Not all froth and bubble
Both adult and young Spittlebugs suck the sap of plants. Young nymphs create a protective environment in which to live by excreting the excess water from the sap in the form of a foam, pictured left. The foam serves several purposes. Firstly it creates a moist environment to live in so that the nymphs don’t dehydrate. Secondly the foam acts as a thermally insulative barrier from the outside world and lastly the foam gives the young spittlebugs a place to hide.
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Not all spittlebugs however live in the froth and bubble. There is a small family of spittlebugs known as Tube Spittlebugs that suck the sap of eucalyptus trees. They extract calcium from the sap and construct a calcareous tube or cone that is attached to the tree, pictured right. The cone is filled with excreted fluid in which the spittlebug lives. The nymph has to leave the cone to moult at which time it creates a temporary foam ‘dressing room’ for itself to change in.
Such modest creatures.
Cute Summer Visitor
Not many people actually get to see the White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone olivacea), but they might hear its beautiful warbling song. Gerygone (pronounced Jer-i-gon-ee) means ‘children of song’ which is highly suitable. Seymour Bushland Park is frequently visited by the Western Gerygone, (which is tiny and completely plain in colour) but the White-throated spreads further through the Highlands to Trawool, Yea Wetlands, and the forests.
Both gerygones have an amazing up-and-down call that carries quite a long way. Once I was out with a group of birders in Seymour Bushland Park and I witnessed an elderly lady whistle the call of the Western Gerygone whereupon one flew into view. Then she altered the whistle slightly to mimic the White-throated and one of them obligingly flew to a nearby tree and replied. It was an astonishing performance! I’m not sure I can tell the difference in the bush, as they both have a beautiful up-and-down clear whistle. Below is a wonderful recording by David Wakefield of the White-throated.
It is always a wonderful thing to hear a Gerygone, but it is plain lucky to get a good look at one.
AI or Alien?
These days in this AI world it is hard to determine if a photograph is real or just some computer-generated image. And sometimes when you actually see something it’s still hard to believe it exists.
The Common Cassinia (Cassinia aceulata) on the property are in full flower and the insects and arachnids are flocking to them. The flower heads are festooned with beetles, spiders, moths and flies. One beastie that has turned up that I have never seen before is pictured below, a Small-headed Fly (Ogcodes sp.). As the name suggests the head looks small when compared to the rest of the body giving it an otherworldly hunched-back appearance. It almost looks AI-generated.
And if the looks aren’t weird enough the lifestyle is like something out of Alien the Movie. The Small-headed Fly is a parasitoid of spiders meaning its young prey on spiders for food. But rather than lay the eggs on a paralysed spider as is the case with wasps the adult fly deposits the eggs in the vicinity of spiders. When the eggs hatch the larvae (maggots) actively hunt down any nearby spiders, climb up their leg and bury themselves in the spiders body where they continue to grow. Less AI and more Alien.
I think the answer to the title question is a bit of both.
Core Cormorants
The easiest way to think of the cormorants in Australia is that we have 2 large and 2 small: Large Pied and Little Pied, Large Black and Little Black. Except that those names aren’t used exactly anymore. The Large Black is properly called Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the larger of the pied cormorants is just called Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius). The sizes are as indicated – the 2 species called ‘Little’ are smaller than the other two but that’s not helpful when you see just one. However, there are two other rules that make identification easier:
1. Of the pied cormorants – ie, those with a black back and a white front – only the Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is common in inland waters. This is the cormorant found sitting on logs, dam banks, channels, bridges, trees around lakes.
The Pied Cormorant, on the other hand, mainly sticks to the coast (though to be fair, it is occasionally found on large reservoirs and rivers inland).*
2. Of the 2 black cormorants, one is all-black (the Little Black Cormorant Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), the other (the Great Cormorant) has a yellow face – and in juvenile phases has various patches of white or off-white that can be confusing.
So, a cormorant that is pied is almost certainly a Little Pied; a black cormorant can be quickly distinguished by whether it is all black around the face and bill (Little Black) or has some yellow around the face (Great Cormorant).
Wonderful birds, these. Great fliers, great swimmers, great fishers. When it comes to our district and which ones are regular residents, three out of four ain’t bad.
*There is a fifth species, the Black-faced Shag, found around rocky cliffs and ocean fronts along the Southern Coast, especially in Tasmania.
Don’t take it as read
Ladybird Beetles belong to the family Coccinellidae. There are several proposed origins of this word one of which is that it is derived from the Latin ‘coccinus’ meaning ‘scarlet’. The common view is that the ladybird is predominantly red with black spots. There are about 500 species of ladybird in Australia but not all of them are red and black.
The beetle pictured left is a Mealybug Ladybird (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri). Like most ladybirds this species in both the adult and nymphal forms are highly predatory of soft-bodied sap-sucking insects such as scale insects, aphids, etc. This one has a penchant for mealybugs. The female ladybird lays her eggs amongst the mealybug eggs and the hatched ladybird nymphs attack both the eggs and the emerging nymphs of the mealy bug.
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The black and yellow ladybird pictured right is a Fungus-eating Ladybird Beetle (Illeis galbula). It is a vegetarian feeding on pollen in Spring but on powdery mildew at other times. Powdery mildew is a type of fungus that forms on the surface of leaves. The mouthparts of the Fungus-eating Ladybird are modified to be able to scrape the leaf surface. The FELB are commonly found on the leaves of cucurbits – zucchinis, pumpkins, squashes, etc.
For those whose world view has collapsed at seeing ladybirds that are other than red and black, here’s a picture for you (below).
Aussies of international reknown
The Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi), pictured below, is one of Australia’s more infamous exports. It is an Hemiptera i.e. a sap-sucking bug that has a liking for many Australian woody plants (particularly Pittosporum) but loves citrus plants in general. Both the adult and the nymph insects suck on sap of the leaves and woody material of the food plants. The adult, pictured, is reddish-brown in colour and crusted with waxy secretions.
This insect is a true hermaphrodite having both male and female organs within one body. When the female is ready to breed she will attach herself to a piece of vegetation and extrude a white egg case several times the size of her body (pictured above). This case contains hundreds of eggs. The nymphs when hatched disperse and find another site at which to suck sap. After each moult the nymphs move on leaving their ‘cottony cushion’ shell attached to the plant.
The Cottony Cushion Scale has caused a lot of damage to the citrus industry in the United States. A particular species of Australian ladybird imported into the US has been successful in controlling the scale.
Who said we aren’t an exporting nation.
Just passin’ thru
Some butterfly species are known for their long annual migrations. Each year the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) makes a 3000km long flight from Canada to Mexico. The Painted Lady butterfly undertakes an even longer 9000km journey from Europe to Africa every year. This trip spans several generations. Australian butterflies such as the Meadow Argus, the Australian Painted Lady and the Caper White are known for their annual treks spanning thousands of kilometres.
The Caper White butterfly (Belenois java) (male is pictured above and below) is a primarily white butterfly that is often mistaken for the Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), pictured right. It is distinguished from the latter by having black wing margins and veining and orange marks that can easily be seen when the butterfly is at rest with its wings closed. The butterfly is named for the Caper bushes (Capparis sp.) that it lays its eggs on.
Caper Whites have several migration routes within Australia. The one that brings these butterflies our way starts each Spring when they leave their breeding grounds in the northern Flinders Ranges and head south. Their trek covers several thousand kilometres but how far they actually travel and in which direction depends on the weather, particularly the prevailing winds. A couple of times a decade very large populations of Caper Whites migrate together.
This year there seems to be a higher than normal number of Caper Whites in the district. Mass migration or tail winds? We’ll have to see.
Not everything is web-based
One of the truisms from my childhood is that spiders build webs with which to catch their food. The webs are circular, two-dimensional, vertical and strung up between pieces of vegetation. This of course is correct however things aren’t nearly as clear cut. Not all spiders catch food using webs.
Jumping Spiders such as the Prowling Jumper (Opisthoncus grassator), pictured above left, capture their prey by leaping on it. They use their excellent eyesight to not only detect prey but also to calculate how far they need to jump. They use hydraulic pressure in the legs to propel themselves forward and just in case they miss Jumping Spiders are attached from their start point by a filament of silk.
Lynx Spiders, picture above right, on the other hand catch their prey by running it down. The front legs are bristly so as to confine any prey that is captured and prevent the thrashing victim from damaging the spider’s eyes.
Another strategy albeit a lazy one is to hide in flowers and simply ambush the prey as it comes in the feed (pictured above left).
I wonder if spider fast food is defined by how quickly you have to move to get it.
Local knowledge
For many years the electricity pole across the street has been home to small birds in Spring where small holes in the concrete pole have provided the entrance to perfect nesting sites. In the past Striated Pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus) were the regular inhabitants but in 2016 the site was taken over by House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) a feral intruder in the area (click HERE to view).
Recently the infrastructure on the pole has received several upgrades as first a high voltage spike and then a severe storm damaged it. Serious maintenance was required to be done. During that maintenance all the holes in the pole were blocked (see photo above) and I despaired at being able to ever see birds using the pole as a nesting site again.
Yesterday the distinctive call of a Striated Pardalote was heard ringing from the very top of the pole. In one of the metal crossbeams, hidden behind a heavy duty earthing wire is a pre-drilled hole in the crossbeam wall and in that opening Striated Pardalotes have started building a nest, pictured right.
The view of the hole from the road is obscured but hopefully later in the season we might get a family photo.
Australia Post
One of the more stunning flowers at this time of year is the red and yellow Running Postman or Scarlet Coral Pea (Kennedia prostrata). Along the rail trail it is generally found in small clumps on the slopes of the railway cuttings but just east of Homewood there is a stretch of about 20 metres of the prostrate shrub twined in amongst the grasses (see left).
Frequenting the plants was a sole Long-tailed Pea-blue butterfly (Lampides boeticus) pictured above. Its name is derived from the tail-like appendages at the bottom of the hindwings (see photo), the fact that it is a member of the family of butterflies known as ‘Blues’ and that its young feed on the leaves of pea plants such as the Running Postman.
The butterfly spent some time taking nectar from the flowers but more time visiting the leaves, on which closer examination showed it was laying eggs. Pea-blues can have up to three generations in a year.
As is the case with some other members of the ‘Blue’ butterfly family, the caterpillars and pupae of the Pea-blue are sometimes associated with attendant ants. When the caterpillars hatch they emit a pheromone to attract ants in the area of the correct species. The ants tend the caterpillars by providing protection from predators and parasites in return for a sweet liquid food that the caterpillars/pupae exude, click HERE for a related blog. It is an amazing symbiotic relationship.
This will now be a regular stop on the rail trail. I want to see if the ants will come. Such anticipation.
Focus On Fauna 