Australian Insects

Cryptic diversity in Australian stick insects (Insecta; Phasmida) uncovered by the DNA barcoding approach.

The barcoding approach was applied to analyze 16 Australian morphospecies of the order Phasmida, with the aim to test if it could be suitable as a tool for phasmid species identification and if its discrimination power would allow uncovering of cryptic diversity. Both goals were reached. Eighty-two specimens representing twelve morphospecies (Sipyloidea sp. A, Candovia annulata, Candovia sp. A,...

Aquatic Insects: Hemimetabolous Insects – Plecoptera

A dataset for examining trends in publication of new Australian insects

Australian Faunal Directory data were used to create a new, publicly available dataset, nai50, which lists 18318 species and subspecies names for Australian insects described in the period 1961-2010, together with associated publishing data. The number of taxonomic publications introducing the new names varied little around a long-term average of 70 per year, with ca 420 new names published per...

Is there a role for spinosad in protecting Australian grain from insects?

The potential for using spinosad to protect Australian grain from storage insects is discussed. Spinosad is produced from the metabolic by-products of a soil-dwelling bacterium, and is active against a range of insect species. Studies on relevant susceptible and resistant strains of a range of beetle and psocid pests indicate that spinosad efficacy varies greatly between species. Among the five...

Diversity and Abundance of Insects in Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria

A field survey was conducted in Wukari, Taraba State to assess the diversity and abundance of insect species in selected habitats (residential, open field made up of grassland and an agroecosystem). Sampling were done biweekly using light, pitfall and yellow pan traps set in 3 replicates, 30 m apart. Insects recovered were wet preserved in 70% ethanol except butterflies and moths. Representativ...