Nothing succeeds like….

As has previously been described several times, winter is not a good time to be blogging about native fauna. As many creatures are hibernating or have moved to warmer climes the search for a subject is not as easy as simply stepping outside, as it is in spring. It takes a bit of effort to find anything other than cockies pulling onion grass from the lawn or currawongs harassing hapless smaller birds. I had to resort to turning over timber in the backyard and lo and behold a critter emerged.

Pictured is a Black and White Seed Bug (Dieuches maculicollis). It is a True Bug (hemipteran) i.e. a sucking insect, of the Rhyparochromini tribe – from the Greek rhyparos meaning dirt and chromus meaning coloured. Not very flattering! Worldwide there are 370 species in this tribe of which 30 are in Australia.

Seed bugs, as the name suggests are generally ground-dwelling seed predators feeding on ripe seed which has fallen from grasses and bushes. They have specially adapted mouthparts for piercing the hard outer seed husk and sucking seed sap.

As the old saying goes, nothing succeeds like a hemipteran from the Rhyparochromini tribe (or a budgie with no beak!).