of wildlife. But I have to admit, while I love watching all creatures, I especially love spotting something that stops me in my tracks and makes me ask, “Who are you? And what are you doing here?” And that’s exactly what happened as I encountered a particularly box-shaped jellyfish in Wollongong Harbour a few days ago.