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National Institute of Entomology - Specimen Spotlight

 

Spp Number 00472:
(Updated Monthly)

Sp00472Im01
Sp00472Im04HYMENOPTERA / Mutillidae / Bothriomutilla rugicollis (Westwood, 1843)
Collection Date: 24 September 1977
Collected by: Unkown La Trobe Student
Location: Elmore, Victoria.

 
 
 
 
 The Mutillidae are a family of more than 7,000 species of wasps whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their resemblance to an ant, and their dense pile of hair, which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Their bright colors serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings, (the sting of the species Dasymutilla klugii rated a 3 on the Schmidt pain index and lasts up to 30 minutes, and has resulted in the common name "cow killer" or "cow ant" being applied to the species Dasymutilla occidentalis.

 However, mutillids are not aggressive and sting only in defense. In addition, the actual toxicity of their venom is much lower than that of honey bees or harvester ants. Unlike true ants, they are solitary, and lack complex social systems.

 

Latest Institute of Entomology News

Bug Club Term 1 Ends

07/04

Students of the National Entomology Junior Bug Club have now completed their Term 1 module and are taking a well deserved school holiday break.
To keep them occupied, they are getting their entries ready for our first Insect Photography Competition.

Special prizes are for First, Second and Third places and students may enter as many times as they wish. The winners will be posted here.

Bug Club Students Kept Busy

15/03

Our National Junior Insect Bug Club students have been thoroughly enjoying their On-Line classes and have been allocated their first assignments for the year.
Students have a segment in their classes called 'Featured Entomologists' where students learn about the work of professional entomologists both in Australia and
overseas.

This week, after learning about the great works of the late myrmecologist Edward O Wilson, students will follow up with their own ant surveys of their own properties.
Each different observed ant species is allocated a number, photographed and plotted on a large 'Property Map' to describe where on the property it was found.

A great way to introduce students to diversity.

 

 

Major Email Issues

14/03

For the past 8 days, all of our email servers were not able to send out emails and one server in particular was being used to send out 200 spam emails daily.

This server has been permanently shut down. We have decided to migrate all our website and email hosting to our own new servers dedicated only to our usage.
There will be a delay of a few days as we move all our data across and hopefully, all should back to normal by mid next week.

 

Insect Survey at Big River

11/02

 The Institute recently went up into the High Country south of Eildon to do an aquatic insect survey at the Jim Bullock Reserve.

Some interesting Ephemeroptera and Odonata were collected in order to add to the holdings of the Victorian Regional Insect Collection. The trip was also an opportunity to test out the new shelter annex designed to piggy back onto the NIOE van.

All in all, a great trip into some spectacular country.

Entomology Club Class A Full

31/01

Class A of the National Junior Entomology Bug Club is nearly full for the Tuesdays slot. A second Class B may open if demand continues for a Wednesday Class. Parents...enrol quickly!

Announcing the NATIONAL JUNIOR ENTOMOLOGY BUG CLUB

25/01

The National Junior Entomology (The Bug Club) Group is now accepting young students for an Australia Wide On-Line program learning all about insects and other related invertebrates. Already, many young students with a keen interest in insects have become members and are looking forward to the yearly program starting in Term 1.

For all the kids out there fascinated with insects and other micro critters, this is the group for you!!. We'll meet On-Line every Tuesday (Class A) and Wednesday (Class B) at 5:30 to 6:00 PM during School Terms 1-4 to learn and talk about all things insect.
Students will learn how to study and collect them, how to start their own proper insect collections and begin an amazing journey of discovery into the world of insects and their relatives.

As students gain more knowledge and experience, they will be able to progress towards gaining their Entomology Club Grade Level Awards and will also work towards preparing, curating and displaying their entomological collections and acquired entomological skills at our National Entomology Insect Expo in October 2025!!. Parents, this is a perfect opportunity to help nurture your childs scientific interest and curiosity while they gain a valuable appreciation of the environment as they develop into adolescence.

A huge thank you for the support given to our students by Australian Entomological Supplies PTY LTD, for offering a 10% discount available to our Junior Club Members wishing to purchase supplies and other items directly from AES.

(Suitable for Age Group 10 - 18.)

The National Institute of Entomology is a registered Working With Children Provider. No# 2298350A

Classes will run every Tuesday and Wednesday for the following School Terms at 5:30 Pm via ZOOM Video Conferencing.

TERM 1 - February 4 to April 1st
TERM 2 - April 29 to May 27
TERM 3 - July 29 to September 16
TERM 4 - October 14 to December 16

 

 

Back On Line with FB, Meta, Instagram

18/01

Looks like all our Social Websites are back up and running. We never did find out what the issues were but we will still offer an apology for the downtime.

All META Pages Suspended

14/01

For some unknown reason, all our FaceBook, Instagram, Meta and WhatsApp pages and Accounts have been put on HOLD pending our appeal. We have no idea what caused this issue and will follow it up with the FaceBook admins in order to get this resolved as soon as possible.

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