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Insects that thrive on our native plants

By Michelle de Mol

Insects and plants evolved together and are co-dependent. Michelle de Mol, one of our Blue Mountains members, is passionate about observing and documenting, in pictures, these relationships between our native flora and fauna. Here are some wonderful photos she shared with us to showcase these relationships. Photographed in the Blue Mountains, NSW, unless otherwise specified. Thank you Michelle. 

Caper White Butterfly (Belenois java) drinking the nectar of a Flannel Flower (Actinotus helianthi).
A male Yellow-green Austral-Nomia (Lipotriches flavoviridis) pollinates a Flannel Flower (Actinotus Helianthi).
Littler's Masked Bee (Hylaeus littleri), female, on an Old Man Banksia (Banksia serrata) flower. She is collecting nectar and pollen to feed to her babies. After collecting this she flew to a leaf of the same plant and proceeded to concentrate the nectar and pollen through a process called "bubbling".
Banksia Bee (Hylaeus alcyoneus) on an Old Man Banksia (Banksia serrata) flower. Info from Megan Halcroft in native bee group "Bee Aware of Your Native Bees": "VERY territorial little man...he has spurs under his abdomen. He uses these to fight off the opposition. He’s patrolling and fanning to spread his pheromones in the hope of attracting a female or two".
Diphucephala, a native Australian beetle (no common name) on Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosa). This little beetle spent the day resting in this flower in my garden before flying off.
Tick Bush/White Kunzea (Kunzea ambigua) - The jewel beetle Castiarina kirbyi is drinking the nectar of a tick bush flower. These plants attract an amazing amount of biodiversity, with so many different types of pollinators - multiple species of bees, beetles, flies, butterflies, wasps and some birds.
This is a particularly special photo for me. Our backyard was mostly lawn when we moved in, and little by little over the past few years I have been digging up lawn and planting endemic flowering plants to attract beneficial pollinators. This Blue Flax Lily (Dianella caerulea) flowered for the first time in the spring. I volunteer doing citizen science, attempting to match native flowers with their pollinators, so I was observing these flowers to see which species pollinated them (I counted around 10 different types of native bee). This particular bee came along (genus Lasioglossum), and I hadn't seen any with orange 'hairs' like this one had. So I checked with an online bee group, and a native bee expert (Senior Entomologist Dr Ken Walker at Museums Victoria) very excitedly said that it was a bee that didn't appear to be on scientific record. This truly blows my mind, finding a likely new (to science) species of bee in my backyard. And it all came about because I wanted to get rid of my lawn (effectively a desert for native pollinators) and create more biodiversity in my backyard!
Sugarbag bee (Tetragonula carbonaria) pollinating a Blue Flax Lily flower (Dianella caerulea). These bees are tiny and are often mistaken for little black flies (note the size of the bee on the flower compared to the previous photo).
Diphucrania acuducta (a native beetle with no common name) Plant: Heathy Parrot Pea (Dillwynia retorta).
Common Halfband (Melangyna viridiceps) pollinating an Australian Indigo (Indigofera australis) flower. Hover flies are wonderful little native pollinators. They are known as bee mimics and can sometimes be mistaken for bees, but the fly eyes at the front of the head give this guy away.
Common Grass Blue (Zizina otis ssp. labradus) on Small-leafed White Beard (Leucopogon microphyllus). Central Coast, NSW
Bees get most of the credit for the wildflowers we see in the bush, but did you know that flies are important pollinators too? I heard a loud buzzing sound in the bush one day, and saw this fly steadfastly pollinating these beautiful flowers (it looks like it is doing the splits). The fly has no common name but is called Trichophthalma (Trichophthalma) rosea, pollinating Styphelia setigera (previously known as Leucopogon setiger). This fly is so rare that when I first photographed it there were no other photographs attributed to it on citizen science websites. There have since been a few more sightings and I have observed this species pollinating different plant species in various parts of the Blue Mountains.
Tetragonula carbonaria pollinating a Fringed Heath Myrtle flower (Micromyrtus ciliata). In their prime, these plants are abuzz with activity by numerous bee and fly species.
It was cold and mostly overcast when I took this picture. This little native bee (Lasioglossum, female) was just resting in the flower, and after some little bouts of sunshine she moved to pollinate some flowers, then went back to resting for a while. I put my index finger (10mm wide) beside the flower to take a photo for scale, and to my surprise the bee climbed onto my finger and stayed there for a little while (presumably to warm up) before flying away.

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