PBI collecting trip to Western Australia October 2004: WA ‘04

The “bush” at Shark Bay

The trip took us from Perth, to the Shark Bay area, Cape Range National Park near Exmouth and back to Perth

The “WA’04” crew, with Gerry Cassis, Michael Wall, Celia Symonds, Nik Tatarnic and Christiane Weirauch (clockwise)

The habitats sampled comprised coastal dune vegetation as at Flat Rocks Beach, south of Geraldton ….

...inland dunes with cycads and flowering Conospermum and Xanthorrea near Eneabba Reserve….

…heath vegetation as in Lesuer National Park (left) and roadside collecting spots with Acacia as the one north of Carnarvon (right).

Canyons in the Cape Range National Park (left) and Kennedy Range National Park (right) revealed not only true bugs but also the bush fly, Musca vetustissima.

A page from the “PBI-WA04” field note book, with locality data, records of the field hosts and notes on collected Miridae and a map with some of the localities

Celia and Michael discussing host plants

Windy camp spot close to the beach, with the big working tent in the center

Hardly any space left in the car for the collectors…

Eucalyptus grandiflora, host of an undescribed plant bug of the phyline tribe Leucophoropterini

Only five of the many species of Acacia that provided Orthotylinae and Phylinae

Proteaceae, here represented by Banksia (background and upper right), Conospermum (upper left) and Grevillea (lower left), proved a reliable source of Miridae, but also hosted other true bugs such as Thaumastocoridae

Some of the 24 host plant species that revealed true bugs on a collecting site west of Kennedy Range National Park

Abandoned termite mount with new inhabitant: This harpactorine assassin bug (Reduviidae) hides in the crevices

Some arthropods…

…and vertebrates on the trip: a “stumpy” skink and family of emus

Trip results

54 localities

336 hosts

> 10,000 Miridae