Australian Potter Wasp, Abispa ephippium (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) or Australian Hornet is not to be mistaken for the ‘murder hornet’.

 Yellow broomrape, Orobanche minor, (Scrophulariales: Orobanchaceae), a parasitic plant.

A penultimate male spider, Hoggicosa bicolor (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Paper wasps protecting their paper nest (Hymenoptera).

Two-toned caterpillar wasp, Heteropelma scaposum (Morley) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae).

Sparshall's moth caterpillar, Trichiocercus sparshalli (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae).

Join the network

Are you interested in discovering a new species or two?

Well, join the club and have fun with MyPestGuide in your State/Territory.

Protecting ourselves from weeds is vital to ensuring the health of our environment and food production industries. 

Tangier pea, Lathyrus tingitanus (Fabales: Fabaceae - Papilionaceae)

Watsonia sp. (Liliales: Iridaceae)

Wall fumitory, Fumaria muralis (Papaverales: Papaveraceae). 

Protect our plants and help us celebrate the International Year of Plant Health 2020 to promote worldwide awareness and action.

These excellent weed snaps sent in this week show that some may look pretty in pink, but they can spread when we travel and can easily become pesty problems.

Red valerian, Centranthus ruber (Dipsacales: Caprifoliaceae) 

30-Day Challenge

The 30-Day Challenge is a set of activities designed to test your surveillance skills. 

Download the 30-Day Calendar of activities and complete each in any order.

Win the Plant Surveillance Network prize. 

School Challenge

Survey different habitats and help build a reporting community by taking part in the Biosecurity Blitz School Challenge.

The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Qfly) is one of Australia's most serious fruit pests. It is found mainly in the rainforests of northern Australia where it infests native plants.

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Medfly), is an exotic fruit fly to Australia which is now an established pest in the southwest of WA.

Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) on cut flowers

Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Qfly and Medfly are both polyphagous Tephritid fruit flies – meaning they infest a very broad range (250+ species) of cultivated fruits and vegetables.

These flies take advantage of our irrigated environments, surviving in the dry Aussie climate where we grow many varieties of fruits and vegetables.

Close surveillance and control in your home garden is essential to reduce their impact on the produce we grow for trade.

Blister in the sun

Leaf-blister sawfly larvae feed within the upper surfaces of eucalypt leaves, delaminating the surface, creating brown blotchy patches, and giving the leaf a scorched appearance.

Worst affected are young trees, as it can stunt their growth but it rarely harms the tree. Let the tree outgrow these seasonal pests and observe how the tree responds.

Leaf blisters on young Eucalyptus leaves caused by leaf-blister sawfly (LBS), Phylacteophaga froggatti (Hymenoptera: Pergidae)

Medfly, Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) inside homemade trap

Marc Widmer demonstrating how to make your own Brown marmorated stink bug trap

A homemade trap is cost-effective and fun to make plus it provides a good level of pest control keeping numbers manageable.

Prepare the lures or attractants for your trap, using a source of protein (like Vegemite, beer or fish cubes), maybe some sugar (honey) plus a liquid (water or beer again).

Drink bottles are perfect for making traps!

As precious as gold

Here is a report from Wiluna, WA which is part of Martu country.

The main industry located here now is gold mining and the area is protected from pests by Indigenous rangers employed to undertake environmental assessments.

Antlion or owlfly, Heoclisis spp. (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae), Wiluna