Chapter XV: Introduction (13)

_Ophyra analis_ is a very common inland fly, and may be found swarming round dead sheep, or bred from pupae found under carrion lying in the bush. It is a shining blue black fly about the size of an ordinary house fly, and is lightly clothed with bristles on the sides of the thorax; it has a somewhat heart-shaped body, and clear wings. A second species, _O. nigra_, originally described by Wiedemann from China, is found in Australia, and is also recorded by Walker from the East Indies. It may be found swarming about dead sheep in summer. _Phoania personata_ might be taken for a large house fly from the regular stripes on the thorax, but it is more thickly clothed with bristles, and the abdomen has a deep metallic blue tint. I have bred numbers from larvae pupating in rotting oranges piled on the ground. _Limnophora ruficoxis_ is a somewhat smaller fly with the dorsal surface of the thorax and abdomen clothed with a dull buff pubescence; and the scutellum is smooth and shining. I have specimens from Sydney, N.S.W., and Gatton, Queensland.

Family 18. Parasite Flies.

TACHINIDAE.

This is one of the most useful groups of flies to the agriculturist, for nearly all the members deposit their eggs upon the living larvae of other insects such as the plant-destroying cut-worms, many different moths, and the grubs of our large saw-flies, and immature grasshoppers. This is a family of considerable extent, for over 1,000 species have been described from America alone, and in Van der Wulp’s Catalogue 187 species are listed from South Asia, but very little has been done in working up the Australian species.

In general appearance they are not unlike large house flies, but more bristly; the bristle of the third antennal joint is bare; the posterior cell of the wing almost or quite closed, and the large squamae cover the halteres. They attach their white eggs to the surface of the caterpillar with a gummy secretion, and it is quite common in summer time to find caterpillars thus infested, the perfect flies generally emerging from the pupal shell of their victim.

The members of the Genus _Winthemia_ are rather large flies, parasitic upon the larvae of different moths; several American species are great checks upon the increase of the “Army worm” (_Leucania unipuncta_). _Winthemia lata_ measures slightly under ½ an inch in length, and is thickset in proportion; it has a silvery face, with the brownish thorax covered with short stout bristles on the sides; the abdomen is black, with the sides and outer margin of the segments blotched with dull yellow; and the whole upper surface is lightly clothed with fine bristles. I have bred this fly from our Native Silkworm Moth (_Antheroea eucalypti_), from Lewin’s Moth (_Ocinaria lewinae_), and from an undetermined hawkmoth.

The Genus _Miltogramma_ comprises a number of smaller flies common in Europe, which lay their eggs upon the captured prey of the sand wasps while the latter are placing them in their burrows in the ground; and not only does the parasitic fly larva devour the food supply, but also when that is finished, feeds on the baby wasp. An Indian species is parasitic upon one of the large plague locusts. I have a very handsome undetermined species from Southern Queensland which has the abdomen ringed with bright yellow bands; this would suggest that it may deposit its eggs in the underground chambers of a similarly banded _Bembex_. Another much smaller species, not unlike the house fly in size and general colouration, has the grey abdomen barred with black.

Family 19. Metallic Green Flies.

DEXIIDAE.

These flies differ from the Tachinidae, which they otherwise resemble, in having longer legs, and the bristle of the antennae pubescent or plumose. Australia is rich in large handsome species, often brightly marked with metallic tints; they are usually most plentiful in open forest country, often resting on tree trunks; when flying round they make a loud humming sound. Most of them are parasitic in their habits, depositing their eggs upon the larvae of lamellicorn beetles that are buried in the ground.

_Chaetogaster violacea_ is of the usual thickset form, with a broad body and long pointed wings; it measures nearly 1 inch from the front of the head to the tips of the folded wings. It is of a general dark metallic blue colour, with the dorsal surface of the head and thorax marked with grey, and the whole insect is clothed with scattered black bristles. The wings are clouded with dull yellow on the basal half, giving it a very distinctive appearance. _Amphibolia fulvipes_ is another very handsome and smaller fly with a broader body than the last, but the wings are shorter and clouded at the base; the head and legs are yellow; the rest black, with the thorax spotted behind and marked with a row of short broken parallel bars in front; the greater part of the abdomen above and below is creamy white mottled with seven bilobed blotches of black forming a pattern on the dorsal surface. It is found about Sydney and has a wide range on the eastern coast.

_Amenia leonina_ is about ½ an inch in length with a more rounded abdomen. The large head is bright yellow, with the thorax and abdomen rich metallic blue; the sides of the thorax and abdomen are marked with several white circular dots, the last two on the tip of the abdomen very distinct. It is found in Tasmania, and ranges along the eastern coast of the mainland into Queensland.

The typical Genus _Rutilia_ is well represented in Australia by a number of large, showy flies rich in metallic tints, and as a general rule not so thickly or coarsely clothed with bristles. _Rutilia formosa_, originally described from New Holland by Desvoidy, is not uncommon along the eastern coast in the summer months. It measures from ¾ to 1 inch in length; is of a general rich light metallic blue tint; the abdomen indistinctly barred with black is rich metallic coppery red, duller in the larger females, which have the abdominal segments more hirsute and bristly. The larvae are parasitic upon beetle grubs, probably those of the brown cockchafer (_Anoplognathus_). _R. decora_ is about the same size and has much the same habits and range. The thorax is rich metallic blue, darker in front, with a row of short black bars; the abdomen is black with a double row of bright green metallic spots down the centre, the two at the anal tip largest. _R. vivipara_ measures about 1 inch in length, with a wing expanse of 1½ inches; it is of a general dull greyish brown tint; the abdomen is lighter brown, and has a dark line down the centre and the sides and tips lightly clothed with grey hairs. _R. inornata_, about the same size as the last species, is a much darker fly; the abdomen is of a uniform dull shining black with grey hairs on the sides but none on the tip. Both these species have an extended range in forest country.

_Myocera longipes_ has the general colouration of a house fly, with long, clear wings behind which are large white squamae; and it has very long slender legs. It has a curious habit of resting on the tree trunks with its long legs spread out in a very characteristic manner.

Family MUSCIDAE.

1. _Lucilia tasmaniensis_ (Macquart). Large blue-bottle
fly.
2. _Lucilia caesar_ (Linn.). Introduced sheep fly.
3. _Lucilia sericata_ (Meigen). Metallic blue-bottle fly.
4. _Musca domestica_ (Linn.). Common house fly.
5. _Musca corvina_ (Fabr.). Bush fly.]

Family 20. Flesh Flies.

SARCOPHAGIDAE.

These flies differ from the true house flies in having the bristle of the antennae plumose at the base but fine and hair-like at the extremity. They lay their eggs or living larvae upon meat or other exposed food, and are also known as “Scavenger” flies because they frequent evil-smelling places like pig-sties and slaughter-yards. Some species are known to deposit their larvae in the nostrils of animals, and there are several records of the death of human beings from infestation by these maggots.

The typical Genus _Sarcophaga_ is world-wide in its distribution, and contains a number of well known species. _Sarcophaga aurifrons_ is our commonest species in Australia, and is also found in the Malay Archipelago. It is over ⅓ of an inch in length; the front of the head is golden; the large eyes deep red; the legs black; and the thorax and abdomen black but thickly clothed with silvery grey pubescence; the black shows through, forming three black bands on the front of the thorax; and the abdomen is mottled with indistinct spots. _S. frontalis_ is a slightly larger species with the face very bright golden yellow; the black bars on the thorax finer and darker; and the abdomen mottled with a more irregular pattern. A much smaller species, hardly larger than a house fly, was described by Skuse (Agricultural Gazette N.S.W. 1891, p. 251) as a parasite of the plague locust; he named it _Masicera pachytyli_; this fly Mr. Coquillett says belongs to the Genus _Sarcophaga_. I have since bred a much larger species from the bodies of locusts in the Bombala district, N.S.W. _Tachina oedipoda_, described by Olliff (Agr. Gaz. N.S.W. 1891, p. 769), I am also informed by Mr. Coquillett, should be _Sarcophaga oedipoda_, and is closely allied to _S. aurifrons_: it also is a parasite on the same species of locust.

Family 21. House Flies.

MUSCIDAE.

This group comprises all the typical house flies, some of which are world-wide in their distribution. All of them have the bristle that forms the tip of the antennae hairy or plumose, while the abdomen is spineless, without bristles except at the extremity.

They deposit their eggs in stable manure or other decaying matter; the maggots, developing very rapidly in warm weather, form the usual hard parchment-like chrysalids from which the perfect flies emerge. Many interesting observations have been lately made on the habits of house flies and the danger of their spreading diseases by carrying germs or particles of putrid matter upon their feet, and thus contaminating food or transferring germs into open wounds; it was proved in the Spanish-American war that the swarms of flies had a great deal to do with the spread of fever in this manner. _Musca domestica_, the common house fly, is almost world-wide in its distribution, and is the chief species found inside the house. In the larval state it chiefly develops in stable manure. It measures about ¼ of an inch in length; is of a uniform black tint but is so thickly clothed with grey tomentum that it appears to be brown; the eyes are red; the thorax is clothed with stiff black bristles, and has four parallel bars down the centre of the dorsal surface. The freshly deposited eggs hatch within a day or two; the maggots develop within six days, and remain in the pupal state for only a few days in the summer; so that it is no wonder that they multiply with such marvellous rapidity, particularly when we discover that one house fly will lay over 1,000 eggs in the season. _Musca corvina_ is a smaller darker tinted species, showing only two parallel stripes down the thorax. It is a common bush species and a great pest in the bush all through the summer, swarming in countless thousands from the eastern coast into the interior. It has a wide range over Europe, North America, Ceylon, and the Malay Archipelago. _Stomoxys calcitrans_ is of a more brownish tint, with the abdomen more flattened, and it differs from the last two species in having a well developed biting mouth; this fly is a troublesome pest to horses, and will alight on one’s hand and bite quite sharply. It has a wide range from Europe across Asia to Ceylon, Java, and Australia.

The Genus _Calliphora_ is well represented by several very distinct species of typical “Blow-flies”; but though the common European species, _Calliphora vomitaria_, is said to be common in New Zealand I have never taken it in Australia. _C. villosa_ is our large common blow-fly; it measures about ½ an inch in length; is of a general slate grey colour with the abdomen thickly clothed with fine golden pubescence giving it a bright mottled yellow tint. _C. oceaniae_ is the smaller blow-fly with a steely blue abdomen, the base on either side bearing a dull yellow blotch by which it can be easily distinguished. Both these species are found in the bush and in the house; they lay their eggs on any food they can gain access to; but in the summer, or when they cannot get at food in time, the egg is hatched in the body of the mother and dropped as a living maggot. Some of the bright metallic species also come in this Genus; _C. rufifaces_ is a much smaller bright rich metallic blue fly, with a silvery face, red eyes, and white flaps behind the wings; it, and the much smaller _C. varipes_ with a yellow face and darker tinted body, are common about dead sheep or decaying matter in the interior.

Family MUSCIDAE.

1. _Calliphora oceaniae_ (Desv.). Blue-bodied blow-fly.
2. _Calliphora oceaniae_ (Desv.). Maggot.
3. Head segment of maggot, showing mouth hooks.
4. Anal segment of maggot, showing tubercles.
5. Pupa.
6. _Calliphora villosa_ (Desv.). Yellow blow-fly.]

_Neocalliphora ochracea_ is somewhat thicker and broader than _Calliphora villosa_, and a much rarer species; it is of a general dull reddish brown colour, with the head and thorax darkest.

In the Genus _Lucilia_ we have the typical “Bluebottle” flies, which are well represented in this country: _Lucilia sericata_ and _L. caesar_, both of a moderate size and deep metallic green and coppery tints, are widely distributed. _L. tasmaniensis_ is a larger species, measuring under ½ an inch in length; it is of a uniform bright metallic blue, and has a wide range.

Family 22. Bot-flies.

OESTRIDAE.

The members of this family are well known in most parts of the world in the larval state as “bots,” internal parasites in the stomach of the horse, in the nostrils of sheep, and the skins of cattle. The life history of the common European bot-fly, _Gastrophilus equi_, is well known; the active fly lays her eggs upon the shoulders or jaws of the horse, attaching them to the hair by a gummy secretion; the horse licking itself transfers the eggs into its mouth, where the tiny maggots hatch out and are carried down into the stomach. They are provided with a pair of fine curved hooks in front of the head by which these little creatures hook themselves into the membrane of the stomach, absorbing their nutriment from the liquid with which they are surrounded. When fully developed these oval spiny bots detach themselves and pass out with the excrement, the maggots at once burying themselves in the damp soil and pupating; the perfect fly emerges early in February in most parts of N.S. Wales. The flies, about ½ an inch in length, have large thickset bodies thickly clothed with short brown or golden hairs, giving them the general appearance of a hairy bee; the male has a short rounded abdomen; that of the female is greatly elongated and usually curled up underneath. There are probably several introduced species now common in Australia with a wide range over the country. It is remarkable that though they do not bite or sting the horses when laying their eggs, yet as soon as the horses hear the loud hum of the bot-fly they gallop about and show an inherited fear of this pest, which, though it does not kill them, must be a very unpleasant parasite when numerous. The members of the Genus _Hypoderma_ are a very serious pest in Europe and other countries where they infest cattle, and are known both as “warble” or “bot-flies.” The fly lays her eggs upon the back of the beast; the tiny larva makes its way through the hide, beneath which it lives and feeds upon the putrid matter caused by the irritation of its presence; it finally produces an inflamed blister-like swelling or “warble,” eventually working its way out through the hide and falling to the ground, where it buries itself and pupates. No species have been found in Australia, but in some parts of England very serious damage is caused to the health of the beast, and the skin by being perforated loses value for making leather.

1 and 2, The introduced Bot-fly, showing dorsal and lateral
view of female; 3, eggs attached to hairs of horse; 4, egg
enlarged (the eggs should be more truncate at the tips); 5,
larval bots attached to piece of the stomach of a horse; 6,
bot much enlarged; 7, enlarged head of bot showing the mouth
hooks.]

The Sheep Nostril Fly, _Oestrus ovis_, has a wide range over the world, and was probably introduced into Australia many years ago, though it has been noticed only quite recently as a serious pest. This fly lays living maggots in the nostril of the unfortunate sheep; the maggots work their way up into the frontal sinuses of the head, where they remain until fully developed, when they turn downward and are usually sneezed out by the sheep in their efforts to get rid of the obstruction. The fly is slightly under ½ an inch in length; the upper surface of the head and body are grey to dull yellow, spotted or mottled with darker tints; the abdomen is yellowish mottled with darker markings. It has been found chiefly in the Blue Mountains N.S.W.

Family 23. Louse or Spider Flies.

HIPPOBOSCIDAE.

These are parasitic Diptera, that having taken to idle and slothful habits (though some of them can fly very well), take up their quarters among the fur or feathers of different animals and birds, where they live and are carried about by their hosts. To suit this method of existence they have become quite altered in structure; they have flat leathery bodies, and their feet are produced into large pincer-like claws which enable them to cling to the skin of their host. Some have large wings with stout nervures but very rudimentary venation; a few though provided with wings at birth bite them off soon after; and others like the well known “sheep tick” are wingless.

As a rule their presence even when numerous does not seem to incommode the infested animals after they have become used to them, for the wild ponies in the New Forest in England are often covered with the horse-fly, _Hippobosca equi_, and they take no notice of them. Yet if one alights upon a horse unaccustomed to the presence of the fly he becomes almost crazy with fright, probably from the pinching or tickling sensation produced by their claws.

A parasitic fly that lives upon wallabies. Figured by me
as _Olfersia macleayi_ (Leach) in the “Agricultural
Gazette,” N.S.W.]

The Common European Sheep Tick, _Melophagus ovinus_, was introduced at a very early date into this country among the wool on the backs of sheep. It is a dark-brown, wingless creature thickly clothed with fine hairs, more like a stout-legged spider than a fly in general appearance, but it has not the requisite fourth pair of legs. These bristly legs are furnished with the usual stout curved claws, between which is a slender appendage like a short string, supposed to be used to hang on with by coiling it round the wool. From their blood-sucking habits and these pincer-like claws, they are very annoying to the sheep when numerous.

The Wallaby Louse Fly, _Olfersia macleayi_, is very common on small marsupials in Australia and Tasmania. When the dogs while hunting pull down and kill a wallaby, these flies generally crawl off and cling to the dog’s nose, rendering him very unhappy. It is a winged form, measuring under ½ an inch to the tip of the folded wings, and is of a uniform shining dark brown tint with a greenish shade very noticeable in the legs. Speiser (Annals Musei Nationalis Hungarici 1904) has placed this species in his Genus _Ortholfersia_.

_Ornithomyia perfuga_, taken on an owl (probably _Spiloglaux boobook_) near Brisbane, has been recently described by Dr. Speiser: it is a larger species of a more reddish brown colour. A very fine louse fly, also taken in Southern Queensland upon a white hawk, measures nearly ¾ of an inch to the tip of the folded wings, and has been identified by the same gentleman as _Ornithoctona nigricans_, described originally by Leach. Among the few other species described from Australia is one found on our pretty little emu wren, which was described by Schiner in the “Zoology of the Voyage of the Novara 1850” under the name of _Ornithomyia stipituri_. A number of our native birds act as hosts for these curious flies; the fruit pigeons, swallows, fly-catchers, and others are known to have them; and when they are systematically collected our list will probably be a large one.

The NYCTERIBIIDAE are another typical family of louse-flies found upon different bats, which are very small in comparison with the true louse-flies: they are always wingless, and have a world-wide distribution. They are reddish brown creatures covered with stout spines; the head is buried in the thorax; and the legs, very long and slender, terminate in immense pincer-shaped claws. Nearly all our bats are more or less infested with these “spider flies,” and several species have been described. Rainbow has recently described one under the name of _Nycteribia pteropus_ from a flying fox taken at Batavia River, N. Australia (Records Australian Museum 1904).

Family 24. Fleas.

PULICIDAE.

The classification of the fleas has always been a matter of doubt; modern entomologists usually place them at the end of the Diptera, considering them a group of degraded flies that from their parasitic habits have become wingless, and have developed wonderful jumping powers; other specialists who have devoted much attention to the question consider them as worthy to rank in an Order, and follow Latreille, who called them SIPHONAPTERA; other writers, like Taschenberg, who wrote his Monograph entitled “Die Flöhe” in 1880, formed them into distinct families. The latest revision of the family is Baker’s “Revision of American Siphonaptera, &c.” (Smithsonian Institute 1904); in this he gives a list of the described species, placing them in five families, and records a total of 134 species from all parts of the world.

Messrs. Jordan and Rothschild in a “Revision of the Sarcopsyllidae” (University of Liverpool 1906) criticise Baker’s classification, and reduce the families to four, extending the limits of the Family SARCOPSYLLIDAE, and adding seven new species.

The flea differs from most other insects in having the whole wedge-shaped body vertically flattened. It is admirably adapted for crawling through hair or feathers, and the large stout spiny legs are well suited for jumping. The head, indistinctly separated from the body, is short, furnished with jointed antennae situated above but behind the eyes; the mouth is produced into a stout pointed proboscis with which it punctures the skin and sucks up the blood of its host. They are all of a more or less reddish brown tint, clothed with scattered stout bristles, and the abdomen is rounded at the apex; the legs are furnished with a pair of tarsal claws. The fact that fleas are capable of spreading the germs of plague and even leprosy has caused a great deal of attention to be devoted to this group, and they have during the last few years been sought for and collected from all parts of the world.

Two species are common in the house in Australia, of which the “domestic flea,” _Pulex irritans_, is too well known to need much description. They deposit their eggs, which are tiny ribbed crystalline spheres (very beautiful objects under the microscope) in the dry dust in cracks and crannies in the floor, or in the corners of badly-swept rooms. From these eggs hatch out slender, legless, transparent grubs with several short bristles on the anal extremity; these grubs feed upon the dust and, when full grown, spin a silken tube in which they pupate buried in the dust.

_P. serraticeps_ is known as the dog and cat flea, though it is not uncommon at times in the house where animals are running about; but though it sometimes comes on man, it is an accidental infestation, and it gets away to its natural host as soon as it can escape. It can be easily distinguished from the common house flea by its more elongate form, and by the black comb-like spines fringing the back of the head and the first thoracic segment, which are absent in the former.

The Rat and Mouse Flea, _P. fasciatus_, is a paler coloured, more slender flea, also with a very extended range over the world. It is notorious as the species that, when living upon plague-infested rats, can transmit bubonic plague to man.

Denny (Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist. XII. 1843) has described another species, which he placed in this Genus, obtained from Tasmania and found upon the _Echidna_, and which he has called _Pulex echidnae_. About a dozen indigenous species have been recorded from Australia.

The Genus _Echidnophaga_ was created by Olliff (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1886) to contain a species he described under the name of _Echidnophaga ambulans_; it is remarkable for its very long proboscis, and short legs which render it unable to jump. Large numbers of this flea were found upon a Porcupine Ant Eater (_Echidna hystrix_) in the Australian Museum. Messrs. Jordan and Rothschild in the Revision previously noticed place 8 species in Olliff’s Genus, adding two more to the Australian fauna, _E. macronychia_ from West Australia found upon a small marsupial (_Bettongia lesueuri_), and _E. liopus_ also from West Australia on _Echidna aculeata_, at the same time recording the last-named species upon rats at Agra, India. They give a number of additional hosts of _E. ambulans_, namely: the opossum, several other marsupials, and the brown snake; and they extend its range from Sydney to West Australia.

The Chicken Flea, _E. gallinaceus_, which they place in this Genus (originally described by Westwood under the generic name _Sarcopsylla_) though it has not been recorded from Australia has a range from America, Africa, and Russia to Fiji; it infests a great number of both wild and domestic animals and birds.

Skuse (Annals of the Australian Museum 1893) described a very curious flea, found in the pouch of a native cat (_Dasyurus_) which he called _Stephanocircus dasyuri_. I have since had the typical legless larvae, found also in the marsupial pouch of the same animal, and it is also common upon the bandicoot in Queensland. This flea has an elongate body, with the front of the head flattened and fringed with fine spines; it has no eyes.

Skuse is said to have described two species belonging to different genera as the sexes of his flea; and Rainbow in the same journal (Records Aust. Mus. 1905) proposes the name of _Ceratophyllus rothschildi_ for the second. Rothschild has described two other species in this genus, _C. hilli_ from N.S. Wales on the native cat, and a second, _C. woodwardi_, from W. Australia.

Flea of the “Native-cat” and “Bandicoot.”

(Original photo. G. Turner.)]

Rothschild also describes two other species which he places in Skuse’s Genus _Stephanocircus_, namely _S. thomasi_ (Nov. Zool. X. 1903) from Barrow Island N.W. Australia, and _S. simsoni_ (Entomologists’ Month. Magazine XVI. 1905), which comes from Tasmania, taken upon a native cat, _Dasyurus maculatus_. In the Entomologists’ Monthly Magazine 1906 Rothschild forms a new Genus _Pygiopsylla_ for a large Tasmanian flea taken on a native rat which he calls _Pygiopsylla colossus_. He makes _Ceratophyllus hilli_ the type of this new genus, in which he also places three other Australian species originally described in the latter genus, namely: _C. woodwardi_, _rothschildi_, and _echidnae_, in the new one.

Order VIII.--HEMIPTERA.

Bugs, Frog-hoppers, Scale Insects, &c.

The structure of the mouth is the distinctive character of the insects of this great Order. Instead of the biting jaws (or sucking mouth) of many other insects previously described it is produced into a slender pointed tube of complicated structure, which usually lies along the under-surface of the head and thorax. This beak, called the rostrum, consists of a jointed sheath (labium) enclosing hair-like setae (mandibles and maxillae). When the insect feeds the sharp tip is pressed into its food, and the sap or juice sucked up, not by the proboscis-like sheath, but by the delicate enclosed setae. Kirkaldy doubts if the sheath “ever even penetrates the tissues, either vegetable or animal, unless these be already lacerated by the setae”; and it is often used only as a fulcrum to steady their operations.

In the outward appearance (often a deceptive character in classification) the members of this group are very dissimilar; probably no two insects could be more unlike than the typical plant bug and the ordinary scale insect.

They all undergo an incomplete metamorphosis, often changing their colours and even shape in the various moults before they are fully developed. The eggs of those living upon plants are generally deposited in clusters, and these are often very beautiful crystal spheres with stellate caps upon the summits. In other groups the eggs are buried in the tissue of the food plant or covered with woolly or sticky secretions.

They take the name Hemiptera from the structure of the fore wing, one half of which is, in the typical bugs, horny and the rest semitransparent.

The families of the plant and water bugs are much more closely related to each other than to the frog-hoppers, cicades and scale insects; and the whole Order has been separated into groups or sub-orders, viz., HETEROPTERA; HOMOPTERA; ANOPLURA; MALLOPHAGA.

Sub-order I. HETEROPTERA.

Bugs.

This sub-division contains all the plant, carnivorous, and water bugs, which vary in size and shape from the tiny little leaf-infesting forms to the great “fish-killer,” _Belostoma indicum_, found in our water-holes.

They are usually furnished with two pairs of wings. The basal portion of the front pair is horny and opaque, and the apical half more or less transparent; this pair covers the larger hind pair, which, well adapted for flight, are folded up beneath when at rest. The members of some groups however are apterous.

Many are furnished with glands on the body secreting an offensive, buggy-smelling fluid, which they discharge when handled or disturbed.

Some species are serious pests to plant life, and swarm in countless thousands over vegetation, sucking up the sap and causing it to wither and die in consequence, as in the case of the Chinch Bug of North America upon wheat, and the Rutherglen Bug in Australia among field crops. Others are predaceous and very useful, destroying great numbers of leaf-eating grubs and caterpillars.

These insects are well represented in Australia, and many of the larger and more showy ones were collected and described at a very early date, and their descriptions are scattered through the pages of many scientific journals. Numbers of our species have been described by Westwood (Hope Catal. 1837); Dallas (List Hemip. 1851); Walker (Catal. Heter. Brit. Museum 1867); Distant (Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1886, etc.); Kirkaldy (The Entomologist); and others in English journals; while among the Continental writers Messrs. Stal, Bergroth, Montandon, Horvath, and Reuter have been the chief workers.

In 1893 Messrs. Lethierry and Severin commenced a “Catalogue of the Described Heteroptera of the World”; three parts were published, but, probably owing to the death of Lethierry, it was never completed, part three closing with the ANTHOCORIDAE, and most of the aquatic groups are not listed. Dr. Mayr has in his “Monograph of the Belostomidae 1871” noted our species.

Family PENTATOMIDAE.

1. _Biprorulas bibax_ (Bredden).
3. _Peltophora pedicellata_ (Kirby).
4. _Chaerocorus paganus_ (Fabr.).
7. _Plautia affinis_ (Dallas).
8. _Cuspicona simplex_ (Walk.).
10. _Dindymus versicolor_ (Herr. Sch.).
11. _Tectocoris lineola_ (Fabr.).
13. _Oncoscelis sulciventris_ (Stal.).

Family PYRRHOCORIDAE.

2. _Dysdercus sidae_ (Montrz.).

Family COREIDAE.

5. _Mictis profana_ (Fabr.).

Family LYGAEIDAE.

6. _Oxycarenus luctuosus_ (Mont.).
12. _Oncopeltus quadriguttatus_ (Fabr.).
15. _Lygaeus hospes_ (Fabr.).

Family REDUVIIDAE.

9. _Ptilocnemus femoralis_ (Horvath).

Family TINGIDAE.

14. _Froggattia olivina_ (Horvath).]

The Heteroptera have been divided into about twenty families, chiefly defined by the structure of the head and wings; these families are again subdivided into a great number of sub-families, many of the more important being represented in Australia.

Family 1. Shield Bugs.

PENTATOMIDAE.

This group comprises many of our largest and most brilliantly marked tropical plant bugs, distinguished from all those of other families by the remarkable size of the scutellum which frequently covers the two pairs of wings and dorsal surface of the abdomen. The majority of these insects fly well. The head is usually furnished with 5-jointed antennae (though some are restricted to four joints), and two ocelli. It is one of the largest groups, and has been divided into fourteen sub-families. There are over 4,000 species in the family, and it is well represented in Australia. This family is sometimes known under the name SCUTELLERIDAE.

The Cherry Bug, _Peltophora pedicillata_, is a bright metallic green bug mottled with black spots on the back; the greater part of the under surface, edges of the thorax, and two blotches at the base of the scutellum are bright coral red: it measures ½ an inch in length and is broad in proportion. It has a range from New South Wales (where it is often found on strong-scented flowering shrubs and has been recorded as a cherry pest) to N. Queensland, where it is very abundant on the wild fig trees. _Tectocoris lineola_ is so variable in size and colouration that it has been described under eight varietal names and has an extended range from the north of N.S. Wales through Queensland to New Caledonia and China. It has a broad, elongate, convex body of a bright orange colour edged on the margins of the body with metallic green; the dorsal surface is covered with curious green or blue patches reminding one of Chinese letters; sometimes these markings are almost absent, in others so confluent that it is more blue than red. Donovan named our variety _T. banksi_, after Sir Joseph Banks, who first obtained specimens from Australia. _Chaerocoris paganus_ is under ½ an inch in length, and of an oval, beetle-like form; its general colour is red with dull metallic green forming blotches on the back, head, and sides of the thorax. It is very common at times crawling about on the rocks and ground about Sydney. _C. similis_ is a smaller darker form, only taken about Gunnedah, N.S.W., but it probably has a wider range.

_Philia basalis_ is one of the common fruit bugs of N. Queensland. It is slightly over ½ an inch in length, with elongate convex scutellum, and a uniform rich metallic green tint, with a bright coral-red spot behind the head and two similar ones at the base of the scutellum; the sides of the abdomen are bright red on the under surface. _P. senator_ is a smaller, more variable form, with the coral-red markings not so distinct. _Philia regia_, about the same size as the last species, is of a rich coppery-red tint, with the hind portion of the back bright yellow, and the ventral surface and legs bright green and yellow. Both these species and _P. senator_ are found along the Queensland coast.

The Genus _Calliphara_ contains a number of large bugs, elongate but broadly rounded in front, with the scutellum forming a complete convex shield over the back; 26 species are described ranging from China through the Malay Peninsula to Queensland. _Calliphara imperialis_ measures over ¾ of an inch in length, and has the whole of the dorsal surface, except the tip of the abdomen, bright shining red; the under surface, legs, and tip of abdomen are dark metallic green. _C. billiardierei_, about the same size, has the back and the under surface of the abdomen (except the tip) red; the head, thorax, legs and tip of abdomen deep metallic green with dull purple tints. _C. cruenta_ is a much smaller species, the thorax and basal half of the back red, shading into purple toward the tip. _C. nobilis_ has the head and thorax dark, with the dull red back spotted with black. All our species of this genus are found in the tropical scrubs of N. Queensland.

_Cantao parentum_ measures over an inch in length, and is more elongate in form; it is of a uniform dull red tint, with the whole of the dorsal surface marked with small irregular black dots; the legs and under surface are black. It ranges along the Queensland coast. It has been reported to have attacked cherries in Southern Queensland. The Genus _Testrica_ contains several little brown bugs, short and broad, with the front of the thorax more or less produced into a spine, and the extremity of the abdomen broadly rounded. _Testrica bubala_ is not more than ⅙ of an inch in length, with the shoulders sharply spined; it is found upon the foliage of small gum trees.

The sub-family CYDINAE contains a number of curious little black shining bugs that live on the ground and are often found hiding under stones. They are quick and active in their habits, and might easily be mistaken for small black beetles. _Geobia australis_, under ¼ of an inch in length, is of a uniform pitch-black colour, with the exposed tips of the elytra greyish-brown; it has spiny legs; the head is clothed with scattered hairs forming a fringe. _Adrissa_ atra is a much larger black bug; it has pitch-coloured elytra with brown tips. This common species is found about Sydney under stones and rubbish.

In the PENTATOMINAE we have a large number of species. They are broadest across the base of the thorax, which is sometimes slightly angulate; the scutellum is large and angular, occupying the centre of the back but not covering the whole of the wing covers. _Notius depressus_ measures over ½ an inch in length, and is broad in proportion; the general colour is deep blue to purple, the sides of the head and thorax and ventral surface marked with yellow. It ranges from Tasmania to N.S. Wales.

_Eumecopus australasiae_ has a wide range, and is often found in wattle scrub resting on tree-trunks. It measures about an inch in length, is a very active insect, and flies readily when disturbed. Its colour is dull brown, mottled with small dull yellow spots; these form several short parallel rows on the pointed head, and there is a distinct yellow spot at the apex of the scutellum.

The Genus _Poecilometis_ contains 14 species peculiar to Australia. They are of the same general form as the last group, are found in similar localities, and are all of a more or less reddish-brown tint. _Poecilometis histricus_, about ¾ of an inch in length, is of a light brown colour with ochreous markings. _P. gravis_, found upon wattle scrub, is smaller than the last species and is of a more reddish-brown tint. _P. strigatus_, about ½ an inch in length, is of a similar brownish colour.

_Dictyotus plebejus_ is one of our commonest little dull brown bugs; is about ¼ of an inch in length and nearly as broad as long. It has a wide range over Eastern Australia, and is found, often in numbers, under stones, dry cowdung, or dead logs. The genus is peculiar to Australia, and contains 18 described species.

_Commius elegans_ is common on the foliage of the native cherry about Mittagong, N.S.W.; it is just under ½ an inch in length; is of a general blue black colour with the thorax and under surface yellow blotched with black; the sides and apex of the scutellum are edged with yellow; and a narrower transverse band of dull white crosses the back just below the tip of the scutellum. It has a wide range over Australia, and was described by Donovan in 1805. _Plautia nigripennis_ is a much smaller plant bug, with the upper surface green, and the sides and tips of the elytra reddish brown; it ranges up the Queensland coast from the Tweed River, N.S. Wales. _P. affinis_ is a pretty little green insect which feeds on rice and other plants in the northern district of N.S.W. It measures about ⅓ of an inch in length.

The members of the Genus _Cuspicona_ range from India to Australia and New Caledonia; eight species are described from Australia. _Cuspicona simplex_ is a finely rugose and green coloured bug about ⅓ of an inch in length, with the sides of the thorax produced into blunt spines, and the elytra broadly rounded to the tip. It infests many field crops and has been reported as doing serious damage to growing potatoes. _C. thoracica_ is a small green species, with the thorax produced into a stout spine on each side. The head and a broad band across the thorax are reddish brown; the margins of the thorax and the centre of the scutellum are marked with bright yellow. It is common in the eastern coastal districts, and has been found feeding on ground crops about Gosford, N.S.W. _C. forticornis_ is a larger green species with the thoracic spines red, and the dorsal surface thickly and finely punctured. It is common in the northern scrubs of N.S. Wales.

The ASOPINAE contains two well known species of Australian bugs: _Cermatulus nasalis_ is common on the Richmond and Tweed Rivers, N.S.W. It measures slightly over ½ an inch in length, and has a somewhat rounded form, with a small projecting head. Specimens vary from an olive brown to almost black colour, and are mottled with deep red; the upper surface is deeply and closely punctured, and the tips of the elytra are metallic bronze. The Vine-moth Bug, _Oechalia schellembergi_, is one of our most interesting species from an economic point of view because it preys upon the caterpillar of the vine moth (_Phalaenides glycine_), several species of cut-worm, and the larvae of the fig-leaf beetle (_Galeruca semipullata_). They lay their rounded glassy eggs in patches of about a dozen upon the foliage, and the freshly emerged bug is dark brown, and flattened in form. The adult bug varies very much in size; the largest is about ½ an inch in length; it is very finely punctured, and is of a general light reddish brown colour mottled with yellow; the sides of the thorax are stoutly spined, and the abdomen is rather tapering toward the tip. It has a wide range over Australia, and is recorded from New Zealand.

The Spined Orange Bug, _Biprorulus bibax_, is a well known orange pest about Moree and the Tweed and Richmond Rivers, N.S.W. It is a handsome bright green bug when alive, but after death usually changes to dull yellow; it measures nearly an inch in length and ¾ of an inch across from tip to tip of the large thoracic spines; the front of the thorax between these stout spines is somewhat depressed; the abdomen is broad and rounded, and the dorsal surface finely punctured.

The TESSARATOMINAE are usually large insects found upon plants, and among them are several destructive species. Among a number of hemiptera submitted to D’Horvath for identification were two species, viz., _Rhoecocoris (Oncoscelis) sulciventris_ and _Stilida indecora_, which both in the larval and perfect state swarm over the orange orchards in the north of N.S. Wales and, by sucking up the sap of the stalks, cause the unripe oranges to fall. Their habits and life history being identical, _Rhoecocoris (Oncoscelis) sulciventris_, which was identified by Olliff in the Agricultural Gazette N.S.W. 1892, I at first confused with _Stilida indecora_ (Ag. Gazette, N.S.W., 1901). _S. indecora_ is of a more reddish brown tint than _R. sulciventris_, with the dorsal surface of the thorax not punctured, and the apical areas of elytra more bell shaped, while the venation is much finer; while the thorax of _R. sulciventris_ is distinctly punctured and the anterior edge of the apical area of the elytra is broadly rounded. _Oncomeris flavicornis_ is our largest Australian plant bug, over 1½ inches in length, of a broad shield shape, over ¾ of an inch across the rounded thorax, and of a general dark reddish brown almost black colour on the dorsal surface; each elytron is richly marked on the basal half with bright yellow, and the apical portion is rich metallic purple. It comes from the tropical scrubs of N. Queensland.

In the Sub-family DINIDORINAE we have _Megymenum insulare_, a typical form very common on the foliage of the low scrub of the semi-tropical forests of N.S. Wales and Queensland. It is of a general chocolate brown tint, with the inner apical markings of the elytra dull white; it measures just under ½ an inch; the sides of the head and the front of thorax are furnished with short angular spines, which are also present round the outer edge of the abdominal segments; and the whole of the dorsal surface is rugose. The immature larvae are brown, flattened, and fringed right round with bract-like processes.

Family 2. Gum-tree Bugs.

COREIDAE.

This group contains bugs in which the scutellum does not extend as far back as the middle of the body; the head is generally furnished with four-jointed antennae inserted above on the sides of the head; there are two ocelli; and the sheath of the proboscis consists of four segments. Many species have the femora of the hind legs dilated or armed with blunt spines. The majority are dull coloured insects that have no distinctive common name in Australia, so for want of better, I propose to define them as “Gum-tree bugs,” as many typical forms feed upon the young shoots of our gum trees (_Eucalyptus_). In America they are sometimes called “Squash Bugs” from their fondness for pumpkin plants. Over 1,500 species have been described and placed in 29 sub-families; and they are well represented in Australia.

The MICTINAE are represented by one of our best known species, which I called the “Crusader Bug,” _Mictis profana_. It is a somewhat variable elongate insect just under an inch in length, of a uniform dull drab-brown, with the inner edge of each elytron marked with a dull yellow stripe, which, intersecting each other in the centre, produce a distinct cross on the back. The hind legs are thickened and the apex of the tibia forms a blunt spine. It has a wide range over Australia, and of late years has been found infesting the citrus orchards, where it punctures the young shoots and causes them to die back.

The Genus _Amorbus_ contains 15 described species peculiar to this country, most of which feed upon the foliage of young gum trees and give out a very strong odour when touched; the young larval forms are often brightly coloured, but in the adult state all these bugs are dull brown. _Amorbus angustior_, under ¾ of an inch in length, has the dorsal surface flattened; the abdomen swells out on the sides beyond the edge of the folded elytra, and the whole surface is granulated or roughened. It is of a uniform chocolate colour with the antennae and abdomen rusty red. _A. robustus_ is a much larger species, stout in proportion, with the same elongate form, but the edges of the abdomen not projecting beyond the wings.

_Mutusca brevicornis_ is a very slender brown bug, about ½ an inch in length, usually found resting among the grass. The head and thorax are elongate, with the former produced in front of the antennae into two slender lobes; the elytra are long and slender, and the wings well adapted for flight. _Riptortus robustus_ is also an elongate bug, but shorter and stouter, with the head short and angular; the thorax is short, rounded in front, and produced into a ridge behind, with a stout spine on either side. The body is long, constricted in the centre, and rounded at the tip: the thighs of the hind legs long, thickened and armed with a row of spines along the inner edge. The general colour is reddish brown.

The Genus _Leptoglossus_ contains some handsome species which are remarkable for having the tibiae of the hind legs dilated into leaf-like processes. _Leptoglossus membranaceus_ is an elongate, flattened, black bug banded with a slender red line across the thorax; the head is small, projecting in front of the triangular thorax; and the shield shaped body comes to a rounded tip. The fore legs are slender, but the hind pair are slightly thickened on the thighs and roughened on the inner edges; and the tibiae have leaf-like projections on either side, giving it a very remarkable appearance. It is common in North Queensland and ranges over Africa, India, Ceylon, and the Philippines.

Family 3. Chinch Bugs.

LYGAEIDAE.

This is a family containing about 1,400 described species divided into thirteen sub-families, but many of the latter are very restricted in their numbers, the majority coming under the typical sub-family LYGAEINAE. Their general characters are similar to those of the Coreidae except that the antennae are inserted below the eyes, and the head is not so flattened and more angular in front. They are smaller bugs of more delicate structure, and their prevailing colours are brown or black variegated with red and yellow; some of them, such as the Chinch Bug of North America, are very destructive pests. As they have no distinctive group name I have adopted Professor Comstock’s name of “Chinch Bugs.”

The LYGAEINAE contain most of the bright coloured species, often marked with red; the wing covers are usually of a somewhat delicate texture.

_Astacops laticeps_, about ⅓ of an inch in length, is a slender black bug with the head and sides of the elytra bright red. _Scopiastes vitticeps_, about the same size, has the head, thorax, and sides of the body red. Both these insects are common on the grass and field crops on the Northern Rivers of N.S. Wales. _Lygaeus hospes_ measures ½ an inch in length, is of the typical elongate form, and is black marked with bright red forming a broad indistinct cross on the basal portions of the elytra. It has a wide range from China and India to Australia and New Caledonia. _L. mactans_ is a much smaller insect, with the head, base of thorax, and the greater part of each elytron bright red. It has a wide range over Australia, and is also recorded from Fiji. _L. decoratus_, about ½ an inch in length, has the whole of the head, thorax, and sides of the elytra banded with red and black; it comes from Queensland.

The Cotton Bug, _Oncopeltus quadriguttatus_, figured in my notes in the Agricultural Gazette 1901, should be according to Horvath _O. sordidus_, Dallas, though the latter name is given as a synonym of the first in L. and S.’s Catalogue. It measures ½ an inch in length, is of a general black colour, with the head and two depressions in the centre of the thorax dull red, and the scutellum and basal half of each elytron deep orange red; the abdomen is dull red and clothed with short down. They lay their eggs to form a ring round a twig, sometimes as many as a hundred in a cluster; the larvae are flat and almost circular in form, of a general red colour mottled with metallic blue spots, and the legs and antennae are dark coloured. This bug is common on the cultivated cotton plants about the Richmond River, and ranges from Sydney into Queensland.

The Rutherglen Bug, _Nysius vinitor_, is one of the most destructive plant bugs in Australia; breeding in grass lands, during the summer it swarms over all kinds of field crops and fruit trees in countless millions, sucking up the sap of both the foliage and fruit. It has a very wide range, and takes its popular name from the town in Victoria, in which it was first recorded damaging grapes. It is a tiny creature, under ⅙ of an inch in length, is dull brown to grey in colour with silvery grey wings; it is very active and flies well. It is so common that under favourable conditions it might become here as serious a pest as the Chinch Bug of North America. The Genus is a very extensive one, containing 69 species distributed from Greenland to S. America, thus almost world wide in its range.

The Coon Bug, _Oxycarenus luctuosus_, is a tiny black and white bug about the same size, originally described from New Caledonia. It is very common, chiefly in the inland districts, swarming over the ground in millions. When in the larval state, before the wings are developed, its general colour is bright red, and it is then much more noticeable, giving the fences on which it rests in the day time a curious blood-red tint. So far it has never been recorded as a plant pest, but that is probably only because it is chiefly a western species, where little fruit is grown.

Family 4. Fruit Bugs.

PYRRHOCORIDAE.

These bugs differ from the last family only in the fact that they are not provided with ocelli. It is a small family containing under 400 described species, placed in two sub-families.