A Ballet of Forest Marbles

 A Ballet of Forest Marbles

It has been a dry year in the northern Queensland tropics. But that has not held back the Forest Marbles. These peculiar plants have been dealt with before in the Blog. See: https://bunyipco.blogspot.com/search?q=Balanophora. 

These plants are not fungi even though they have all the appearances of fungi. They are flowering plants, members of the family Balanophoraceae, Balanophora fungosa. They have no chlorophyll. About 15 species are known from India, southeast Asia and Fiji. They are parasitic on the roots of other plants. I suspect our Elaeocarpus bancroftii-the Kuranda Quandong may be the host as the largest groups of Marbles seem to around the area where there are several giant Quandongs.

The white structures are the male flowers. The female flowers are atop the bulb and actually between the minute nubbins on the bulb. See the reference above for magnified portions of the plant.

This year populations are very dense. More and more appear each day.

The "bloom" lasts for a few weeks and then what is left of the Marbles dry up. They are not attractive to Brush Turkeys of Pademelons. Whether Musky Rat Kangaroos have a go is not known.

Note added: Barry Muir relates that the Balanophora are probably parasites on fungi, not the tress or shrubs as previously thought. Recent research seems to confirm this. You can read his comments on this and other fungi in Cairns Fungi Foragers No. 31: August 2022.  Thanks Barry.

Science Week at James Cook University

Smithfield, Queensland 

Science Week was recently celebrated at James Cook University by inviting the general public, especially children, to a presentation by 4 graduate students who gave short presentations. Children were encouraged to participate by offering prizes for questions. A cap or water bottle was on offer and this was successful in generating interest and maintaining attention.

Matt Conners, candidate for Honours, asked "where do new species come from"? The general idea was to promote the fact than many undescribed species occur in the northern tropics and you could even have them in your own garden. 

He then invited everyone to come forward and view the large insect collection that JCU maintains for teaching purposes. Everyone was favourable impressed.

                                       

Recent books

 

Adventures of Rodney and Me

by Barbara Foster-Rentz

Barbara has produced a children's book highlighting 41 years of living with an Eastern Long-necked Turtle Chelodina longicollis. The main theme of the book is to demonstrate that even turtles have personalities and can relate to humans more than we give them credit for. Rodney-the-turtle is a part of our family and spends life interacting with us more in the house than in his private tank. This book conveys his many "adventures".

The Adventures of Rodney and Me is attractively and cleverly illustrated by Kai Hagberg. He has captured perfectly the personalities of both of the subjects. The book is 30 x 30 cm, a large format, on child-friendly glossy paper and is meant for very young children to about the age of 14. Ideally the book will be read to youngsters by parents until such time as the child can read it on his or her own.

The book is written as a dialogue between the author, Barbara, and Rodney-the-turtle, using emojis to convey who is talking. There is even Rodney's Song which children and their parents will enjoy performing. The book concludes with a Fun Facts Glossary explaining the "technical" terms used in the body of the book. There is a section on Famous Pet Rocks relating to Rodney's favourite rock.

There are not many books about keeping turtles as interactive pets and importantly, making life pleasant for them. Readers will discover that turtles do indeed have personalities and can recognise certain people and respond to their voices and footsteps.

The book is available from Rodney's website: https://rodneyandme.com/

Australia's Incredible Insects

by Jessa Thurman

Jessa Thurman has produced an extraordinary book highlighting most of Australia's iconic insects. The book is published by Australian Geographic and has an innovative layout featuring dozens and dozens of photos taken by Jessa and many other photographers.

Jessa has produced a fantastic book whilst being a graduate student in Entomology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. The book is written for young "wannabe" entomologists but every biologist will want to have a copy for ready reference.

The Introduction describes what an insect is and how it differs from other creatures such as spiders. There are clear illustrations of the basic parts of an insect with colour blocks setting off the parts from several unrelated insect examples. Following the Introduction there is a page briefly discussing the place of insects in the world and the way insects are classified. The following page delves into insect development with excellent examples illustrating Complete and Incomplete Metamorphosis.

The Chapters are not arranged "phylogenetically" but commence with the largest group of insects-the Beetles. Within each chapter there is a map showing the geographic distribution of the species discussed and often a "Fact" octagon highlighting some feature of the insect. 

The book is written in "refreshing" language that is targeted to children. With a little luck it will intrigue young adults and may even lure them away from their hand phones and tempt them to go outside to see what nature has to offer while it is still there. 

The book is a valuable contribution and the many fantastic photos will attract a broad audience. It is produced in large format and comprises 110 pages.

The book is available at: https://www.jessathurman.com.au/