Month: January 2021

I’ve been trying to include images of interesting species that recur on multiple weeks in the hope that this makes it easier for me to understand phenology and seasonal change in community composition. I expect increasingly to use portmanteau images that show several of these species at once. For the time being, I’ve added some functionality so I can quickly crop smaller images from the views of the entire sample and use these to highlight these records.

This week’s images again focus on Hymenoptera in the sample, with several interesting Tiphiidae and large numbers of smaller wasps (Pteromalidae, Chrysididae, etc.).

Among the chrysidoid wasps were one male and one female of the subfamily Elasminae (Eulophidae). The pale hind tibiae of the female clearly show the diamond pattern that Riek, 1967 offers as diagnostic for the genus Elasmus. The female seems to key out cleanly as Elasmus margiscutellum Girault, 1915, a species recorded from Canberra (Mount Majura). The male seems close to Riek’s description of the male of Elasmus aquila Girault, 1912, particularly in the enlarged posterior bristles on the scutellum, although that species has pale fore coxae. The male of Elasmus margiscutellum is not described in Riek.