2009's December invertebrate collection trip to north Queensland has been another extremely successful one. For the last 5 years we have headed into the rainforests of northern Australia for a full week of intensive bugging during early December. Most of the work is undertaken at night and during the early hours of the morning when the majority of the invertebrate species we are seeking are active.

Although we were more targeted this year, and quite focused on finding specimens to supplement a number of our existing captive breeding programs, we still collected a number of species that we didn't already have. We even found and collected several species of invertebrates that we had never seen before - it just goes show how diverse and numerous the invertebrates are when after 5 years of visiting the same sites we are still finding new things!

This year we collected 328 specimens, comprising 73 species. Most are being housed and studied within the specialised rooms and enclosures behind the scenes at Melbourne Museum, while some have already made their way onto display within Bugs Alive.  The biggest challenge is developing techniques to keep and breed species which have not been kept before. We record everything we do, and we are always learning.

The 'aqua-gold' katydid. A species we had not seen before, and one that has yet to be formerly classified. Photo: Alan Henderson Source: Minibeast Wildlife

A red coloured predatory raspy cricket with white knees - another species we encountered for the first time. Photo: Alan Henderson Source: Minibeast Wildlife

A tenebrioniid beetle; yet another species we encountered for the first time. Photo: Alan Henderson Source: Minibeast Wildlife