Happy New Year 2016

East Meets West

Let's all try to live in peace and harmony in

2016

Happy Holidays 

A Lovely Christmas Gift

 After a couple of months without any visits by a cassowary this fellow turned up.

 

 "It" is a juvenile, about 1/3 the size of an adult and lacking an adult casque. The colours and wattles are not yet fully developed. We won't know the sex for another several months.

 The bird is probably 2-3 years old

We hope it has a better fate than some of the others in the neighbourhood. Maurouding dogs and cars are their worst enemies.

Happy Holidays to All.

Just Hanging Around

The warm weather and recent rains have initiated "snake activity". Several friends have reported that snakes are on the move.

I noticed a small tree adjacent to our veranda swaying back and forth.

 This fellow was about 8 feet long, easily measured as he stretched to the verandah and moved along the railing.

A beautiful head and eye.

Is This An Example Of An Insect Using A Tool?

Every so often on the various nature programs we see examples of mammals and birds using tools to gain an advantage, usually having to to do with food.

This is an example of an insect using a "tool", in a sense, to amplify and/or direct its courtship song.

Quite often I discover male tree crickets of the genus Xabea with their heads stuck through the hole of a leaf.  See another observation.

 Xabea atalaia elderra Otte & Alexander male with its head protruding through the hole in a leaf.

Close-up of the same cricket.

This activity is not unusual in the Tree Cricket subfamily, Oecanthinae. Species in genera such as Oecanthus and Neoxabea have been observed performing a similar behaviour.

The heads and thoraxes of these crickets seem to be modified for this behaviour in that they are unusually elongated.

Elongated head and pronotum of male X. a. elderra.

There has been some question as to whether the cricket makes the hole in the leaf or uses or modifies holes that are already there. In this example made at the James Cook University Daintree Rainforest facility, the holes were ready-made by some other insect.

What is the reason for such behaviour? The cricket utilises the concave underside of the leaf to amplify and/or direct its song.

 Underside of the leaf with singing cricket

Close-up of singing cricket

 I have made a half dozen observations of this species and this behaviour and in every case, the cricket always sticks its head from the underside of the leaf. It does not make a mistake and approach the leaf from the top-side. So what clues does it use to avoid the mistake?

This species is associated with rainforest trees and shrubs and is not found in grasslands like Oecanthus species. The crickets seem to aggregate, perhaps in association with suitable leaves.

As an aside, captive males did not sing in jars where leaves were not provided.

Literature

Otte, D., Alexander. R.D. 1983. The Australian Crickets. Monograph 22. the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Pp. 1-477.

Litte Bear Moths

Every year about this time Little Bear Moths streak around the base of our oil palm (no, I did not plant it) around 9.30 am. Their flights are so rapid that they could easily be missed and certainly do not appear to be moths. Individuals dart back and forth and occasionally a "cloud" of a dozen or so moths hovers for a split second, then they are gone.

Oil palm with bromeliads at base. 

Every so often a supposedly tired individual alights on the bromeliads that adorn the base of the palm allowing a photo if one is careful and lucky.

Little Bear moth, Synechodes coniophora Turner

The overall appearance of the moth suggests beetles or flies of the family Bibionidae, most notably Plecia ornaticornis, often associated with Mullerian Mimicry complexes of many insects.

The moths are apparently interested in the stumpy bases of old palm fronds.

Note the old bases of the palm fronds where the larvae apparently live 

The Brachodidae is a small family related to both Clear-winged moths, Sesiidae, and Sun Moths, Castniidae. About 135 species have been named (Kallies 2004) distributed in all regions except the Nearctic. They are all day-flying but every so often, one turns up on the light sheet. I have seen another species at my place but it was not near the oil palm.

The moths are active for a few days, then they are gone.

Literature

Kallies, A. 2004 The Brachodidae of the Oriental Region and adjacent territories (Lepidoptera: Sesioidea). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, Vol. 147: 1-19

R. I. P. Mrs Cassowary

Yesterday we had the sad news that Mrs Cassowary's body had been found on a property not far from our house. We had not seen her for about 3 weeks and have been wondering what has become of her. An autopsy may reveal the cause of her death.

This bird was unusually placid and often appeared with the male and with the chicks from time to time. This is the second adult female cassowary to die in this area in the past year. The other female was hit by a car on Black Mtn Road.

This leaves the male cassowary, and his sole chick, as the last adult in the area.

Cassowaries have been the subject of many entries on this blog. Simply search for "Cassowaries" and you can access all of them.

The autopsy reveals that the bird had a perforated bowel and died of blood poisoning. There was nothing in the gut to indicate what cause her malady.

At least she was not shot nor attacked by dogs.
DR