‘small is beautiful’
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The speaker for June was Otto Mueller. Otto’s presentation ‘Small is beautiful’ was broken into two sub-topics. He started with some photographs and a discussion on Water Striders (Gerridae sp.). As the name suggests, these are aquatic insects that are found on the surface of ponds, lakes, rivers and even on the ocean. The photographs showed how their front legs are held close to the body (to hold prey) and the rear legs and middle legs are spread out on the water surface. They are wingless and consequently are constrained to the water body where they were born. There are many different species, with diversity being greatest in the tropics. Which species will be present depends on the habitat (i.e. ponds, lakes, rivers, and marine). Otto showed a number of photographs of different species that he had found, including a few from tropical waters in Malaysia. He showed ventral images, explaining that the lighter colouration underneath provides camouflage against the bright sky above the surface of the water.

The second part of the presentation took the form of a visual quiz. Otto would show a photograph and ask the audience to guess what the subject was. Some of the images depicted: a Flatidae nymph; a grasshopper nymph, a toadstool (appeared to be a Terracotta Mushroom); plant-hopper nymphs; a mound spring near Birdsville, a branch of the eucalypt, Tallerack; a Mealy Bug female giving birth to young; a praying mantis (close-up of head and forelegs); a gibber plain; the head of a fly with unusual antennae (taken through a microscope); and a fly with unusual appendages near its mouth. Each image generated a discussion and this proved very interesting for the members of the audience.

Colin Prickett