Howe Magnificent

Volunteers on the third annual Australian Geographic Society Lord Howe Island scientific expedition helped discover insect species previously unknown to science.

- Lauren Smith

Wcollecting wasps, millipedes and soldier flies. But our group of keen citizen scientists on last year’s scientific expedition to Lord Howe Island turned out to also be good at collecting spiders and crustaceans.

Our scientific mentors – Drs Juanita Rodriguez and Bryan ‘The Fly Guy’ Lessard, both entomologists from the Australian National Insect Collection, a Canberra-based CSIRO facility – were nevertheless endlessly good-natured about the array of minibeasts with which we enthusiastically filled our sample tubes.

It wasn’t just small, industrious spiders or tiny freshwater prawns that split our focus. As well as collecting samples during the week-long expedition, we also counted anemonefish and sooty terns; hiked through kentia forest; swam in turquoise waters; looked for turtles at Old Settlement Beach; ate three-course meals of fresh seafood and home-grown produce; and enjoyed drinks at sundown on the lagoon as mutton birds clumsily landed before ducking into their underground nests.

Lord Howe is described by visitors with all kinds of paradise-related terminology, and rightly so. But what also struck me was the sheer abundance on the island – of birds, fish and turtles, of palms and ferns, of beaches, walks and food…an abundance of delight.