Habitats of Sydney
Even the most urban areas can provide habitat for some species.
Crustaceans
Sydney has many crustaceans, living in a variety of habitats.
Insects
Insects are found in almost every habitat in Sydney.
- What are insects?
- Why most animals are insects
- Ant-raiding Ant
- Bull ants
- Funnel Ant
- Golden-spined Ant
- Green-head Ant
- Meat Ant
- Spider Ant
- Sugar Ant
- Common Blue-banded Bee
- Common Wasp-mimic Bee
- Cuckoo bees
- Feathery Leioproctus Bee
- Honey Bee
- Leafcutter Bee
- Masked bees
- Nomia bees
- Peacock Carpenter Bee
- Reed bees
- Stingless Bee
- White-banded bees
- Braconid wasps
- Cuckoo wasps
- Diapriid wasps
- European Wasp
- Fig wasps
- Flower wasps
- Hatchet wasps
- Ichneumonid wasps
- Mud-dauber Wasp
- Paper wasps
- Potter wasps
- Sand wasps
- Spider wasps
- Velvet ants
- Steel-blue sawflies
- Australian Carpet Beetle
- Beach rove beetles
- Bess Beetle
- Blue Mountains Firefly
- Bombardier Beetle
- Christmas Beetle
- Click beetles
- Darkling Beetle
- Feather-winged beetles
- Flat African Dung Beetle
- Jewel Beetle
- Lesser Grain Borer
- Long-nosed Lycid Beetle
- Orchid Beetle
- Paropsine Beetle
- Plague Soldier Beetle
- Powder Post Borer
- Pumpkin Beetle
- Punctate Flower Chafer Beetle
- Transverse Ladybird
- Three-punctured Diving Beetle
- Whirligig Beetle
- Bronze Orange Bug
- Cotton Harlequin Bug
- Crusader Bug
- Feather-legged Assassin Bug
- Floury Baker Cicada
- Giant Water Bug
- Greengrocer Cicada
- Green Vegetable Bug
- Termite Assassin Bug
- Australian Painted Lady
- Blue Triangle Butterfly
- Cabbage White Butterfly
- Caper White Butterfly
- Common Brown Butterfly
- Common Imperial Blue Butterfly
- Common Grass Blue
- Bronze Flat Butterfly
- Macleay's Swallowtail
- Meadow Argus Butterfly
- Orange Palm Dart
- Orchard Butterfly
- Wanderer Butterfly
- Yellow Admiral
- Emperor Gum Moth
- Giant Wood Moth
- Grapevine Moth
- Privet Hawk Moth
- Scribbly Gum Moth
- White-stemmed Gum Moth
- Fiery Skimmer
- Mountain Tigertail dragonfly
- Pygmy Shutwing
- South-eastern Petaltail
- Sydney Hawk Dragonfly
- Waterfall Redspot
- Balsam Beast
- Black Field Cricket
- Blackish Meadow Katydid
- Common Garden Katydid
- Common Macrotona Grasshopper
- Common Pyrgomorph
- Illawarra Raspy Cricket
- Mole Cricket
- Sydney Gum Leaf Katydid
- Flat Cockroach
- German Cockroach
- Native Cockroaches
- False Garden Mantid
- Purple-winged Mantid
- Australian Sheep Blowfly
- Biting midges
- Crane flies
- House Fly
- Hover flies
- March flies
- Mosquitoes
- Robber flies
- Vinegar Fly
Marine fishes
Sydney Harbour and coastal waters are home to a rich diversity of fish.
- Australian Mado, Atypichthys strigatus (Günther, 1860)
- Bigbelly Seahorse, Hippocampus abdominalis Lesson, 1827
- Blacktip Bullseye at South Solitary Island
- Eastern Blue Devil, Paraplesiops bleekeri
- Eastern Blue Groper, Achoerodus viridis (Steindachner, 1866)
- Eastern Frogfish, Batrachomoeus dubius (White, 1790)
- Eastern Wirrah, Acanthistius ocellatus (Günther, 1859)
- Fanbelly Leatherjacket, Monacanthus chinensis (Isbeck, 1765)
- Fortescue, Centropogon australis (White, 1790)
- John Dory, Zeus faber Linnaeus, 1758
- Luderick, Girella tricuspidata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
- Mulloway, Argyrosomus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
- Old Wife, Enoplosus armatus (White, 1790)
- Peppered Sole, Aseraggodes sp.
- Pineapplefish, Cleidopus gloriamaris De Vis, 1882
- Red Indian Fish, Pataecus fronto Richardson, 1844
- Red Morwong, Cheilodactylus fuscus (Castelnau, 1879)
- Eastern Red Scorpionfish, Scorpaena jacksoniensis Steindachner 1866
- Sand Whiting, Sillago ciliata Cuvier, 1829
- Sergeant Baker, Hime purpurissatus Richardson, 1843
- Common Silverbiddy, Gerres subfasciatus (Cuvier, 1830)
- Snapper, Pagrus auratus
- Sydney Cardinalfish, Apogon limenus (Randall & Hoese, 1988)
- Trumpetfish, Aulostomus chinensis (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Common Seadragon, Phyllopteryx taeniolatus (Lacépède, 1804)
- White's Seahorse, Hippocampus whitei Bleeker, 1855
Reptiles
About 40 species of reptiles are found in the Sydney region.
Sharks and rays
Over 60 species have been recorded, about half occurring in the harbour.
- Common Stingaree, Trygonoptera testacea Müller & Henle, 1841
- Eastern Shovelnose Ray, Aptychotrema rostrata (Shaw & Nodder, 1794)
- Greynurse Shark, Carcharias taurus Rafinesque, 1810
- Port Jackson Shark, Heterodontus portusjacksoni (Meyer, 1793)
- Spotted Wobbegong, Orectolobus maculatus (Bonnaterre, 1788)
- White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758)
Birds
A diverse group, exhibiting a range of adaptations for all environments.
- Birds: Aves
- Birds in Backyards: top 30 urban birds
- Australian Pelican
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
- Black Kite
- Common Bronzewing
- Common Koel
- Flame Robin
- Galah
- Golden Whistler
- Great Cormorant
- Great Egret
- House Sparrow
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Masked Lapwing
- Pallid Cuckoo
- Pied Oystercatcher
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
- Tawny Frogmouth
- Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Freshwater fish
Twenty four species occur in the Sydney area.
Jellyfish, anemones and corals
About 130 species have been recorded in Sydney Harbour.
Mammals
Both native and introduced mammal species can be found in Sydney.
- Mammals: Mammalia
- Australian Fur Seal
- Black Rat
- Bottlenose Dolphin
- Bush Rat
- Common Bent-wing Bat
- Common Brushtail Possum
- Common Ringtail Possum
- Feathertail Glider
- Grey-headed Flying-fox
- House Mouse
- Humpback Whale
- Koala
- Long-nosed Bandicoot
- Short-beaked Echidna
- Southern Brown Bandicoot
- Southern Right Whale
- Spotted-tailed Quoll
- Sugar Glider
- Swamp Wallaby
- Water-rat
Sea stars, sea urchins and other echinoderms
One of the easiest groups to find on the rocky shore.
Spiders
You can see spiders by day and night in just about any habitat.
- What are spiders?
- Bird-dropping spider, Celaenia excavata
- Black House Spider, Badumna insignis
- Daddy-long-legs Spider, Pholcus phalangioides
- Flower Spiders, Diaea sp.
- Garden Orb Weaving Spiders
- Golden Orb Weaving Spiders, Nephila sp.
- Ground spiders
- Huntsman Spiders
- Jumping spiders
- Magnificent Spider
- Net-casting Spiders
- Redback Spider, Latrodectus hasselti
- Sac Spiders
- Silver Orb Weaving Spiders
- Spotted Ground Spiders
- Sydney Funnel-web Spider, Atrax robustus
- Trapdoor spiders
- Trapdoor Spiders
- Wolf Spiders
Centipedes and millipedes
Leaf litter, soil and the underside of logs are their preferred habitats.
Frogs
About 37 species of native amphibians are found in Sydney.
- Frogs: Class Amphibia
- Bleating Tree Frog
- Brown Toadlet
- Common Eastern Froglet
- Dainty Tree Frog
- Eastern Sedgefrog
- Eastern Pobblebonk Frog
- Giant Barred Frog
- Giant Burrowing Frog
- Green and Golden Bell Frog
- Green Tree Frog
- Haswell's Froglet
- Jervis Bay Tree Frog
- Leaf Green Tree Frog
- Lesueur's Frog
- Peron's Tree Frog
- Red-crowned Toadlet
- Red-eyed Tree Frog
- Rocket Frog
- Fletcher's Frog
- Striped Marsh Frog
- Spotted Marsh Frog
- Tusked Frog
- Tyler's Toadlet
- Verreaux's Tree Frog
Lace corals and sea mats
About 210 species of bryozoans are known to occur in Sydney Harbour.
Molluscs
Molluscs live on the rocky shore, and in freshwater habitats and gardens.
- Overview of molluscs - Phylum Mollusca
- Non-marine Molluscs
- Blacklip Abalone
- Black Nerites
- Blue-lined Octopus
- Blue mussels
- Cart-rut Shell
- Common Pipi
- Common Sydney Octopus
- Elephant Snail
- Garden Snail
- Giant Cuttlefish
- Ischnochiton australis
- Leopard Slug
- Limpets
- Little Blue Periwinkle
- Red Triangle Slug
- Sea Hare
- Squid
- Sydney Cockle
- Sydney Mud Whelk
- Sydney Rock Whelk
- Turban Snail
- Violet Snail
- Zebra Snail
Sea squirts and cunjevoi
Sydney has over 80 species of ascidians.
Sponges
About 160 species are found in the Sydney region.
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