Tropical garden animals - insects

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Insects


Species: Dysdercus cingulatus Family: Pyrrhocoridae Order: Hemiptera English: Red Cotton Bug Indonesian: As I know little about insects I had some problems finding the name of this bug. To make it have a name I have called it Nemo Bug for years. Now, after searching the internet, I guess it is a *Red Cotton Bug (Dysdercus cingulatus).* Whatever its name, I like the surprising pattern and color combination on its chest. So far it only once visited my garden. The photo was made while it was resting on a rose shrub. The Red Cotton Bug feeds on a variety of plants, not just cotton. Probably this animal could not find anything interesting in my garden, as it left soon and never returned.

Species: Bactrocera papayae Family: Tephritidae Order: Diptera English: Asian Papaya Fruit Fly Indonesian: Lalat buah I classified this as a fruit fly (Bactrocera papayae). Please correct me if I am wrong. It is certainly not a very regular guest of the garden. May be I should be happy for that as it might go for the fruits of our mango tree.	The Papaya Fruit Fly can do much damage to a wide rage of fruits and fleshy vegetables including mango, banana, papaya, guava and tomato. Control is easiest done by fruit bagging, destruction of fallen and overripe fruits, and the early harvest of mature green fruits.


The left photo is one of the few insect pictures where I am satisfied enough about the quality. The photo on the right is the same animal seen from a different angle, but a bit out of focus. There is still much to learn about photography...	I was told this is a "predatory fly". So, does this mean that it is a "good guy" who might help to control the fruit flies shown above? I can not find its name. Who can help me? Like the fruit fly above it is a rare guest of my garden.


Species: Lucilia spec.? Subfamily: Luciliinae? Family: Calliphoridae? Order: Diptera English: Blowfly? Indonesian:	After a searching in different sources, I realised that this certainly is not the only fly species with red eyes. The world of flies only has a amazing variety. Who can help me in the right direction? Is this a Lucilia spec.?


A few days after I made the picture above I found the pupa of the caterpillar in a plant nearby its former place. It was attached with its tail and a silky girdle to a leave stalk. Hopefully I get the opportunity to see what butterfly will come out of it. Will it be as beautiful as its larva? P.S.: After a long search in the internet I found the name of this species and a picture of the butterfly. There seem to be some subspecies, so I am still curious. It looks like this species has not been recorded yet for South Sulawesi: could that be right?	Species: Papilio ambrax Family: Papilionidae Order: Lepidoptera English: Ambrax Swallowtail, Ambrax Butterfly Indonesian: The caterpillar above probably is the best insect picture I have made so far. Though the animal was only a few centimeters long, the photo shows much detail. This was a reason for me to look for more information on the body parts of caterpillars. In the picture the caterpillars head is on the left. It has a brown-yellowish color. The tiny black spots in it are eyes. The black patch on the back is one of the falls eyes, that probable have the function of impressing enemies. Somewhere at the head should be the mouth parts, but I cannot discover any. Like all insects the caterpillar has six legs attached to the thorax. Three legs are visible just right of the head. The other leg-like body parts attached to the abdomen are prolegs or falls legs. These prolegs have no segments or joints, but have a circle or band of tiny hook to grip for support. The abdomen exists of ten segments, of which number 9 and 10 are fused. The oval holes at the side of the abdomen segments are called spiracles and are used for breathing. I have no idea what function the little antennae at the end of the caterpillar have. Like all caterpillars, this animal was continuously eating. (continued in the left column)

	What is the name of these bugs? Please help. I often find them on the young leaves of the mango tree. It seems they suck sap, after which the leaves wither.

Good camouflage! One evening I found the beetle in the pictures above and below next to the outdoor lamp. Because of the lack of light I could not make a photo showing enough details. The next day I could just in time safe the animal from the claws of our cat who was playing with it in the lawn. After making some shots in a place with enough light I released it in the mango tree where it blended in perfectly with the bark.	The beetle measures about 3 cm. It has striking long antenna of about 4 cm length. Next to that the two false eyes on the back are characteristic. So far I did not find out what this animal consumes. It was basically inactive. I am certainly not a entomologist and haven't seen much close ups of insects yet. That's why it always is a surprise when I blow up macro shots of these creatures and look at the details like legs, mouth parts, antenna and eyes. Do I see well that the eyes of this beetle are positioned around the bases of the antenna? Strange... .


Small orange bug Size about 9 mm While working in the garden I found a little orange bug sitting on my arm. As it did not try to fly away, there was enough time to put it on a leave and photograph it. It is the first time that I see this animal. After it finally was bored to pose in front of the camera it went for a flight. I have looked around to find out where it was hiding and on which plants it lives, but nothing to discover.
	Orange bug cleaning its antennae

Damselfly. Funny eyes!








Above and below two different species of paper wasps. The picture above shows the insects on their comb with larvae inside. Again I would be pleased if somebody can tell me the scientific names of these species.	The wasps construct the combs of paper-like material made by chewing and mixing plant and wood fibers with their saliva.


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