Excursion to  Forestry Tasmania Invertebrate Collection,  10 Aug 2008
 

Beetles, en mass!

Rhabdotus reflexus, all collected from Mt Weld. They are very common in forest litter up to 1300m altitude.

A collection of Papuan specimens.

Lynne Forster showing us various specimens, while our youngest naturalist looks down the microscope.

Absorbed in the scat display box!

An enlarged image on display of the rare Nat vandenbergae beetle, described in 2007. Surprisingly, they are ladybirds (Coccinelidae).

There are only 6 known specimens of this beetle; 2 of them in the collection are shown below.  All come from above 900m at Mt Field and Mt Weld.  Lynne is keen for field naturalists to keep a lookout for them.

Pedilophorus gemmatus (Byrrhidae), a moss beetle which lives at high altitude.

Photos by Amanda Thompson