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+---- Thread: Macleays Spectre (/Thread-Macleays-Spectre)
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Macleays Spectre - Toktokkie - 06-07-2005
Bushbaby Wrote:We have a large brown beetle here that has appeared over the past two years (along with the warmer weather). Not a nice experience having one fly into or around you.
This year for the first time I have also spotted new spiders in the garden - they are like small button spiders, but bright acid/lime green!
The Macleays are doing great, am up to 35-38 youngsters now, and my oldest female has just shed for the first time and is now about as thick as an earbud and just a bit longer than a matchstick. She has also changed colour from black and orange to a tan brown.
I have noticed that these beetles live in the grass. They are not eating my plants, thank heavens. Remember those Christmas beetles we used to get in So. Africa? We call them June bugs here. These brownish green beetles are every bit as big as the June bugs but only flatter.
Like the arrival of your brown beetle, I wonder why they're here, what brought them here, are they pests that farmers will have to contend with?
Interesting to read about the spider. Spiders in the garden are good aren't they? They eat all the insects that harm our plants, and based on the color of that spider, maybe it hides on leaves? Could you post pictures of the spider?
Good job with the walking stick babies. That's so fascinating. I'd like to see pictures.
Macleays Spectre - Bushbaby - 06-07-2005
Toktokkie Wrote:I have noticed that these beetles live in the grass. They are not eating my plants, thank heavens. Remember those Christmas beetles we used to get in So. Africa? We call them June bugs here. These brownish green beetles are every bit as big as the June bugs but only flatter.
Like the arrival of your brown beetle, I wonder why they're here, what brought them here, are they pests that farmers will have to contend with?
Interesting to read about the spider. Spiders in the garden are good aren't they? They eat all the insects that harm our plants, and based on the color of that spider, maybe it hides on leaves? Could you post pictures of the spider?
Good job with the walking stick babies. That's so fascinating. I'd like to see pictures.
I am not sure re the beetles - I have gathered that they are a native species, just more common now than they once were. We have a warm region down in Wicklow where many plants native to the Mediterranean flourish - could be that they have moved out from that area as the rest of the island has warmed up.
I want to get a pic of the spider, but will have to go hunting for her - I left her on the apple tree so will start there. I will also be taking pics of my babies - two of them have shed today and they are absolutely gorgeous - a real visual feast. Once I have all the life stages represented I will take pictures and post them up.
They are proving to be very devious though - everytime I transfer hatchlings from the incubator to the tank I manage to lose one that later reappears on my face, neck, ear, head, etc.