Emerged from small cocoons, after parasitising a Magpie Moth.
The cocoon pictures are from 12 June.
Maybe twice the size of the commonly seen seen black ant (Ochetellus glaber). I am guessing Pachycondyla ants because they were big and brown/bronze in colour.
They were swarming in the fork of a beech tree after dark. Individual ants were seen elsewhere in the forest and upper foreshore.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, St Johns Bush.
Habitat: Native bush remnant. In moss at side of track. A few ants observed.
Identification: Heteroponera brouni (Forel, 1892). Worker.
Pison cf. ruficorne Smith, 1856
East Wing cloisters windows. Dead. It regularly turns up here.
East Wing cloisters windows. All dead. It regularly turns up here.
Technically, it is Pison cf. ruficorne.
East Wing cloisters windows. Dead. It regularly turns up here.
Technically, it is Pison cf. ruficorne.
Ants bringing all manner of unrecognisable morsels to their nest in a manmade rock wall. Only things I recognised were a seed and some small grubs.
Ants bringing all manner of unrecognisable morsels to their nest in a manmade rock wall. Only things I recognised were a seed and some small grubs.
Emerged from small cocoons, after parasitising a Magpie Moth.
The cocoon pictures are from 12 June.
Ichneumonidae: Tryphoninae: Netelia producta ?
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Mount Albert, 145 Carrington Rd (vicinity of Unitec Childcare, Unitec Campus).
Habitat: Podocarpus totara.
Identification: Gelis tenellus (Say, 1836). Female.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: On vegetation near pond.
Identification: Phaenoglyphis villosa (Hartig, 1841). Second photo shows diagnostic suture on mesopleuron.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: Gomphocarpus sp. Flowering.
Identification: Polistes humilis (Fabricius, 1781). Female.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: Pittosporum crassifolium Banks & Sol. ex A.Cunn., 1840. Dying/dead. Infested with Chaetoptelius mundulus.
Identification: Cryptoxilos thorpei Shaw & Berry, 2005. Many adults observed. Photos show 1 female and 3 males.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, St Johns Bush
Habitat: Native bush remnant. On dead wood.
Identification: Sclerodermus niveifemur (Evans, 1964)
REFERENCES
Ward, D.F. 2013: Revision of Bethylidae (Hymenoptera) from New Zealand. New Zealand entomologist, 36(2): 107-130. doi: 10.1080/00779962.2012.759084
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus (East)
Habitat: Pittosporum crassifolium Banks & Sol. ex A.Cunn., 1840. Dying/dead. Infested with Chaetoptelius mundulus. Active on bark.
On the bark mulch of a garden bed, in a sheltered and shady location. Several individuals, perhaps up to 20 at a time, were seen out mingling with each other in a confined spot. They were probably just outside their hidden nest entrance. I thought it was quite bold behaviour, for a species that's usually very shy of being seen out in the open.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus (East)
Habitat: In main carpark area. Many ants observed active on the ground in sunshine at about 1600 hrs.
Identification: Cardiocondyla minutior Forel, 1899
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: Pittosporum eugenioides. Beating. By pond.
Identification: Leptopilina heterotoma (Thomson, 1862).
REFERENCES
Ward, D.F. 2014: Overview and key to the New Zealand Cynipoidea (Hymenoptera). Zootaxa, 3878(6): 563-579. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3878.6.4
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: Leptospermum. Cultivated. Beating.
Identification: Euryischia sp.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.
Habitat: Kunzea. Beating.
Identification: Anteon caledonianum Olmi, 1984.
REFERENCES
Olmi, M. 2007: New Zealand Dryinidae and Embolemidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea): new records and description of Bocchus thorpei new species. Records of the Auckland Museum, 44: 5-16.
NOTE: This is the first specimen, to my knowledge, taken in Saint Johns. I record all specimens of this species that I encounter in the field.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Glen Innes/Point England/Saint Johns, 231 Apirana Ave
Habitat: Lophostemon confertus. On underside of leaf. Tree infested with Ctenarytaina longicauda.
Identification: Tamarixia sp. [Tentatively]
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, St Johns Bush
Habitat: Native bush remnant. Several wasps shaken out of a bush floor sedge.
Identification: Errolium sp.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, St Johns Bush.
Habitat: Native bush remnant. In moss at side of track. A few ants observed.
Identification: Heteroponera brouni (Forel, 1892). Worker.
Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, suburb of Saint Johns, St Johns Bush
Habitat: Native bush remnant. On trunk of dead standing tree.
Identification: Spilomena sp.