Insects - Nandewar fieldwork gallery

The Bioregions of New South Wales.

The Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Research team in the field, just before the inaugural hat judging competition.

Digging a pitfall with an auger.  Often areas that have been selected for sampling have rock or rocky substrate underneath the topsoil, making installing the pitfalls difficult.

A pitfall and flagging tape installed and ready to trap.

Insects can use camouflage very effectively.  This photo shows a Praying Mantis on tree trunk.

Retrieving pitfalls in a mixed White Cypress and Tumbledown habitat.

To complement pitfall sampling we used techniques to capture arboreal insects.  Here, insects are being beaten into a beating net before being sucked into a collection vial.

A UFO or a giant space anemone?  Actually a particular cloud formation called a lenticular cloud.

All pitfalls require a lid in order to keep the rain out.  Here a lid is having pegs attached as legs before being placed over the top of the pitfall.

It

Helen Doherty standing in front of a mountain of tailings from the abandoned Woodsreef asbestos mine near Barraba.

At the end of each day

The view from the top of Mt Kaputar looking toward Narrabri.

A Tachinid fly on a tree trunk.  Tachinid larvae are almost all parasitic on other insects.