The Knotted Trunk of an Old Gum Tree

No. Jan 05 - 001477
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

An Echidna Searching for Lunch

No. Jan 05 - 001402 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Short Beaked Echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus are very common throughout Tasmania.

Description:
An egg-laying mammal, the Short-beaked Echidna has stout sharp spines covering the back and sides, a long tubular snout with a long sticky tongue, small eyes and a rudimentary tail. The spines moult annually are creamy-coloured with a dark tip, and may be obscured in the Tasmanian
form by dark brown to sandy fur. The limbs are short and powerful with five toes and strong spatulate claws. Males have a small non-venomous spur on the hindleg.

Size. Length: 300-450 mm. Weight: 2-7 kg. Males are larger

Behaviour
Active mainly at dawn and dusk in summer and during the day in winter, they sleep under hushes or leaf litter, in hollow logs or abandoned burrows. Usually solitary. they have overlapping home ranges some 800 m across. They have a slow, rolling gait, freezing or curling up if threatened, eventually seeking shelter or burying themselves. They climb onto logs and stumps and dig into termite mounds and ant nests, locating insects by smell and by minute electrical signals detected by receptors in the snout. In cold climates they hibernate for up to 6 months, arousing every 2 weeks or so.

Development
They mate in July and August. Females develop a temporary pouch and lay a single egg, probably directly into the pouch by curling up their abdomen. The egg has a leathery skin, is about 15 mm long and hatches after 10 days. Newborn are blind with very short spines and feed on milk secreted from pores in the pouch area. They are left in a hole or burrow for about 3 months when the mother forages, becoming independent at about 8 months.

Food
Termites, ants and other invertibrates gathered by the long tongue.

Habitat
River banks in most habitats from rainforests to deserts.

Status
Common. Also in New Guinea.

Australian Admiral Butterfly Feedin on Blackberry Flowers

No. Jan 05 - 001619
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Yellow Admiral, Vanessa itea are common in the Launceston Area.

Description:
Other names: Australian Admiral.
Wingspan: 45 mm.
Similar species: none.

Behaviour
adults fly rapidly and frequently settle, with head directed downwards and wings outspread or closed, on leaves or tree-trunks; they often feed from flowers or sap flows. During the mid or late afternoon males hilltop and establish territories by perching, with wings outspread towards the sun, on rocks, bare patches of ground or foliage of low shrubs. Adults migratory.

Habitat
wide variety of habitats, preferring damp slopes, gullies, banks of creeks and rivers; also suburban areas.

Status
generally common and widespread.

Larval food plants
Woody Weeds (Parietaria debilis, Parietaria judaica, Soleirolia soleirolii, Urtica urens).

Eastern Grey (Forester) Kangaroos Grazing

No. Jan 05 - 001305 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Macropus giganteus are very common in the Northern Midlands and North East area of Tasmania.

Description:
A large robust marsupial, this species has soft deep fur varying from light silver-grey to dark grey flecked with light grey above, usually paler below. Females have a white chest. The forehead is grey. The paws, feet and tail tip are dark grey to black. The nose is hairy. The hindfeet have no first digit, the second and third are fused with a double claw, the fourth is much longer than the others.

Size
Head-body: 950-2300 mm. Tail: 430-1090 mm. Weight: males to 95 kg, females to 40 kg.

Behaviour
Predominantly nocturnal, they rest in the shade and feed from dusk to dawn, often in mobs of 10 or more, with overlapping home ranges up to two square kilometres. Males establish dominance hierarchies by fighting and ritualised acts including grass-pulling with the forefeet. They range widely searching for females in oestrous. Females usually congregate with female relatives and will only mate with dominant males. Old males are usually solitary. When alarmed they make guttural coughs and thump their hindfeet as they hop away with the body erect and the tail curved up. They will also swim to avoid predators.

Development
Females mate at 18 months, males at 2 years, and live 10-12 years. They breed year round with a peak of births in summer. Females mate about 11 days after the pouch is vacated, or in good seasons when the pouch young is more than 4 months old (the embryo remaining dormant until the pouch is vacated). After a pregnancy of 33-38 days the newborn attaches firmly to one of four teats in the mother's pouch, which it vacates at about 11 months, suckling at foot until 18 months old. Twins have been recorded.

Food
Native grasses and shrubs.

Habitat
Dry sclerophyll forests, woodlands and low open scrub.

Status
Common. Subspecies: M. g. giganteus mainland; M. g. lasmaniensis Tasmania.

Native Bumble Bee

No. Native Bumble Bee (3)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Native Bumble Bee

No. Jan 05 - 001057
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Native Bumble Bee Feeding from a Marigold

No. Jan 05 - 001053 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

A Wingless Grasshopper

No. Jan 05 - 001063 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

Wingless Grasshopper,
Phaulacridium vittatum

The Wingless Grasshopper is a native insect that feeds on a wide variety of plant material. They are pests maijnly in areas where there have been established pastures prior to planting with trees. They are found throughout southern Australia. They are gregarious insects and often congregate in large swarms.

Description:
Newly emerged nymphs are less than 2mm in length and grey/black in colour. They resemble adults but are considerably smaller and have small wing buds.

Adults range from 12-20mm in length. They are brownish in colour with orange hindlegs. Some have a white stripe on each side of the thorax. Most adults have a pair of small, non-functional wings, but some do develop functional wings and are capable of flying short distances.

Wingless grasshoppers usually have one generation per year.

Eggs are laid in pods in the soil from late January through to March/April. They are usually laid in sandy areas or areas where vegetation is sparse. Each pod contains 10-16 eggs and is deposited 1-2 cms below the soil surface. The eggs remain dormant over winter and further development begins in spring when soil temperatures rise. Hatching occurs from late September/October to December depending on the location and the season. Hatching may be extended over several weeks.

There are five nymphal stages before the hoppers become adults. First stage nymphs may be found from late October onwards. The nymphs do not move very far from where they hatched and they usually remain in isolated patches.

The nymphs begin developing into adults late in November and most are adults by late December. As the availability of greenfeed declines in mid-summer and autumn, the hoppers begin to move and those that hatch outside plantations may move in and damage young trees. Some will develop wings which enable them to disperse further. The proportion of the population that develops wings is greater if population numbers are high.

Yellow Lady Bug

No. Jan 05 - 001049 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

European Honey Bee Heading Home from Work

No. Jan 05 - 001154 (2)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

European Honey Bee Heading Home from Work

No. Jan 05 - 001154 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

European Honey Bees at Work on a Zuchini Flower

No. Jan 05 - 001145 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

European Honey Bees at Work on a Zuchini Flower

No. Jan 05 - 001145
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

European Honey Bees at Work on a Zuchini Flower

Jan 05 - 001127
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

White-footed House Ants Feed from a Zuchini Flower

No. Jan 05 - 001119
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

White-footed House Ant,
Technomyrmex albipes

The White-footed House Ant, ranges from SE Asia to Eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the three small, dolichoderine ants which are major pests in Australia. These species lack major workers, they have 1segmented waist nodes and do not sting (their venom is smeared from the tip of the abdomen). All am relatively softbodied and easily squashed when crushed between the fingers. White-footed House Ants are dull cloudy black in colour, with largely white legs. These ants can live well in gardens and domestic surrounds. They enter houses most frequently in dry periods seeking water in kitchens or bathrooms; and will eat sweet substances or meat. Indoors, nests may utilise any suitable space: wall and ceiling voids, insulation batts, even small, empty, storage containers.

White-footed House Ant Feed from a Zuchini Flower

No. Jan 05 - 001115 (1)
Photographed by Sparra Mc ©

White-footed House Ant,
Technomyrmex albipes

The White-footed House Ant, ranges from SE Asia to Eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is one of the three small, dolichoderine ants which are major pests in Australia. These species lack major workers, they have 1segmented waist nodes and do not sting (their venom is smeared from the tip of the abdomen). All am relatively softbodied and easily squashed when crushed between the fingers. White-footed House Ants are dull cloudy black in colour, with largely white legs. These ants can live well in gardens and domestic surrounds. They enter houses most frequently in dry periods seeking water in kitchens or bathrooms; and will eat sweet substances or meat. Indoors, nests may utilise any suitable space: wall and ceiling voids, insulation batts, even small, empty, storage containers.