The Society's emblem, chosen in 1973, on the 50th anniversary of the Society, is the King Stag Beetle, Phalacrognathus muelleri (Macleay), Family Lucanidae (Coleoptera). Its magnificent purple and green colouration makes it one of the most attractive beetle species in Australia. It is restricted to the rainforests of northern Queensland.

Events:

Regular Meetings

ESQ general meetings are held every second Tuesday of the month* at 1pm at the Ecoscience Precinct in Dutton Park, Brisbane (see maps below). There is no need to sign in to the ground floor Seminar Room 1.

There is limited street parking available so Public transport is highly recommended. Visitors are always welcome.

*except January, February and July

Location Map

Building Map

Next meeting:

General Meeting: 9 April 2024 at 1pm

Following the general meeting, Tony Clarke will present "Fruit flies and the ghost of rainforests past: you can take the fly out of the forest but can you take the forest out of the fly?". Queensland fruit fly is one of Australia's major insect pests. The species is considered endemic to tropical forests, yet nearly all research on the pest is done in human-modified (and often temperate) landscapes within a European four-season view of climate. Using research on host-range evolution, seasonal phenology and natural enemy interactions, this talk will illustrate how thinking about Queensland fruit fly as a rainforest insect has offered novel insights intot he biology and ecology of the species, which in turn has supported the development of ecological theory and pest management.

All welcome! Tea and coffee following.

BugCatch :

“Bug-Catch” is a program of collecting trips run by the Entomological Society of Queensland. The object of the trips is to utilise the specialist insect collecting and identification skills of Society members to assist in compiling lists of invertebrates for protected areas (National Parks, Forest Reserves, State Forests, etc), in addition to sharing knowledge with other members. Members are asked to supply lists of species collected, for use in faunal databases.

Past Bug-Catches have been held at Bribie Island National Park, Koala Bushlands Burbank, Beerwah State Forest, Franke Scrub, D'Aguilar National Park, Stockyard Creek, Springbrook/Ankida Nature Reserve, and most recently the QTFN Aroona Homestead.

Past Bug-Catches:

Aroona BugCatch March 2019: The Queensland Trust for Nature Aroona property lies to the west of Ipswich in the Little Liverpool Range.

Springbrook BugCatch: November 2016: Springbrook Plateau. Springbrook is a high wet tableland lying between Lamington and the Gold Coast and is about 90 minutes drive from Brisbane on good roads. We were guests of the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society at their Ankida property which has several hundred hectares of rainforest with running creeks and waterfalls.

Stockyard Creek BugCatch January 2016 Report...

During the Stockyard Creek BugCatch weekend, Geoff Monteith and Kathy Ebert ran a workshop for ESQ members and local landholders on how to survey dung beetles. Landowners and some ESQ members trapped dung beetles in the district and all catches were later combined and sorted in Brisbane. These BugCatch results, when combined with the rest of the survey, resulted in almost 4000 specimens of 35 different species from 60 different sample sites. All species were photographed and the data were used to plot detailed distribution maps for each species. The overall report gives valuable feedback to the local landowners on the diversity on their properties, as well as giving them the opportunity to see the benefits of participating in a collaborative scientific survey exercise. The results of the survey are available at the following link:

A survey of the dung beetles from the Upper Lockyer Valley (70MB)

Crohamhurst BugCatch November 2015 Report....

Mt Glorious BugCatch September 2014 Report...

Mt Mee BugCatch March 2014 Report...

Franke Scrub BugCatch October 2013 Report...