Insects in the Grass

Robin Buchanan

Lawns provide firebreaks, are great to play on and look nice but an area of native grass will add habitat to your garden.

When weeding Cobblers Peg from an area of native plants, Weeping Grass, Basket Grass, Indian Weed and Snake Vine, with a bit of weedy Ehrharta grass, in January 2019 I saw all sorts of creatures. Most of them flew or scuttled away but these three stayed still for a portrait.

I know more about plants than insects, but I had a go at identifying them.

Mown lawns don’t have these fascinating creatures. I know our Frogmouths enjoy flying over Weeping Grass and catching insects – I have seen them many times. The sad part of the story is that in January 2020, due to heat and drought, there was no Weeping Grass, no insects, and unhappy Frogmouths.

References
Zborowski P. and Edwards, T. (2007) A Guide to Australian Moths. CSIRO.
Zborowski P. and Storey, R. (1995) A Field Guide to Insects in Australia. Reed.
Brisbane Insects, Crickets and Katydids.

This amazing creature standing on a Snake Vine leaf is a Katydid – a group of insects related to crickets and grasshoppers. The large pointed structure at the rear is the ovipositor – the egg laying mechanism. These Katydids are great to have around the garden as they eat insects and pollinate some flowers.

This gorgeous moth is a Splendid Ghost Moth. The females produce a large number of eggs which she scatters on the leaf litter or grass. The larvae bore into trees but some Ghost Moth larvae have an early phase when they feed on fungi in the leaf litter.

The moth clinging to a cut off Cobblers Peg is one of the Tiger Moths. This group of moths warns away predators by their colours and at night by their sound.