Author: Barry Dent

Brown Soldier Bug

Cermatulus nasalis

This cluster of tiny (2 mm) bugs was on a leaf of Tetragona. I disturbed them accidentally, but they reconvened on the same leaf very quickly. They were such a contrast with their shiny black against the fresh light green of the native spinach leaf.

I’d have got nowhere on this one without the helpful people on iNaturalist: these bugs are the first instar of the Brown Soldier Bug. The adults survive the winter and the females lay their eggs in spring. The hatched nymphs then go through 4 moults over the summer. The first instar bugs stay close to where they hatch, often next to their egg cases, although I did not see any of those. They drink water with their piercing mouthparts and may take plant juices. From the second instar onwards they become predators. You can read more at Landcare’s Interesting Insects website. I’ll add photos of older animals if I see them over summer.

Common Sun Orchid

Thelymitra longifolia

This is the commonest sun orchid in the country, at least until the variable complex currently under one name gets split into several species. It is part of a sparse orchid flora of four species, all terrestrial, on Puangiangi and is quite plentiful there in open country and on disturbed ground trackside.

This species has only the one leaf.

Botanists Chris Horne and Barbara Mitcalfe listed only the one Thelymitra, of a few that might have been expected there, and it is a cheerful sight on a sunny day in Spring and Summer.

Flowers remain closed on dull days and can possibly set seed without ever opening.

(Part of an ongoing effort to photograph all the vascular plants on the island. Each species will get a page when I get enough reasonable photos.)