Lechenaultia ... Leschenaultia

In a moment of optimism — or madness or both — I bought a Lechenaultia biloba to plant in the front garden. I have no idea if it will take, because they are as sensitive as they are glamorous. We'll see. If it doesn't succeed, I'll always have the memories ...

Lechenaultia is named after French botanist Jean-Baptiste Louis Claude Théodore Leschenault de la Tour, who sailed on the Naturaliste under Nicholas Baudin. Lechenaultia and Leschenault? There's surely some mistake. Well, yes and no.

During the voyage, Leschenault met British botanist Robert Brown, who was travelling on Matthew Flinders' vessel, HMS Investigator. When Brown described the genus in his colleague's honour, he used what he thought was the correct spelling of his name (Morrison 1986). He was wrong but the generic name is valid. It can't be changed simply for politeness' sake.

Still, although Lechenaultia remains as the generic name, Leschenault is celebrated in the common name.

Reference
Morrison, D.A. (1986). Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes of Lechenaultia R. Br. (Goodeniaceae). Brunonia 9: 1–28. (PDF, 1.7MB)

The Thursday gastropod: Hadra bipartita (expanded)

Hadra bipartita (Férussac 1823) (Camaenidae) is the largest snail species in Queensland's Wet Tropics. How big? I measured almost 400 shells and recorded a range of sizes from 22.4 to 68.3 mm in diameter and 15.8 to 57.3 mm in height. When they're big, they're very, very big; when they're little, they're middling.



The bipartite coloration — light to mid-brown above and dark brown to black below — and the white lip are characteristic. Although a few other species might look vaguely similar, only H. bipartita displays this combination. Occasionally, unicolour specimens turn up. Although they lack the darker base, they invariably have a glossy white lip. (One of these 'blondes' is in the second photo below. It's in the box to the right of my hand.) With much enthusiasm, Pilsbry (1893) gave these variants a name: Chloritis (Hadra) bipartita unicolour.



Because it is so variable in size and shape (some individuals are flatter and have an angled periphery), H. bipartita has attracted a conga line of synonyms. It is likely that H. webbi (Pilsbry 1900) from the Atherton Tablelands and H. semicastanea (Pfeiffer 1849) from Lizard and Restoration Islands also belong to this species. Hadra bartschi (Marshall 1927) from the islands of Torres Strait (between Queensland and Papua New Guinea) is almost certainly a small version of it as well.

Tom Iredale — who wasn't averse to coming up with a new name or two — spoke of the genus Hadra as being 'a source of trouble for local conchologists who attempted to separate the species, using their special knowledge of the actual living conditions' (Iredale 1937: 19). Some years after Marshall split the Torres Strait snails into three species and twelve subspecies (including multiple subspecies from tiny islands), Iredale referred to these taxonomic decisions as 'tragical'. But he hedged his bets and pointed out that, if some of Marshall's taxa were valid, then it was likely that 'many more [names] will also be necessary, as the colonies on each islet appear to differ a little' (Iredale, 1937: 20). Getting into the spirit of things, he then named the population on Warrior Island as a subspecies of Marshall's H. bartschi.

Not only is H. bipartita a big snail, it also has a big distribution. If all those island forms turn out to belong to this species, then it occurs from Torres Strait south to Mission Beach. If they don't, then the northern limit is retracted to the tip of Cape York Peninsula. Hardly a change at all.



It is a rainforest species but lives anywhere with suitable cover. Island populations are not as fussy as the mainland ones: on Lizard Island (NE of Cooktown), it makes do with coastal scrub and grass and on Flinders Island (Princess Charlotte Bay), it copes with eucalypt woodland. It's also quite unconcerned by altitude, being equally happy on the coastal plain and the summit of Queensland's highest peak, Mount Bartle Frere (1586 m).

Although H. bipartita is abundant, live snails are not all that obvious. They rest by day in forest litter, perfectly camouflaged against the dead leaves. They may also burrow. A rainy night in the wet season is the best time to go Hadra-spotting. Otherwise, you'll have to be content with the shards left by pittas and scratched up by scrub fowl.

References
de Férussac, A.E.J.P.J.F. d'A. (1823) Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques Terrestres et Fluviatiles (1819-1851). Paris: J.-B. Baillière, Libraire de l'Academie Naturale de Médecine.

Iredale, T. (1937) A basic list of the land Mollusca of Australia. Pt II. Australian Zoologist 9: 1–39.

Marshall, W.B. (1927) The Australian land shell Thersites bipartita and its allies. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 72: 1–16.

Pfeiffer, L. (1849). Nachtäge zu L. Pfeiffer Monograph Heliceorum. Zeitschrift für Malakozoologie 6: 66–79.

Pilsbry, H.A. (1893). Guide to the study of Helices. Manual of Conchology (2) 9.

Pilsbry, H.A. (1900) A new species of Thersites. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1899: 473–474.

Birding from the car window

I often see nankeen kestrels hovering at the side of the road*. They must be the most abundant bird of prey in Australia. Getting a photo of one is another matter, as Duncan at Ben Cruachan blog can attest.

On my way back from North Queensland, I got stuck for a while at some road works. While I was waiting, a kestrel flew past the windscreen and landed on a fence post at the side of the road.

I scrabbled for the camera and got a couple of shots before the bird took off again. They're not the best photos because the camera's autofocus got the background in the first shot and the bashful bird turned away in the second. But ... y'know ... you take what you can get.



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* They're the ones doing the hovering, not me.

Banana

I should have stopped to photograph the sign that says Welcome to Banana, the shire of opportunity. But I made up for it with these.



Banana Shire is named after the town of Banana, which is named after Banana's Gully, which is named after the yellow bullock buried there. Banana (the bullock) was used by stockmen as a decoy to bring in wild cattle. So successful was he at his job, that he's been immortalised by this statue at the edge of town.

Central Queensland is cluttered with statues of cattle — Rockhampton has half a dozen of them — but Banana stands out as the one with real personality.

I and the Bird #56

Lately I have been horribly disorganised about contributing and posting links to I and the Bird. But this isn't about me. It's about the entertaining and informative articles authored by bird bloggers around the globe. The latest edition is up at Big Spring Birds. And there really is a wonderful cross section of topics in this one — from the blues* to the booze.
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* blue(s)birds, that is.

For Chuckie and Lynsey

The Dargon Hill Monarchs have settled in and are glowing like miniaturised suns. The West Coast Gem has produced its first flower (right). The Callistemon White Anzac has buds on it. That part of our garden is looking quite refined now but by this time next year, it will be gloriously gaudy.

Now, what did we decide for the next part? Red and green? Orange and blue?

Semi-precious spiders

Gasteracantha fornicata is an Art Noveau brooch of a spider, a blend of curves and spikes enamelled in black, red and yellow. The combination of colours makes it stand out from its background. Advertising this way might not seem like a good strategy for a predator. Hello, here I am in the middle of this almost invisible orb web is not the best way to trap unwary insects.

Or is it?

By manipulating the colour of G. fornicata from the Daintree region of Far North Queensland, Mark Hauber found that brightly-coloured individuals had greater success with prey than soberly-dressed ones. Perhaps there's something about the contrasting colours that entices the more reserved insects to their doom?

Hauber also noticed that the spiders sit on the undersides of their webs, so their darker derrieres are viewed against vegetation and their gaudy tops against the light. He suggested that this behaviour might be part of the trap — maximising the chances of intercepting insects as they fly up from nearby plants.



I photographed this individual at the Flecker Botanical Gardens in Cairns. This is how the colour patterns appear to us. I'd love to see how they'd appear to insects.

Reference
Hauber, ME. (2002) Conspicuous colouration attracts prey to a stationary predator. Ecological Entomology 27(6): 686–691. (Abstract available at Blackwell-Synergy)
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* This was the first spider species described from Australia. Johann Christian Fabricius named it in 1775 from material collected by Joseph Banks from the Endeavour River region. I haven't seen the original description, so I'm not sure why it received that curious specific epithet. Probably best not to inquire.

Panorama

My first attempt at a panorama. Hinchinbrook Island and Channel once again.

Where else but Queensland?

I'm not sure the advertising company that came up with the slogan had this in mind but ... well ... you know ...

From ABC news yesterday:

Autopsy to determine if pet camel killed woman

An autopsy will determine if a 10-month-old pet camel killed its owner at Bollon in south-western Queensland.

Police Sergeant Greg Wheeler says the woman's body was found by her husband when he returned from feeding stock on their property on Saturday afternoon.

Sergeant Wheeler says there were signs that the camel had injured the 60-year-old woman, but it is possible she may have died from natural causes before they were inflicted.

"She did have some injuries to her head area, [it also] appears she's been rolled around on the ground by the camel and [she] had a significant amount of camel hair on her body," he said.

Brisbane's Courier Mail has more on the story:

Police said the camel, which was given to Ms Weaver as a 60th birthday gift, knocked her to the ground, stamped on her and then lied (sic) down on top of her.

They said the 10-month-old animal had a history of bizarre behaviour – it had attempted to suffocate the family's pet goat on numerous occasions.

(Yes, it really does say 'lied'.)

CNN has a different interpretation of the camel's behaviour:

The 10-month-old male -- weighing about 330 pounds -- had knocked her to the ground then lay on top of her in what police suspect was mating behavior, [Detective Senior Constable] Gregory said.

I'll let the story speak for itself.

Hinchinbrook Island (updated)

I mentioned that I photographed the flowering Balanophora at the Hinchinbrook Island lookout. This was the scene behind me as I took the snap of the weird vegetation. Worth showing, I think.


Hinchinbrook Island is almost halfway between Cairns and Townsville. This lookout is south of Cardwell (which also offers stunning views of the island).

The island is a mountain range of granite and volcanic rocks, separated from the mainland by the drowned valley of the Herbert River (Hinchinbrook Channel). The mangroves lining the Channel are breeding grounds for estuarine crocodiles. Dugongs also live in the shallow waters.

Far North Queensland

At 39,900 hectares, Hinchinbrook Island is one of the world's largest island national parks.

Floral freeloader

It looks like a fungus growing among the leaf litter on the forest floor but the closest of close ups reveals thousands of tiny white flowers clustered together where there should be a fungal cap. Balanophora fungosa is a flowering plant that has abandoned photosynthesis and adopted a parasitic lifestyle. Instead of using light energy to manufacture sugars from carbon dioxide and water, Balanophora taps into those already made by a host tree. Having ditched photosynthesis, there is no need for chlorophyll — the plant comes in a range of earthy colours but none of them is green.

For most of the year, Balanophora lives entirely in the soil. In winter, the flowering heads push up through the humus. At this time, the forest floor can be packed with these low-profile plants but fallen leaves may hide them from view.


Balanophora fungosa in rainforest at Lake Eacham. The flowering heads are covered by scale-like leaves.




Balanophora fungosa at the Hinchinbrook Island lookout. Female flowers are clustered on the golf ball* inflorescences, whereas male flowers project from the base.

Southern Illinois University's Parasitic Plant Connection has more photos of this species and its relatives.
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* May not be a strictly technical term.

Hunting the wild bustards

The last time I went to Chillagoe, I saw bustards. In fact, I saw them twice. The first sighting was on the track connecting Mount Surprise and Almaden. Then I spotted more near Chillagoe itself. But that was nearly fifteen years ago. What were the odds of seeing bustards on this trip?

Late on Sunday afternoon, we drove out to Balancing Rock, which is a short distance south of Chillagoe. We were going to look at the scenery, have a wander around, be tourists for a while before a gin and tonic and an early dinner at the Post Office Hotel. We didn't have great expectations of the wildlife. We knew we'd probably see a wallaroo and maybe some red-tailed black cockatoos on their way to roost, if we were lucky.

But we were more than lucky. We had just turned onto the road to the National Park, when a couple of bustards strutted across the road right in front of us. They didn't hurry, didn't seem at all bothered by us. We got a good look at the birds before they disappeared among the termite mounds at the side of the road. Celebrations all round. (They would have been more enthusiastic if I had brought my camera. But my companion had been sensible enough to bring his, so the moment was recorded.)

Strolling bustards near Chillagoe (Photo by M.)

On the same day, we saw another bustard. And on the Monday, either a fourth individual or a repeat viewing of one of the others just north of town. (This time I had my camera.) So, three or four bustards in a weekend. Can't be disappointed by that!

The view through a dusty windscreen. (Top photo by M, lower photo by me.)

Hastie's Swamp again

This time we watched the birds from the top floor of Queensland Parks and Wildlife's splendid hide at Hastie's Swamp near Atherton, FNQ.

Plumed whistling ducks (Dendrocygna eytoni)

Azure kingfisher (Ceyx azura)

White-breasted sea eagle (Haliaetus leucogaster) a long way away

Comb-crested jacana (Jacana gallinacea), also a long way away

Intermediate egret (Ardea intermedia) (What sort of unimaginative name is that?)

Swamp hen (Porphyrio porphyrio) hanging out with the whistling ducks

You didn't think I was going to leave without photographing this fellow? An Australasian grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) being uncharacteristically nonchalant.

I'd rather not be here ...

I got home late yesterday afternoon. I didn't want to be home but I couldn't put it off any longer.

I went to work this morning. About half of the paperwork in my pigeon hole belonged elsewhere (including the round filing cabinet), so I was able to reduce the pile very quickly. I thought I had a lecture at 10 am but was delighted to find that it had been shifted to 11 am. Things were going well.

Then I found out that the bulb had blown in the projector in that lecture theatre. Apparently, the problem had been reported last week but it was taking some time to fix. (A blown bulb is a common problem, so why didn't they have one on hand? Well, that would be an unused asset, silly.) So, I printed out the 150 Powerpoint slides (it was a long lecture) to photocopy onto transparencies for use on the OHP (which, as far as I knew, had a functioning bulb.)

Now this was within 20 minutes of the start of the lecture. It was a bit tight but I could copy some of the text and pictures ...

Well, I could have copied them, had the photocopier not been left jammed* and, once having been unjammed, had it not refused to pick up the slippery transparencies from the bypass tray.

I contemplated standing at the front, holding up the photocopied slides and discarding them one by one like Bob Dylan in the clip for 'Subterranean homesick blues'.

In the end, I had to give the lecture without any visual aids other than a white board and a blue marker. And I think I managed it. I'm no great fan of Powerpoint for Powerpoint's sake but it can be useful in lectures, especially for images (of which there were many).

They had better get a projector bulb quickly ...

Yep. I'm back at work.
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* Thank you, whoever did that. You're on my hit list.

I'd rather be here ...

Sign on the Burke Developmental Road between Chillagoe and ... er ... Normanton

Gyliotrachela australis

Another weeny snail from the limestone at Chillagoe. This is a pupillid with close relatives in SE Asia. It has a discontinuous distribution in Australia — it occurs on widely-spaced limestone outcrops in tropical Queensland, the Northern Territory and NW Western Australia.



It's an odd-looking animal. The shell aperture is expanded like the bell of a tuba. It seals onto rock faces to prevent desiccation during the dry season. Although they are abundant in suitable habitats, their small size and drab coloration make them very difficult to spot in situ.



(Thanks to M for the top photograph.)

Pleuropoma extincta

A helicinid snail from the Chillagoe region. This the biggest of the four cave-associated species. (Although these specimens are under rocks at the base of an outcrop rather than near a cave. Move along please, there's nothing to see here.)





The specific epithet 'extincta' refers to the belief that the first specimens collected were subfossil. In his description, Odhner noted that the same species was also found in New Guinea:

The occurrence of one and the same species in a subfossil state at these two separate localities, the one situated in New Guinea and the other in North Queensland, is a fact of considerable interest, as it offers the best thinkable proof of the theory of a land bridge between the two countries in a geological period immediately preceding the present time. A careful scientific investigation of the caves at Chillagoe will certainly reveal many other facts of importance as to our knowledge of the zoo-geography of Australia.

I'm not sure whether Odhner was correct in the assessment that the specimens from New Guinea and Australia belonged to the same species but the cave micro-snails do show a strong biogeographic association between northern Australia and South East Asia. Pleuropoma is widespread. Two other cave micro-snails — Gyliotrachela australis and Georissa minuta are related to similar species in tropical Asia — whereas the fourth species, Stenopylis coarctata is thought to range over a wide area of the tropics.

The larger snails, most of which are camaenids, are a little more conservative. As far as we know, their closest relatives are all in Australia.

More snails later.

Reference
Odhner, N.H. (1917). Results of Dr E. Mjöberg's Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia. 1910-1913. K. Sven. Vetensk.-Akad. Handl. 52(16): 1-115 pls 1-3

Fowl horseplay of the apostlebirds

No good comes from anthropomorphising but it takes a stronger person than me to watch apostlebirds and not impose human motives on them.

Apostlebirds gather in gangs and squabble over ... well, everything it seems, but they're particularly fond of arguing about food. They also appear to scheme. They behave like a cross between the Jurassic Park velociraptors and Wile E. Coyote. Great plot hatchers are the apostlebirds.



On the way up, I watched them slowing down traffic on the Leichhardt Highway north of Goondiwindi. Like the white-winged choughs further south, they spread out on the road, forcing all but the largest trucks to brake. I was sure that they were practising car-jacking. Once they learnt to open a vehicle door, there'd be no stopping them. (Curse these useless wings!)

My suspicions were confirmed* by the activity of a mob of apostlebirds in Chillagoe. When a toddler dropped his sandwich, the birds were on it in a flash. They cleaned it up in seconds and still had time for a barney. But then the child decided to retrieve his food. He approached the birds. They retreated.

But they didn't move very far. They scampered a short distance, then paused. It looked as though they were luring the child to a nearby tree. Why? Well, hidden somewhere in the branches there was almost certainly an Acme anvil. (Curse these useless wings!)



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* For very small values of confirmed

I've been a bit slow on posting. On Wednesday I drove from Cairns to Townsville and last night (Thursday) I got into Biloela and went straight to bed. I'm posting this before I head off to Goondiwindi.

When I dropped off my friend at Cairns airport on Wednesday morning, I realised that the moment he walked through the departure gate* was the start of my long journey home. I delayed it slightly by going for a walk on the mangrove boardwalk near the airport but it had to happen. Reluctantly, I headed south.

Overcast morning in Cairns

A gentle reminder next to the ornamental freshwater lake at Centenary Lakes Park

Mangrove boardwalk at Cairns Airport (a good spot to see crabs, mudwhelks and mosquitoes)

I went for a walk on the beach at Cardwell. A beach stone-curlew patrolled the water's edge. It might have been admiring the view of Hinchinbrook Island but was probably more interested in the thousands of mudskippers doing their elaborate modern dance interpretations on the tidal flats.

Hinchinbrook Island from the beach at Cardwell

Beach stone-curlew

Mudskippers

I stayed with a friend in Townsville, which was great fun. The house is on the edge of a park frequented by bush stone-curlews, so I fell asleep to the sound of their melancholy wailing.

Anyway, the drive from Townsville to Biloela (about 900 km) wasn't too bad. I spotted a crested hawk (aka Pacific baza) just south of Mackay and another Brahminy kite over the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton. (And other birds, obviously, but those were the notables.) I got stuck behind a ute between Dululu and Biloela, which wasn't a problem except that driver and passenger kept chucking out their rubbish as they drove along. Where's that roof-mounted RPG launcher, titanium cow catcher and laser axle-vapouriser when you want it?

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* One of the many things in life that I don't understand is why Cairns airport's two arrival gates are numbered 1 & 2 but their seven-ish** departure gates start at 16 ***. Where are the others? Do they lead into an alternative reality?

** I've forgotten the number

*** I've forgotten that number too****

**** But you get the idea

Macleay's muggers

Things not to do #426.

Do not go outside with a half-eaten banana if the Macleay's honeyeaters are around. One minute, I was having breakfast. The next ...

Shameless avians at Tarzali, Atherton Tablelands

A taste of Chillagoe

The whole country is a vast undulating plain, dotted with rugged masses of curiously-outlined limestone ridges, rising to many hundreds of feet, straight out of the ground, giving the landscape a stern and oppressive grandeur; the deep fissures of these towering walls are filled with gnarled and hoary trunks of trees striking and grasping the massive fragments with their rootlets and creeping and twisting in and out of crevices. Below, the huge blocks of stone are overgrown with an intricate wilderness of shrubs and creeping plants; while high above, these dark and towering walls are destitute of any living thing, and their stricken, shattered-looking peaks networks of sharp pinnacles with needle-like points, stand grey and arid-looking against the intense blue of the sky.

Ellis Rowan, 1891

Limestone in Chillagoe - Mungana National Park

Brachychiton australis (not quite at its best)

Birding on the snail trail

The Tablelands – Chillagoe – Cairns bird list. 102 spp and we weren't trying very hard.

1. Southern cassowary
2. Orange-footed scrub fowl
3. Brush turkey
4. Magpie goose
5. Plumed whistling duck
6. Hardhead
7. Pacific black duck
8. Australasian grebe
9. Great crested grebe
10. Australian pelican
11. Darter
12. Little black cormorant
13. Little pied cormorant
14. White-faced heron
15. Cattle egret
16. Great egret
17. Little egret
18. Intermediate egret
19. Australian white ibis
20. Straw-necked ibis
21. Brolga
22. Black-shouldered kite
23. Whistling kite
24. Black kite
25. Swamp harrier
26. White-bellied sea eagle
27. Wedge-tailed eagle
28. Australian hobby
29. Nankeen kestrel
30. Eurasian coot
31. Purple swamp hen
32. Australian bustard
33. Eastern curlew
34. Black-fronted dotterel
35. Comb-crested jacana
36. Masked lapwing
37. Beach stone-curlew
38. Silver gull
39. Gull-billed tern
40. Brown cuckoo-dove
41. Emerald dove
42. Topknot pigeon
43. Peaceful dove
44. Crested pigeon
45. Bar-shouldered dove
46. Red-tailed black cockatoo
47. Sulphur-crested cockatoo
48. Galah
49. Rainbow lorikeet
50. Scaly-breasted lorikeet
51. Australian king parrot
52. Red-winged parrot
53. Pale-headed rosella
54. White-rumped swiftlet
55. Fork-tailed swift
56. Azure kingfisher
57. Forest kingfisher
58. Blue-winged kookaburra
59. Laughing kookaburra
60. Rainbow bee-eater
61. Striated pardalote
62. Atherton scrub wren
63. Mountain thornbill
64. Helmeted friar bird
65. Noisy friar bird
66. Blue-faced honeyeater
67. Macleay's honeyeater
68. Lewin's honeyeater
69. Bridled honeyeater
70. Varied honeyeater
71. Yellow honeyeater
72. Dusky honeyeater
73. Grey-headed robin
74. Eastern yellow robin
75. Chowchilla
76. Eastern whipbird
77. Pied monarch
78. Spangled drongo
79. Magpie-lark
80. Willie wagtail
81. Grey fantail
82. Black-faced cuckoo-shrike
83. Figbird
84. Black-faced wood swallow
85. Little wood swallow
86. White-breasted wood swallow
87. Pied butcherbird
88. Australian magpie
89. Pied currawong
90. Victoria's riflebird
91. Australian raven
92. Torresian crow
93. Apostlebird
94. Spotted catbird
95. Great bowerbird
96. Common myna
97. Metallic starling
98. Welcome swallow
99. Silvereye
100. Yellow-bellied sunbird
101. Double-barred finch
102. Nutmeg manikin

(Other birds spotted on the way up:

Emu
White-necked heron
Grey butcherbird
White-winged chough)