300D with 100mm macro lens and flash for all shots. Approx 1/200 @ f 11, maybe up or down a stop or so. The ss wire is 3.2mm to give an idea of scale.
I hadn't realised until a week or so ago, that the "bird dropping caterpillar" changes from being like a bird dropping, into a fat green caterpillar later on in its cycle.
Thanks Mike & Al for your comments. As I said earlier, I understand that the caterpillars have different phases, and I have attached what I assume to be 3 of the different morphs (instars) that they go through.
Paul (1ponders) seems to be up on this sort of thing, so can you confirm if I have got my facts straight?
All taken with the 300D , 1/200 @f11, with varying amounts of flash. Other than cropping and resizing, no PP.
They are the same caterpillar. It is the larvae of the Orchard Butterfly. I think you will find also that the bugs in the second shots aren't assassin bugs, though I have no idea what they are.
I have emailed the Qld Museum re the "assassin bug". They have been very helpful in the past on insect ID, and when I have a reply, I shall post an update. Thanks for the query, I like to get things correct. I had realised that it was an Orchard butterfly, they are very common in the garden, and being a Papilio, love the citrus as a food plant.
They are magnificent butterflies that's for sure. It is surprising how different the males and females are though. I'm interested in finding out what those other bugs are. I spend alot of time looking at insect pests and biological control options and I've not come across them before. They look for all the world like some type of shield bug nymph. I'll do a bit of a search and see what I can come up with.
Thanks for that Paul. I haven't had a reply from the Qld Museum yet, but if it comes today, I'll let you know what they say. My bug differs slightly from the one in the Keith Power image, but it could be a different instar I suppose.
If you want to see something really gross but really interesting at the same time watch a predatory mite feeding on two spotted mites under a microscope. The mites are pretty much transparent under these conditions and when the predatory mite feeds it injects its digestive fluids into the two spotted mite, sucks it out again, injects again....it does this quite a few times, until all of the TSM insides are liquified and then slurps it down. You can see all this going on inside the TSM. Really gross. Especially as it is struggling and kicking to get away while this is happening. Vampires are nothing compared to the micro world.
That would be most interesting. I have a microscope, and will have to find some predatory mites, but I'm away for 2 months as from tomorrow, and don't really have the time now, as you can imagine.
Thanks Andrew for your comments. I have just returned from a trip to Carnarvon Gorge, and tomorrow am off again for 2 months to Arfica and UK, so you won't hear much from me for a while.
Paul, I have just received a reply from the Qld Museum re the ID of the bugs, and as you said, it is a shield bug. Here is the email that they sent me.
Hi Mike
The four insects feeding on the orchard swallowtail caterpillar are predatory immatures of the Family Pentatomidae in the Order Hemiptera, or true bugs. There are at least 6 genera of predatory pentatomids in Australia.
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Especially as it is struggling and kicking to get away while this is happening. Vampires are nothing compared to the micro world. 
