In the Classroom

From: The Puzzle of the Bardi Grub in Nyungar Culture, IN: www.anthropologyfromtheshed.com

Bardis are the edible larvae of 2 major insect groups – beetles (Order Coleoptera) and moths (Order Lepidoptera).

1. Beetles have wood-boring mouthparts, and deposit their eggs in the stems of grass trees and wattles, and in the woody stems of gum trees.

2. Moths. The larvae of moths are generally found underground, feeding on sap from inside the roots of gum and wattle trees. They can live underground for many years.

a) Moths emerge in the evening and fly at night; their names are an indication of when first seen emerging as an adult:

• Rain moth – at the first rains

• Sun moth – at the beginning of the hot season

• Wood moth – where they are found, such as in the crevices of trunks of eucalypt trees.

b) Adult moths have no mouthparts, don’t eat and live a few days only, just long enough to fly, find a mate, and distribute their eggs.

Bardis are sometimes called ‘witchetty grubs.’ The bardi is distinguished from the witchetty grub on the basis of where it is found. The witchetty bush is a species of wattle (Acacia kempeana), which grows in the arid regions of northern WA and Central Australia. The witchetty grubs are the larvae of the Ghost moths, and feed on the young roots of the wattle tree. For more on the witchetty grub:

https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/200027/ witchetty-bush.pdf