Perga sp. (genus)

Sawfly or Spitfire at Queanbeyan West, NSW

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Identification history

Perga sp. (genus) 18 Sep 2016 MichaelMulvaney
Unverified 17 Sep 2016 Speedsta

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User's notes

This was an interesting lot. They all seemed to move in unison, almost like a small heart beat.

2 comments

   18 Sep 2016
Yes there is safety in numbers individual spitfires are more readily eaten by birds, but a wriggling mass, oozing smelly eucalyptus sap is very uninviting to predators. They separate and feed at night. They collect the eucalyptus oil from the leaves they eat and it is stored in a special sac. The Gang Gang Cockatoo has learnt to extract and discard the sac and loves nothing better than to munch on a mass of wringers such as those photographed.
Speedsta wrote:
   18 Sep 2016
What an amazing insight thank you Michael.

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