Black Faced Percher: Diplacodes melanopsis

Location: seasonal swamp, still water,

Bunbury, Western Australia

Season: Spring/Summer

Class: Insecta 

Order: Odonata 

Family: Libellulidae 

Genus: Diplacodes

Diplacodes melanopsis

Black Faced Percher is a medium sized dragonfly measuring about 5 cms in length. It has a bright scarlet red body. The eyes, head and the thorax are dark red to black, hence the name Black Faced Percher. The abdomen has black markings on each segment on the bright red background. It can be (easily) distinguished from the other red coloured dragonflies, the Scarlet Percher and Wandering Percher by the markings on the abdomen. While the Black Faced Percher has dark (heart shaped) markings on each abdominal segments, the Wandering Percher has smaller less prominent markings and the Scarlet Percher has no markings at all. The Black Faced Percher, of course, has a black head and thorax which are red in the other two.

This Black Faced Percher's perching pattern is parallel to the long grass but perpendicular to ground. The Scarlet Perchers perch mostly parallel to the ground. One other difference is the wings of the Scarlet Percher has red patch at the base of the hind wings. The Black Faced Percher has clear wings with black pterostigma and a small area of red patch very close to the border of both hind and the fore wings.

Reference: Brisbane Insects

Sacrlet Percher: Diplacodes haematodes

Class: Insecta 

Order: Odonata 

Family: Libellulidae 

Genus: Diplacodes

Diplacodes haematodes

Scarlet Percher is a completely red coloured dragonfly with bright red eyes, head, thorax and abdomen. The abdomen lacks markings which distinguishes it from other red dragonflies, the Black Faced Percher and the Wandering percher. The wings are clear with red patch at the base of hind wings, red costa and red pterostigma. The above is a picture of a male. The females are paler red to yellow in colour. The female has black marking on the abdomen. There is a yellowish brown coloration to the wing tips of the female.

The Scarlet Perchers tend to perch parallel to the ground around water bodies, appearing to sun themselves. They often compete with each other and with much larger Blue Skimmers for perching spots.

Tick Tock Cicada: Physeema quadricincta

Class: Insecta 

Order: Hemiptera 

Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha 

Infraorder: Cicadomorpha 

Superfamily: Cicadoidea

Physeema quadricincta

(previously known as Cicadetta quadricincta)

Tick Tock Cicada is the most common cicada seen (mostly heard) around Bunbury during early summer. These cicadas have a classic calling song which is soft clicking, more clip-clop than tick-tock. They are mostly found in low lying grasses of the heath. They are as big as a bee in size, much smaller than the other common Red Bandit Cicada. With some perseverance they are easy to spot if the call is followed. They tend to have a weak flight when disturbed. They more or less jump to the nearest grass straw. They don't look particularly remarkable at the first sight but when the sunlight hits, they dazzle. The black body has olive green to yellow pattern on it, that shimmers with a golden shine. The abdomen has paler rings. The wings are clear with a brown costa. The underside is pale green. This species is endemic to the South West of Western Australia. 

References: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2012/f/zt03287p262.pdf

http://dr-pop.net/quadricincta-238.htm