Insect haikus, again.

Four hundred thousand(1)
In Australasia alone.
And man is special?

(1) Cranston, P.S., Insect Biodiversity and Conservation in Australasia, 2010, Annual review of entomology, 55: 55-75.

And Jean Hort has so many stunning photos of them: e.g.,
a Robber fly, and an even more stunning robber fly, a mantis, a mantis fly, some ants, an ant's head, and many, many more.

Originally, I wrote four million, but on checking Cranston, I realised I had added another zero to the guestimate of species numbers. He says 400,000 insect species. So I had another go. But it definitely needs a context to be understood.


The photos below show evidence of the many insects here.. And sometimes show an insect.

Insect effects on a Eucalypt, Timber Creek, Northern Territory


On a hakea, Barrenjoey Head, New South Wales.


Male Pandanus flower, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. I think it was crawling with ants, which led me to ask whether it was wind, bird or insect pollinated?


Ant nest, high on a Boab, Angalarri River, Northern Territory.


Termite nest on a casuarina, Barrenjoey Head, New South Wales.


Paper wasp nest on a Buckinghamia, Kedron, Queensland