Live Exhibits

Who knew that within Melbourne Museum there are two rooms not considered to be in Australia?

Every year Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) officers confiscate thousands of objects being brought illegally into the country through the post, airports and seaports. These items include food, drugs, plants and even live animals.

King Baboon tarantula (Citharischius crawshayi)
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

Such illegal items can pose a significant risk to Australian wildlife. Tarantulas are a long-lived spider which can produce thousands of eggs each year. If they were to become established in the wild exotic tarantulas would have the ability to decimate populations of small native animals.

In 1996 a population of Mexican Redrump tarantulas (Brachypelma vagans) was discovered in a citrus field in Florida, America. The population is believed to have stemmed from one gravid (carrying eggs) female who was released after she was no longer wanted as a pet. Over 100 individuals were found in a single survey of the 40 acre property. The Mexican Redrump tarantula is not native to Florida but has been imported for the pet trade since the 1970s. It is thought that this incidence of releasing an exotic pet has alone caused devastating effects on local fauna. With Australia's warm climate it would be easy to find ourselves in a similar situation to Florida if we didn't enforce strict quarantine measures.

Mexican Redrump tarantula (Brachypelma vegans)
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

Tarantulas with their unique markings, behaviours, and basic husbandry are popular pets in Europe and America. Many species are illegally transported around the world with collectors willing to pay hundreds of dollars for specimens. In Australia there are numerous species of native tarantulas that can be kept legally as pets.

Venezuelan Sun Tiger tarantula (Psalmopoeus irminia)
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

Queensland whistling tarantula (Selenocosmia crassipes)
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria   

But what happens to the items AQIS confiscate? Many items are destroyed to protect Australia's precious ecosystem. However, some lucky spiders are spared. They get used by museums and zoos to act as educational aids.

Quarantine room enclosures off display at Melbourne Museum
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria  

Melbourne Museum is home two quarantine rooms where we house 14 tarantulas that were confiscated by AQIS. These spiders are housed under strict conditions which meet AQIS standards. These standards include the treatment of objects leaving the rooms such as waste, water, uneaten food and other implements. These items must be double bagged, recorded and frozen at minus 20 degrees for six weeks. The quarantine room is not considered to be in Australia territory but a grey zone within Australia.

Bugs Alive! Quarantine room at Melbourne Museum
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria  

One quarantine room at the museum is located within the Bugs Alive! gallery and allows visitors to see its inner workings through a glass viewing wall, while the other room is located behind the scenes.

Our display spiders are fed every fortnight on Saturdays. One of our 'behind the scenes' spiders is fed weekly on Fridays at 3pm live on the web.

Tarantula feeding live on the internet
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria  

Currently on display via the webcam is a Brazilian Salmon Pink tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana). Brazilian Salmon Pinks are the third largest species of tarantula with a leg span reaching 25cm.

Brazilian Salmon Pink tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana)
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

Equipped with urticating (stinging) hairs to flick at predators, she only uses her fangs as a last resort. This girl is a keen feeder, often climbing up the keeper's forceps to get to its prey.

Brazilian Salmon Pink fact sheet from WAZA

Brazilian Salmon Pink Birdeater from Australian Reptile Park

Mexican Redrump Tarantula fact sheet [PDF 179KB] from the University of Florida

1996 Florida Mexican redrump tarantula incident

Exhibition horticulturalist Brendan Fleming is turning April's Bug of the Month post into Plant of the Month. He is one of the Live Exhibits staff that tend the plants in the Forest Gallery and Milarri Garden.

From an early age I have enjoyed bushwalking within the Grampian Ranges in western Victoria. One particular plant species found there that fascinates me is Xanthorrhoea australis, the Southern Grasstree. X. australis is the most widespread of the genus of 30 odd species and subspecies. It is found down the eastern coast of Australia.

A spectacular display of Southern Grasstrees following a bushfire in the Grampians.
Image: Brendan Fleming
Source: Brendan Fleming  

Its appearance is unlike any other indigenous plant. Older grasstrees have a blackened, sometimes gnarled elevated trunk, with bluish-green whorled leaves that seem to explode from the crown and drape down to skirt the stem.

The Southern Grasstree is very slow-growing. It grows approximately one to three centimetres per year, reaching a height of three metres in about 100 years. It has a shallow root system and is found in even the poorest of soils. Whilst not generally occurring in areas with less than 250mm rainfall, it does best in areas exceeding 500mm per year. Southern Grasstrees are found in the understorey of woodlands, heaths, swamps, and rocky hillsides.

Grasstree species are mostly distinguished by the shape of their leaves in cross-section. X.australis has a diamond shape, and with the leaves being softer than other species.

Close up of the apex of a Southern Grasstree in Milarri, showing a single diamond-shaped leaf in cross section.
Image: Brendan Fleming
Source: Museum Victoria

From germination it takes about seven years to reach maturity, and although sporadic flowering and fruiting can occur thereafter, X.australis generally flower following fire. It is not well understood why fire stimulates reproduction, but cutting off the leaves can also initiate flowering. Application of ethylene, which is present in smoke, has a similar effect, indicating that flowering is stimulated from a hormonal response to leaf removal.

I found an extraordinary scene following bushfires several years ago in the Grampians National Park. Thousands of flower spikes up to 3m high as far as the eye can see, even curly ones, evoking some Leunig illustration!

Although most flower spikes are perfectly vertical, I occasionally see odd shapes at the Grampians.
Image: Brendan Fleming
Source: Brendan Fleming

The flowers are highly scented and produce much nectar, prized by birds, mammals and insects which pollinate the flowers. Each stalk can produce up to 10,000 seeds.

Close-up of the Southern Grasstree flower spike showing individual flowers.
Image: Brendan Fleming
Source: Brendan Fleming  

Southern Grasstrees are quite susceptible to Phytopthora cinnamomi (root rot), often being the first plants to show symptoms. Hence they are a good indicator of the presence of the disease.

Drenching with Phosphonate is a good way to boost the Southern Grasstree's defences against the Cinnamon Fungus Phytopthora.
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria

Xanthorrhoea australis is not difficult to propagate. Seed germinate readily in just a few weeks, with no pre-sowing treatment required. Just be patient though - growth is very slow. A grasstree I germinated from seed was well-established but still trunkless after 10 years, and made a handsome addition to my garden.

Grasstrees feature heavily in Indigenous culture. Uses include weapons and fire sticks from flower stalks, sweet drinks from flower nectar, and edible leaf bases.

I don't have to go to the Grampians to enjoy grasstrees. The Milarri Garden at Melbourne Museum displays these remarkable plants right in the heart of Melbourne. Exit the Forest gallery to the North terrace and meet Milarri from its western end. It really is a dramatic entrance to the Museum's Indigenous garden.

Grasstrees at the entrance to Milarri Walk from the North Terrace during autumn.
Image: Brendan Fleming
Source: Museum Victoria  

References:

Flora of Tasmania

Wrigley, J. & Fagg, M., 1983, Australian Native Plants, William Collins, Sydney, 512pp.

Adrienne creates and presents public programs at Melbourne Museum.

What do you eat when you are having bugs for brunch?

Well, scorpions for starters, followed by BBQ-flavoured mealworms. Or perhaps you prefer your mealworms simply roasted with a dipping sauce? And would you like crunchy crickets with that?

A plate of roasted mealworms and crickets.
Image: Tom Pietkiewicz
Source: Umkafoto  

More than 3,000 ethnic groups in 113 countries eat insects and other invertebrates, and in many places they are preferred over beef, pork and lamb. Producing insects generates fewer greenhouse emissions than for other forms of meat production and you get more for the same effort: less feed produces more protein. This means a high-protein and low-fat food source that leaves a smaller environmental footprint. While eating insects makes environmental sense, it's pretty confronting to many of us.

Developed as a children's program for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, the Bugs for Brunch events ran over four days and tickets sold out fast. Surprisingly, there were just as many young adults as children (with their parents) who came along learn about – and taste - edible bugs. They wanted to do something different, something fun, something with their friends and family. But were they ready to eat bugs?

Most declared they were slightly squeamish and only a few had ever eaten a bug. After being shown how many bugs are already in our food, they were even more grossed out.

But with tastes of bug vomit (delicious honeycomb from Mount Dandenong) to sweeten them up, and up close and personal viewings of all kinds of edible bugs from Bogong Moths and bardy grubs to scorpions, grasshoppers and Chilean Rose tarantulas (Grammostola rosea), people's opinions shifted.

A bardy grub (beetle larva) at Bugs for Brunch.
Image: Tom Pietkiewicz
Source: Umkafoto  

After seeing lots of images of people eating bugs, looking through bug recipe books and watching a Pad Thai being made with mealworms, they were ready to eat! Lollypops with bugs in them and mealworm chocolate chip cookies gave them a soft approach to the "whole bug in mouth" experience. But by the end, those roasted toasted whole bug snacks were being scoffed. They couldn't get enough and every plate was empty by the end.

Pad Thai with mealworms.
Image: Tom Pietkiewicz
Source: Umkafoto  

The Bugs for Brunch program was developed and delivered by Patrick Honan and Rowena Flynn from the museum's Live Exhibits team and Adrienne Leith from Education and Community Programs. The insects at the Bugs for Brunch event came from one of the country's few consumable insect producers and were bred under hygienic conditions that comply with Australian Food Standards.

Links:

Edible Forest Insects, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Live Exhibits staff visited Cairns and Cape Tribulation in North Queensland in December to augment our live animal collection with fresh genetic stock. We met many interesting animals along the way, so here are a few portraits of the critters that came back with us to Melbourne Museum.

The Giant Mantid is one of the largest mantid species in Australia. They feed on a range of insects but are large enough to overpower small frogs and lizards. Giant Mantids are currently on display in Bugs Alive!.

Giant Mantid, Heirodula majuscula.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Raspy crickets derive their common name from the fact that all known species, both male and female, can produce a rasping sound at all stages of development. There are more than 200 species of raspy crickets in Australia and new species are regularly discovered. This very large adult female has powerful jaws and, like all raspy crickets, a bad temper. She ate her way out of several containers on the journey from North Queensland, causing havoc wherever she went.

Raspy Cricket, Chauliogryllacris species.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

A male Golden Huntsman, probably the largest huntsman in Australia and generally considered the second largest in the world. This species sometimes causes panic when it enters houses, but like most huntsmans it is relatively harmless.

Golden Huntsman, Beregama aurea.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Net-casting Spiders are famous for their ability to spin perfectly rectangular silken nets, about the size of a postage stamp. These nets are thrown over passing prey as the spider sits suspended above an insect pathway. In honour of their enormous eyes, they are also known as Ogre-Faced Spiders.

Net-casting Spider, Deinopis bicornis.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

French's Longicorn is one of Australia's larger beetle species. This one was found in a small mating aggregation on a strangler fig in the rainforest at night. Longicorns are characterised by kidney-shaped eyes which wrap around the base of the antennae.

French's Longicorn, Batocera frenchi.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

The spiny legs of the Serrated Bush Katydid give it both its common and scientific name. Adults are always green, but nymphs may be red, brown or violet, depending on the colour of the leaves on which they feed. Males produce a short, loud call which is commonly heard in the rainforest at night. Another katydid, the Kuranda Spotted Katydid, is one of the larger and more robust of this group in Australia. The nymphs closely resemble ants, which may afford them some protection against predators. The eggs are glued to dead twigs by the female using a short, thick ovipositor.

Left: Serrated Bush Katydid, Paracaedicia serrata. | Right: Kuranda Spotted Katydid, Ephippitytha kuranda.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

These creatures, and many more, can be seen every day in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum.

One of the largest insect species we keep here at Melbourne Museum is the Rainforest Mantid (Hierodula majuscula). At around 70mm in length, the adult Rainforest Mantid is not the longest mantid species in Australia, but it is certainly the most buff.

An adult female Rainforest Mantid on the hunt for prey
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Minibeast Wildlife  

Its powerful raptorial forelegs are equipped with razor-sharp spines that allow the mantid to pin and immobilise live prey. A resident of north Queensland rainforests, the adult's solid green colour enables it to all but disappear amongst the foliage. A mantid on the hunt may remain perfectly still for hours, waiting for the right prey to present itself. Looming over its meal and appearing to "pray", the mantid finally strikes with lightning-fast accuracy and shows its true colours as another of nature's perfect predators.

The life of the Rainforest Mantid begins as one of up to 400 hatchlings from the ootheca – an egg case laid by the female 40-60 days prior. Often attached to the underside of a branch or leaf, the hatchlings emerge downwards and crawl over one another to clear the way. The nymphs must disperse from their brothers and sisters, as once they start eating, any prey small enough is fair game - including each other! At this stage, H. majuscula nymphs are less than 10mm long. As the nymph moults and grows, it may vary from greens to browns and reds, but is invariably green by its final moult.

Mantid nymphs hatching and moulting for the first time after emerging from the ootheca.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Minibeast Wildlife  

A superb hunter, the Rainforest Mantid's best weapon is its vision. Its large, compound eyes boast a wide field of vision, enhanced by its head's extraordinary range of movement. As a result, the Rainforest Mantid hunts primarily during daylight hours.

Large eyes dominate the Rainforest Mantid's triangular, highly mobile head.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Minibeast Wildlife

An adult mantid is able to prey on not only a large selection of insects, but may also attack small lizards and frogs. After securing the prey with its raptorial forelegs, the mantid devours it alive. These mantids often eat the nuisance parts first, such as an insect's powerful kicking legs.

Insect prey is usually consumed head-first to reduce the chances of it getting away.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Minibeast Wildlife

The Rainforest Mantid lives a solitary life and may never come into contact with another of its species after hatching until it is time to breed. Only the mature male of this species is capable of flight, so it is left to him to navigate the precarious expanse of tropical rainforest to find the perfect a female who is ready to mate. In contrast to hunting, night seems to be the preferred time for mating (though it may begin during or continue into daylight hours). As a flying male is quite vulnerable, it is thought that breeding takes place in the dark to reduce the risk of aerial predators.

However, there is still one major group of insect predators active at this time – the microbats. To combat this, many mantid species including H. majuscula have evolved a single ear on the lower side of the thorax, capable of picking up the ultrasonic sound frequencies of the microbats' echolocation signals. If the male mantid in flight detects such a signal, he immediately dives and weaves in such a display of evasive manoeuvres that he has been compared to a fighter jet.

In the dark, mantid eyes are much less effective. To counter this, a female of the breeding inclination sends out pheromones to attract suitable males. Once the male locates a female, he tempers his approach until the correct moment. He may wait hours within thirty centimetres of her, before rushing her in a mad frenzy and attaching himself to her back with his forelegs. If he is lucky, he will have attached himself a way that prevents her turning around to eat him. If he is unlucky, he may immediately become a meal. Either way, the Rainforest Mantid male can continue to mate even with his head completely missing. It's not all bad news for the male's genes: by becoming an extra meal, he may give his offspring a greater chance of survival by nourishing the female through the month of egg incubation.

This male is one of the unlucky individuals that has not survived the mating process.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Minibeast Wildlife  

Rainforest Mantid females may live for up to a year. Though males may be capable of living just as long, their risky lifestyle results in a lower average life span. However, if a male survives mating, he may go on to mate with many more females and live to a ripe old age.

The Red-back Spider, Latrodectus hasselti, is a type of widow spider. It is closely related to the Black Widow (L. mactans), native to North America, and the Katipo (L. atricus), native to New Zealand.

This mature female Red-back has a dark-brown body and an orange-red dorsal stripe.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria

First described scientifically in 1870, it was thought that the Red-back may have been a recent arrival to Australia since it was first reported some time after European settlement, from the port town of Rockhampton in central Queensland. Widow spiders can survive for months without food, and this enables them to travel long distances in cargo. The Red-back, however, is considered to be an Australian native by most experts, because of some notably distinctive characteristics that it does not share with overseas widow spiders.

Adult female Red-backs have a body length that is three to four times that of adult males, with females typically being 10-15mm long. Only females possess bright red or red-orange markings. They are usually black (sometimes dark brown) when mature, whereas males are usually light brown with white markings.

Juvenile female Red-backs have different markings and colouration to the adults. This one is resting in the snare of her web.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Red-backs are found in all but the most inhospitable of Australian environments. They are usually found in their webs which they usually weave close to the ground in dry, sheltered areas, such as under rocks and logs, in junk piles, in sheds and outdoor toilets, and in empty tins and bottles. Electric lights and food scraps in people's houses and other buildings attract moths, flies, cockroaches and mosquitoes, which Red-backs feed on, and this may explain why these spiders prefer to live in and around places of human habitation over natural environments.

The Bugs Alive! Red-back display demonstrates a kind of habitat that Red-backs prefer. This one is littered with empty cans and containers and is kept relatively dry.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria  

The web of the female Red-back is an irregular mess of fine but strong silk. It usually contains a funnel-like upper retreat where the spider rests during the day, under which rests a mass of entangled, sticky strands that form a snare held to the ground or a wall by a number of trip-wires. These trip-wires contain globules of glue and are very elastic. When an insect or small vertebrate walks into one, the trip-wire snaps and catapults the victim into the snare above. Then the spider approaches its victim, wraps it in silk and bites it to envenomate and kill it. Male Red-backs do not spin webs and simply feed on prey items they salvage from the edge of the female's web.

The Red-back’s web enables it to catch prey much larger than itself. This immature female is feeding on a cockroach that is more than twice its own body length and also much broader.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

The venom of the Red-back is neurotoxic to humans, triggering an uncontrolled release of neurotransmitters – the chemicals that transmit signals between nerve endings. This can cause paralysis in the bite victim when the venom’s action severely depletes the neurotransmitter reserves required for normal muscle function. Most human victims of Red-back bites suffer little more than localised pain and swelling. In severe cases, however, bites can lead to chest and abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, muscle spasms, convulsions, coma and death (more likely in the young, elderly and frail). Before the development of an antivenom in 1956, at least 12 deaths had been recorded. The antivenom is assumed to have saved many lives as there have been no deaths since it became available - despite an increase in the number of bites reported. This increase is thought to be a consequence of expansion of habitats suitable for Red-backs in the urbanisation of Australia’s cities, and associated increases in human urban populations.

Links:

Red-back Spider infosheet

The Summer school holidays in the Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre are bursting with fun stuff for kids to do and learn. We have a variety of books about frogs and Aboriginal dreamtime stories for children and some comfy beanbags to relax in whilst reading.

The Reading Room in the Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre
Image: Kate Brereton
Source: Museum Victoria  

Our reading room has lots of great frog posters and some beautiful illustrations from the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria. There are some colouring-in activities featuring Tiddalik the Frog, Kouark the Kookaburra and Narrot the Wombat.

And we some new additions to the Discovery Centre family - two Green Tree Frogs!

Green Tree Frogs Litoria caerulea are one of the largest Australian frogs. Their size can range up to 12cm and in their native habitat they are found in all states except Victoria and Tasmania. Green Tree Frogs live in urban areas, forests and woodlands and wetlands they sometimes sit beneath outside lights at night to catch insects that are attracted to the light. 

A Green Tree frog enjoying the holidays in the Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre
Image: Kate Brereton
Source: Museum Victoria  

Our tree frogs do not currently have names so if you have a suggestion pop into the Discovery Centre and let the staff know - we will be picking the best names soon.

If you looking to find out more about Victorian fauna we have two iPads where you can search the new Museum Victoria Field guide app. The app lets you discover interesting information Victorian animals including: diet, habitat, identification, biology, calls and conservation status.

Melbourne Museum Discovery Centre is open every day from 10am until 4.30pm - and we are free. So, do pop in for a visit!

Prickly Katydids, or Spiny Tree Crickets, occur from the rainforests of northern New South Wales to Iron Range in Far North Queensland. There are four species of Prickly Katydids but the most common is Phricta spinosa. It has the rather long official common name of Giant Spiny Forest Katydid and is found from Innisfail to Cooktown. Those that know and love this species simply call it Phricta.

The spiny countenance of a Prickly Katydid.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan  

During the day, Phricta sits motionless on bark or amongst twigs with its legs held out straight where it is remarkably well camouflaged. Some bird species, particularly Black Butcherbirds, move up and down tree trunks trying to disturb the insects so they will give themselves away. When threatened, Phricta will point its back legs skyward, revealing rows of sharp spines and red patches at the bases of the legs. These red patches appear to discourage predators.

The legs of this adult male bear the black and orange markings of its startle display.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan

Adults have a body length of 10cm or so, and their highly sensitive antennae may be three times that length. Adults are normally found high in the rainforest canopy, but after mating, the female glides to the ground to lay her eggs in the soil.

An adult female pushes her abdomen into sandy soil to deposit a batch of eggs
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan  

The young Phricta feed low in the understorey on the constant 'rain' of flowers and buds from above.

Phricta moult several times before reaching adulthood. Moulting takes place during the first part of the night and they are very vulnerable to predators at this time. The elongated antennae may take a long time to withdraw fully from the old skin.

Phricta moulting at night.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan  

The colours of juvenile Phricta are variable and help camouflage them against tree trunks and lichen-covered bark.

Juvenile Phricta are often beautifully patterned with greens and browns. The budding wing pads can be seen between the spines of the legs and thorax.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan

After reaching adulthood, Phricta can be found higher in the canopy, feeding on the young leaves of trees and shrubs. On particularly windy or stormy nights, they will move down into the lower canopy or into tree holes to shelter from the weather.

Like most katydid species, male Phricta call loudly to attract females in the rainforest at night, a sound familiar to people who frequent these forests. Females possess an auditory tympanum (or ear) on their forelegs to pick up the call.

Parasites on the thorax of juvenile Phricta.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Patrick Honan  

Phricta are attacked by owls and other predatory birds, as well as honeyeaters and brush turkeys. They are also host to parasitic mites, which gather sometimes in large numbers on the top of the thorax. The effects of these mites on the insects are not known.

Phricta can be seen in the 'Diversity' display in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum. Despite being very common and widespread in North Queensland rainforests, this species was not described scientifically until 2005, an indication of how much is still to be discovered and catalogued by science.

Further reading:

Rentz, D., 1996, Grasshopper Country: the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 284pp.

Rentz, D., 2010, A Guide to the Katydids of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, 214pp

Mark is Head of Sciences at Museum Victoria. He's reporting back from Neds Corner in this series of blog posts.

With the warm weather we experienced at the start of the survey, the Neds Corner Bush Blitz team clocked up an impressive tally of reptile species. Being in the driest corner of Victoria, the desert influence is obvious in a wonderful range of skinks, dragons, geckoes and snakes.

Four of the larger lizards have been found. The Inland Bearded Dragon has the scales and scutes of the best fictional dragons and has been found sunning itself on dead logs and fence posts. From above these spikes help them blend against the background. The Shingleback with its bright blue tongue has been observed many times living up to its other name (Sleepy Lizard) by sleeping or slowly loping on the roadsides. They are often in pairs. This species mates for life and can live to up to 50 years old. Sand goannas and a large Lace Monitor have also been recorded.

Shingleback Skink
Image: Mark Norman
Source: Museum Victoria  

Five gecko species (Bynoe's, Thick-tailed, Tree Dtella, Tassellated and Marbled) have already been found through night walks or searching under bark and through leaf litter. They are a mix of ground dwellers (with normal claws) and tree-climbers with their fat fleshy toes. Many gecko species store fat in their tails and our ones seem well fed. We've been finding some very pregnant females bulging with the two eggs they lay at a time.

Thick-tailed Gecko
Image: David Paul
Source: Museum Victoria  

In addition to the Shingleback, five other skink species have been found including Tree Skink, Boulanger's Skink, Carneby's Wall Skink and several yet-to-be resolved Ctenotus species.

Boulanger's Skink
Image: Mark Norman
Source: Museum Victoria  

The snake highlight has been a Curl Snake, a small species around 30 cm long. It was found while researchers Patrick Honan and Chloe Miller were searching at night for tiger beetles on clay pans. Though small, this species is highly venomous and has caused human fatalities so we handled it very carefully. It is listed as threatened in Victoria under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act.

Curl Snake
Image: Mark Norman
Source: Museum Victoria  

Bush Blitz is a biodiversity partnership discovery program between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton and Earthwatch Australia, that aims to document the plants and animals across Australia's National Reserve System. Museum Victoria also participated in Bush Blitz at Lake Condah in March 2011.

Links:

Parks Australia blog

Bush Blitz

Exhibition horticulturalist Andrew Kuhlman is turning December's Bug of the Month into Plant of the Month. He is one of the Live Exhibits staff that tend the plants in the Forest Gallery and Milarri Garden.

The story of the Shiny Nematolepis, Nematolepis wilsonii, is about a humble plant experiencing a resurrection following the Black Saturday bushfires. The Shiny Nematolepis, a white-flowering shrub also affectionately known as 'Shiny Nem', is considered critically endangered.

There was a single population of 11 mature wild plants before February 2009 according to the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Since the 2009 bushfires over 200,000 seedlings have emerged in the Yarra Ranges. This means practically the entire known population of this plant existing in the wild can be traced back to a single event.

A plant from the original population that was burnt out in the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires.
Image: John Broomfield
Source: Museum Victoria  

The other side to this story is about the cultivated populations of this species, one of which is growing in the Forest Gallery exhibition at Melbourne Museum. These plants are now some of the oldest of the species known to exist. They were grown in 2000 from cutting material sourced from the original population that was burnt out.

Museum Victoria Exhibition Horticulturalist Brendan Fleming planting a cutting grown Shiny Nematolepis into the Forest Gallery exhibition.
Image: Andrew Kuhlmann
Source: Museum Victoria  

The display of 'Shiny Nem' plants in the Forest Gallery exhibit is a great chance to get close to a very rare plant in a setting representing its natural habitat. It's also an opportunity to reflect on how close this plant was to disappearing forever and the benefits that having a second chance will bring.

Links:

National recovery plan for the Shiny Nematolepis (Nematolepis wilsonii)

Forest Gallery helps secure incinerated plant's future (2009)

Bugs Alive! highlights not only the highly venomous Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus), but also the diversity of Australian funnel-web spiders. There are currently 35 known species in Australia, and it is likely that more await description. Many southeastern Australians may not be aware that they too may have funnel-web spiders living in their backyard. Don't panic, aside from the Sydney Funnel-web, the majority of Australian funnel-web spiders do not pose a threat to us. In fact, most spiders are harmless. Of the estimated 10,000 species (only about 3000 have been named) that are native to Australia, only two pose a serious threat to human life.

The Australian funnel-web spider family Hexathelidae belongs to the primitive infraorder Mygalomorphae, which includes the trapdoor spiders, mouse spiders, and the large theraphosids (better known as tarantulas). Mygalomorphs can be distinguished from other spiders by having paraxial or parallel fangs (chelicerae), and an extra pair of book lungs.

A typical funnel-shaped entrance to a funnel-web spider burrow.
Image: Colin Silvey
Source: Museum Victoria  

To keep our spiders healthy and stress-free, we rotate them off display so that each individual is on show only one month per year. To do this we must collect spiders from the wild to ensure that we have enough to keep the rotation flowing smoothly. Chloe wrote in April about a previous spider-hunting trip. Last week we went to the Nariel Valley in northwest Victoria, Violet Town in central Victoria and the Central Highlands (Narbethong-Acheron Gap, Victoria) to collect three different species of funnel-web spiders.

Not all burrows contain funnel-web spiders. This one we dug up was occupied by this beautiful Alpine Wolf Spider (Lycosidae).
Image: Colin Silvey
Source: Museum Victoria  

Our first stop was the Nariel Valley where we searched for the mighty Alpine Funnel-web (Hadronyche alpina). This is a newly-described species that is found, you guessed it, in the alpine environments of Victoria and N.S.W. They are impressive spiders with big black hairy bodies, and a mean temper to boot!

After collecting our quota of H. alpina, we drove west towards Violet Town, near Benalla, in search of the Central Victorian Funnel-web, H. meridiana. We had heard reports that a resident in Violet Town had found some in her backyard, and upon contacting her, she agreed to us collecting them. After lifting some old carpet lying on the ground, we found burrows galore! It didn't take us very long to collect all the spiders we needed before setting off to track down our third target species H. modesta.

Exciting stuff! Live Exhibits keeper Adam Elliott excavating a burrow belonging to H. meridiana.
Image: Colin Silvey
Source: Museum Victoria  

Funnel-web spider (H. meridiana) about to be removed from her burrow.
Image: Colin Silvey
Source: Museum Victoria  

Hadronyche meridiana showing off her threat display. If you look closely you might be able to see the paraxial chelicerae that define the mygalomorph spiders.
Image: Colin Silvey
Source: Museum Victoria  

H. modesta, or the Southern Victorian Funnel-web can be found around Victorian cool temperate sclerophyll forests ranging from just north of Melbourne, to the eastern end of the Strzelecki Ranges in South Gippsland. Unfortunately, after much searching, we failed to find any H. modesta. We are always on the lookout for any reports of glossy black spiders that burrow, so, if you live in the eastern or northeastern suburbs and see this spider around, let us know and we might come pay you a visit!

Further reading:

Walker, K.L., Yen, A.L. & Milledge, G.A. 2003. Spiders and Scorpions Commonly Found in Victoria. The Royal Society of Victoria. (Beginner)

Grey, M. R. 2010. A Revision of the Australian Funnel Web Spiders (Hexathelidae: Atracinae). Records of the Australian Museum. Vol. 62: 285–392. (Advanced)

Maik is an Assistant Keeper with the Live Exhibits Unit.

Live Exhibits recently acquired some Flinders Ranges Scorpions. They are not on display to the public but will be used for educational purposes.

The Flinders Ranges Scorpion (Urodacus elongatus) is one of Australia's largest scorpion species, with males growing up to 120mm long. Females are usually shorter and more full-bodied. The adults of both sexes are uniformly brown in colour.

These scorpions are found throughout the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. Sexual dimorphism is obvious in this species with males having a very elongated tail, which is where the species name elongatus comes from.

Sexual dimorphism within the Flinders Ranges Scorpion Urodacus elongatus. Male on the right with elongated tail.
Image: Maik Fiedel
Source: Maik Fiedel

Being a temperate species, it can be found living under rocks and logs in the moist gully areas of the ranges. They are territorial and usually solitary. These scorpions build a scrape under rock, creating a shallow burrow. In order to maintain a stable microclimate, they seal off their burrows as temperatures rise.

Scorpions are negatively phototaxic (moving away from light) and they hunt for their prey at night. It is possible for scorpions to overpower prey that is larger than themselves, such as skinks or centipedes, however, they prefer food items roughly 50 per cent of their own body size. Females will also eat their own offspring if stressed or starved. Scorpions drink water droplets off rock surfaces and also obtain water via osmosis. During the cooler months of the year, the scorpions are less active and will generally feed less.

Urodacus elongatus feeding on a cricket.
Image: Maik Fiedel
Source: Maik Fiedel  

As part of courtship, an interesting 'mating dance' is performed. The male takes hold of the female and stings her claw, which has a calming effect. This is necessary because if she becomes aggressive she will attempt to kill the male. In order to mate successfully the scorpions need to be positioned on an even rock surface. The male looks for the correct surface, without breaking his hold of the female. When it is found he deposits his spermatophore onto the rock surface and he drags the female over the top for fertilisation. Once the female has received the sperm the male releases his hold and departs.

A pair of Flinders Ranges Scorpions prior to engaging in the mating ritual, which includes the mating dance and the sexual sting.
Image: Maik Fiedel
Source: Maik Fiedel

After about 18 months, the female gives birth to 20-50 live young which climb up onto the her back. They leave her back at two months of age, to go their own way. Flinders Ranges Scorpions reach maturity (adulthood) after four years and can easily live up to eight years.

Australia's scorpions are not considered dangerous to humans, however, scorpions are venomous. There is still a possibility that you may be allergic to their venom, like some people are allergic to a bee sting. You should never touch a scorpion with your bare hands.

Like all scorpions, Urodacus elongatus will fluoresce under UV light.
Image: Maik Fiedel
Source: Maik Fiedel  

Further reading:

Newton M.A. 2008. A Guide to Keeping Australian Scorpions in Captivity, Mark A. Newton Publishing

Links:

Infosheet: Scorpions

Infosheet: Scorpion facts and fallacies

This post is by Melvin Patinathan, Assistant Keeper with the Live Exhibits Unit.

The Giant Burrowing Cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros), also known as the Rhinoceros Cockroach, is one of Australia's treasures. It is the world's heaviest cockroach, weighing up to a whopping 30g. Although it is not the longest, it still can get up to 70-80mm in length (the longest is probably the winged Giant Brazilian Cockroach, Blaberus giganteus, growing up to 90mm). This giant critter is wingless and heavily armoured, which helps it withstand predator attacks – if that doesn't work it can emit a hissing noise which can be quite startling.

Giant Burrowing Cockroach (Macropanesthia rhinoceros).
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

I recently took the specimen below to Scienceworks for the Inspiring Scientists weekend, where he was a giant hit with hundreds of young visitors. Although I'm fond of many of the animals we keep at Live Exhibits, Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are one of my favourites.

The handsome hand shows how big a male Giant Burrowing Cockroach can get.
Image: Adam Elliot
Source: Museum Victoria  

Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are found in dry eucalyptus scrubland of northern Queensland; Cape York to Rockhampton and the Whitsunday Islands. Male cockroaches have a prominent ridge on their pronotum (an extended first segment of the thorax of the insect that forms a shield over its head) where females do not have a distinct ridge but tend to be larger and heavier than males.

A few sub-adults collecting dry eucalyptus leaves on the soil surface.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Like their name suggests, they are burrowing creatures and use their shovel-like pronotum and large spiny powerful digging legs to dig burrows as deep as one metre. The cockroaches line their burrows with twigs and dry eucalypt leaves that they gather from the surface. These gentle giants are specialist feeders; they only eat dry, crisp eucalypt leaves.

Giant Burrowing Cockroach emerging from its burrow in a terrarium.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria  

Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are nocturnal and spend most of their time hidden in their burrows. They are most active at night when they come to the surface to feed; these giant cockroaches have been mistaken for small turtles when crossing roads.

Giant Burrowing Cockroaches generally do not venture too far away from their burrows except during breeding season when it is warm and humid, especially after rain. The warm humid climate provides ideal mating conditions and mating occurs at night. Once the female is gravid (pregnant) she will prepare her burrow by dragging down leaves to feed her young. This species of burrowing cockroach are oviviparous, which means that the eggs are incubated within the body and are sustained by yolk sacs.

Juveniles and their mother at the entrance of their burrow.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Unusual among insects, instead of laying eggs, females of this species give birth to live young. The female giant burrowing cockroach will produce up to 20 live young and she will care for them for up to a year. Juvenile cockroaches reach maturity at about three or four years of age and best of all apart from being the heaviest cockroach in the world, these amazing cockroaches can live up to ten years.

Giant Burrowing Cockroaches are permanently on display under the 'Diversity' exhibit in Bugs Alive!.

Further reading:

Henderson A., Henderson D., & Sinclair J. 2008. Bugs Alive: A guide to keeping Australian invertebrates, Museum Victoria pp. 47

Rentz D.C.F. 1996. Grasshopper country: the abundant orthopteriod insects of Australia, University of New South Wales Press, pp. 225-228

Rugg D. & Rose H. A. 1991. Biology of Macropanesthia rhinoceros Saussure (Dictyoptera: Blaberidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Entomological Society of America, pp. 575-582

Links:

Question of the Week: How to sex a cockroach

Question of the Week: Cockroaches

Recently, a visitor to Bugs Alive! asked me whether daddy long-legs are spiders. The answer depends on what one is referring to when employing the term "daddy long-legs". It can be used to refer to a group of close relatives of spiders known as the harvestmen, which are arachnids (as are spiders) but are nonetheless not spiders. It can also be used to refer to crane flies, which are insects and not arachnids. The term is, however, most commonly used in Australia to refer to a species of spider known scientifically as Pholcus phalangioides. P. phalangioides is also sometimes known as the grandaddy long-legs, the cellar spider or the house spider, and is commonly found in houses in its irregularly structured webs which it often weaves in dark areas, such as under desks and behind bookshelves, or in the corners of ceilings in disused rooms.

The spider Pholcus phalangioides is commonly referred to as the "daddy long-legs".
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria

Harvestmen, however, live in vastly different environments than does Pholcus phalangioides. They have been found in moist leaf litter, under rotting logs, under rocks and under the bark of trees. Unlike spiders, which are classified under order Araneae, harvestmen are classified under order Opiliones. The cephalothorax (the anterior/front body segment) of harvestmen is fused broadly with the abdomen (the posterior/rear body segment) to form a body which seemingly lacks a waist, whereas there is a distinct division between these two body segments in spiders. Furthermore, harvestmen have two eyes which are each positioned on the end of stalk-like projections found in a region approaching the top of the cephalothorax, as compared with spiders, which generally possess eight eyes attached directly to the anterior (front) region of the cephalothorax.

Harvestmen are commonly referred to as “daddy long-legs” but they are not spiders. The above specimen’s second right leg appears blurry because harvestmen use their second pair of legs much like antennae, constantly waving them around.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria

The two body segments of harvestmen are fused to give the appearance of a body with a much reduced or absent waist.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Unlike spiders, harvestmen do not produce silk, and they are omnivorous, having been known to feed on other invertebrates, plant matter, and the rotting carcasses of birds and mammals. They are non-venomous but can chew their food, whereas spiders must use venom injected by their fangs to convert their prey to liquid which they drink. Male harvestmen have a penis, which facilitates the direct transfer of sperm (from the genital region) to the female, whereas male spiders must use their pedipalps (which encircle the mouth) to do this indirectly.

The distinct division between the two body segments of Pholcus phalangioides gives the appearance of a waist.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria

The bulbous terminations to the male’s pedipalps of Pholcus phalangioides are used to transfer his sperm to the female.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria  

The pedipalps of harvestmen are used for food-handling only as males have a penis which enables the direct transfer of sperm to females.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria  

The Live Exhibits department sometimes has harvestmen in its collection. We are considering the merits of putting them on display in the near future, possibly to illustrate the differences between spiders and harvestmen.

A harvestman I recently found inside a house, oddly enough.
Image: Tim Blackburn
Source: Museum Victoria  

Further reading:

Harvey, M. S. And Yen, A. L. (1997) Worms to Wasps. Oxford University Press, Oxford: p. 86-87.

Milledge, G. A. and Walker, K. L. (1992) Spiders Commonly Found in Melbourne and Surrounding Regions. Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne.

Links:

Question of the Week: Daddy long-legs spiders

Harvestmen (CSIRO)

Harvestmen (Wikipedia)

Pholcus phalangiodes (Wikipedia)

Pholcidae (Wikipedia)

Prior to becoming a keeper with the Live Exhibits team at Melbourne Museum, my knowledge of grasshoppers was quite limited. Locusts were probably the type of grasshopper of which I was most aware, due to their high numbers during the warmer months. They are also responsible for the must-have car fashion accessory adorning the front of vehicles, in the form of flywire to stop cars from overheating. In truth, locusts are just one of an estimated 700 species of grasshopper in Australia.

The Common Toad Hopper (Buforania crassa) is an inquisitive creature.
Image: David Paddock
Source: Museum Victoria  

Live Exhibits keeps many different types of grasshoppers and I am quite intrigued by them all, but the species which first caught my attention was the Common Toadhopper (Buforania crassa) from Central Australia. They are not particularly big - females are approximately 60mm long and males 40 mm long - and contrary to their name they rarely hop or jump, preferring to walk around. They have been described as an inquisitive grasshopper and that is what drew me to them. As with pets at home, if you are looking after an animal and you buy it a new toy or feed it a new food then you hope that they will enjoy it or get a reaction from it. I found that not too long after I added food they would be on it or in it. This included pollen, orthopteran mix (made up of muesli, fish flakes and other ingredients), and various forms of foliage, such as abelia, emu bush, acacia, and callistemon. You soon find out that they have their favourites - I would say that callistemon is in the top two.

Common Toad Hopper (Buforania crassa) eating callistemon, one of its favourite foods.
Image: David Paddock
Source: Museum Victoria  

Like most grasshoppers, Common Toadhoppers use camouflage to hide from predators. As you can see from the picture, once they are perched on a rock or stick during the daylight hours they can be very difficult to see. If they are brought up on a light sand substrate then their colours will reflect that.

Common Toadhoppers are masters of camouflage. Their colours can vary depending on what colour substrate they are brought up on.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria  

Toadhopper perfectly disguised to match the branch it's sitting on.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

Their reproductive cycle is very interesting. Grasshoppers generally breed in the summer months with the male perching on the female's back, either mating or guarding her from other males. The female then deposits her eggs in the soft sand and plugs them with a foamy substance. Our toadhopper populations here at Melbourne Museum vary seasonally and in some enclosures we currently have none at all, but we can see where females have deposited their eggs. Grasshopper eggs are good at withstanding drought periods. Normal incubation time for Common Toadhoppers is 1-3 months but it can be as long as 1-2 years, the eggs simply waiting for the right conditions. We can recreate those conditions, simulating warmer days with longer heat and light periods, and heavy rain through flooding the enclosures with water. Then hopefully not too long afterwards, little toadhopper nymphs will appear and even though they may not live up to the second part of their name, these grasshoppers certainly love eating grass.

A young Common Toadhopper.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria  

In the meantime, come along to Melbourne Museum and visit our male Common Toadhopper, featured in the arid section of our Habitats display in Bugs Alive!.

Toadhoppers are in the arid habitat display in Bugs Alive!.
Image: David Paddock
Source: Museum Victoria  

The Forest Gallery is one of the icons of Melbourne Museum – a cool temperate rainforest merging into drier eucalypt forest complete with creek, ponds and waterfall, all in the heart of a major city.

The gallery is dominated by large gum trees, wattles and southern beech, which have been growing consistently under the close supervision of Live Exhibits horticulturalists for more than 10 years. This is a ‘Forest in a Box’, a museum gallery in which the living trees must be strategically pruned on a regular basis in order to maintain the desired effect.

A view from above the fire poles at the northern end of the Forest Gallery, giving some idea of the height of the pruning operation.
Source: Museum Victoria

Last week arborists from ArborCo visited the Forest Gallery for an annual prune of the larger trees. The arborists must scale remarkable heights to reach the crowns of the trees, even before they commence their work.

Crew Leader Andrew Caldecott prepares to climb a Southern Beech for the annual trim.
Source: Museum Victoria

Great attention is paid by the arborists to the health and safety of both themselves and the trees. Much of the preparation is done on the ground, and the pruning operation is planned weeks in advance. It must be done in such a way that preserves the natural shape of the tree and promotes growth in the right directions.

Arborist Joel Creech makes his way up a gum tree towards the upper canopy.
Source: Museum Victoria

During their visit, the arborists also apply their skills to climbing one of the poles which houses the Forest Gallery’s wind gauge. The gauge is used to monitor wind speeds, and Museum staff will occasionally close the gallery temporarily if the wind becomes too strong.

Malachi Ewan at the top of a fire pole cleaning the wind gauge.
Source: Museum Victoria

Branches removed by the arborists are recycled on site into mulch, to be used on gardens throughout the Museum. When suitably aged, some of the mulch will be returned to the Forest Gallery to sustain the trees from which it came.

Left: ArborCo’s Gary Lambert feeds a steady stream of branches through the chipper. | Right: Brendan Fleming from the Live Exhibits Unit begins moving mulch back onto gardens around the museum.
Source: Museum Victoria

During the pruning operation, some of the branches cut from the Forest Gallery are tested to monitor the long term health of the trees. Foliage samples taken from new growth in the upper parts of the canopy can tell much about the trees’ nutrient content. Dr Peter Hopmans from Timberlands Research collects samples and uses them, in conjunction with soil samples and trunk diameters, in an ongoing review of plant health.

Dr Peter Hopmans from Timberlands Research collecting foliage samples, watched by Brendan Fleming and Customer Service Officer Veronica Barnett.
Source: Museum Victoria

The Forest Gallery combines ancient geology and the power of water with living birds, reptiles, fish and frogs. It also exemplifies indigenous and European use and management of forests, and the role and impact of fire. But the heart of the forest is the giant trees that stand above all else, and ongoing management should ensure their existence for many years to come.

Links:

MV News: Forest gets a haircut

Pruning saves the Forest from the storm 

The stars of the Bugs Alive! aquatic display Green Diving Beetles (Onychohydrus scutellaris) are remarkable for their ability to store air and dive underwater to hunt food and find mates. They are found Australia-wide and on warm nights are attracted to lights. Recently on the Gold Coast there was a report of thousands of these beetles coming into the lights on the foreshore and the ground around the lights was a black moving mass.

Adapted to a life in the water, Green Diving Beetles have streamlined bodies, paddle like hind legs with swimming hairs and an amazing ability to store pockets of air so they can dive under water for extended periods of time.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Although sometimes they can be locally common they are predators and tend to live in water bodies, like dams and lakes at densities that do not deplete prey numbers too much; once prey numbers get too low, these beetles fly to a new water body and establish themselves there.   

Adults lay their eggs in the water where tiny predatory larvae hatch out. The larvae spend their entire larval stage in the water before digging into the muddy banks of ponds and pupating. Once mature, the adults can either hang out where they emerged or fly and disperse to other areas where the food source is more readily available.

Over the last 12 months in Victoria, like many parts of Australia, has had increased rainfall which allows the beetles to disperse and breed at a greater rate than over the last few years of drought. Live Exhibits staff are predicting a great summer for Green Diving Beetles and they may turn up a bit more often in the Melbourne metropolitan area. Live Exhibits staff will be heading out equipped with torches, nets and wadders to see if we can hunt down these incredible animals.

Green Diving Beetles can be voracious feeders; here a group of them are feasting on a dead fish at the Melbourne Museum.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

These beetles are active predators and scavengers and add a great degree of movement and colour to our Bugs Alive! display. As they forage they constantly return to the surface of the water to replenish their air supply which they hold under their elytra (wing covers). They eat other aquatic invertebrates and in the wild will sometimes attack vertebrates such as small fish and tadpoles.

Garden Wolf Spiders, Lycosa godeffroyi, are commonly found on the prowl around Victorian gardens at night.They are modern spiders, or araneomorphs, in the family Lycosidae and they differ from many other spiders through their prey capture technique. Wolf spiders are active hunters that chase down their prey.

Wolf spider, Lycosa godeffroyi
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

During the day wolf spiders seek cover in vertical burrows, often utilising discarded invertebrate burrows, however they will dig their own if necessary.

Wolf spider emerging from its burrow
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Wolf spider peering out of its burrow, using its posterior eyes
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Wolf spiders are attractive spiders, ranging in colour from black to orange-brown with striking grey patterns on their carapace. Males have large bulbs on their pedipalps and females are typically larger and more robust than males. They are common throughout southern Australia in a range of habitats.

 Wolf spider
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Males court female through a series of leg drums and vibrations while ‘dancing’ with his forelegs.  If the female is receptive she will allow him to approach.  The male will then present the female with a sperm package on one of his palpal bulbs, (as spiders do not have penises) which she will store and use to fertilise her eggs.

Female wolf spider carrying her egg sac
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Sometime after fertilisation the female produces an egg sac, which she carries with her (even while hunting) under her abdomen. 30 – 40 days later the eggs hatch producing up to 200 spiderlings. The spiderlings do not immediately disperse; instead they ride on their mother’s back for a few weeks.  When they are ready to fend for themselves they disperse via silk strands.

Female wolf spider covered in her spiderlings
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Female wolf spider carrying her spiderlings
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Wolf spiders are not aggressive by nature; they will however defend themselves if provoked. The anatomy of their feet – they have three claws and no hair tuffs on the tips of their legs – means they cannot negotiate slippery surfaces. This makes them good pets because they are easy to house and care for in a glass jar or terrarium.

Wolf spider, Lycosa godeffroyi
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Links:

Victorian Spiders

Wolf spider infosheet

Welcome to the first instalment of Museum Victoria’s Bug of the Month. At any time, more than 100 species of invertebrates are resident at Melbourne Museum, under the care of the Live Exhibits Unit. These creatures can be seen in Bugs Alive! and the Forest Gallery, and they pop up in other places such as the Children’s Museum and even Amazing Backyard Adventures, currently showing at Scienceworks.

Face to face with the Small Hooded Katydid.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

This month’s bug is the Small Hooded Katydid, also known as Phyllophorella. The name doesn’t adequately describe the large size of this species, which can grow up to 8cm long. Although this katydid has been around for millennia, it was only described by scientists and given an official scientific name two years ago.

Adult Small Hooded Katydid.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Small Hooded Katydids are found in North Queensland, from around Cairns all the way to rainforest near the tip of Cape York. They are one of the biggest katydids in Australia, but their closest relatives, the Giant Katydids (Siliquofera grandis) are easily the largest, measuring up to 13cm in length.

A katydid feeding on broad bean leaves. If you look closely you can see the katydid’s ear, a small opening located on its foreleg at the left of the photo.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Small Hooded Katydids are vegetarians, feeding on a range of rainforest plants amongst which they are remarkably well camouflaged. Some specimens even have irregular white or brown patches on their wings, which are identical to the spots found on leaves. The veins on the wings also mimic the vein pattern of leaves, so adults can be very difficult to find in the wild. For this reason, they were thought for a long time to be rare, but are actually quite common.

Close-up of a katydid’s wing, showing the leaf-like pattern of veins and brown spots.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Unlike most other katydids, males of this species don’t call to attract females, so no-one knows how they find each other in the rainforest at night. However, both adults and nymphs can produce a rasping sound when disturbed, by rubbing the bases of the back legs against the body.

A young nymph living behind the scenes at Melbourne Museum
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

The ‘hood’ of these katydids, after which they are named, is most obvious in juveniles such as these two below. The pointed spine on each side of the hood is also most prominent at this stage.

A juvenile female already bears the sabre-like ovipositor at the end of the body with which she will later lay eggs.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

A juvenile feeding on organic matter, photographed in rainforest north of Cape Tribulation
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

Small Hooded Katydids are currently on show in the ‘Enormous Numbers’ display in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum.

Small Hooded Katydids in Bugs Alive!
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

References:

Rentz, D.C.F., Su, Y.N. & Ueshima, N., 2009, Studies in Australian Tettigonidae: The Phyllophorinae (Orthoptera: Tettigonidae: Phyllophorinae), Zootaxa, 2075:55-68

Rentz, D., 2010, A Guide to the Katydids of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 214pp.

Have you noticed the unusually high population of golden orb-weaving spiders (Nephila edulis) in Melbourne this year? They're usually very rare this far south but I’ve spotted dozens of them in the inner-city suburbs over recent months. Our online visitors have too; in the past three months, we’ve received over 50 comments on this Question of the Week about these spectacular spiders.

Discovery Centre gets a lot of queries about spiders and whether they’re dangerous, often after they’ve received a lethal dose of insect spray, so it’s delightful to see that most of the recent comments simply marvel at the size, beauty and architectural skills of these spiders. Lots of people have told us they are quite fond of their backyard Nephila and some have even given them names! We’ve heard about Bertha, Gloria, Holly, and, I confess, I’ve named the one that lives near me Nefertiti.

Nefertiti the large female Nephila edulis.
Source: Museum Victoria

Because people are so interested, I thought I’d dig up a bit more about Nephila edulis. They are more often found in northern Victoria, NSW and QLD where there has been a bumper spider season, too. Professor Mark Elgar from the University of Melbourne has studied these spiders for many years, travelling to Euroa each spring to collect specimens for behavioural studies. He recently commented in the Shepparton News that high summer rainfall “has provided a lot more food for flying insects, which become food for spiders. They really are much more abundant than I've seen for a long time and next year we'll see the same thing.”

Nefertiti sits in her large golden web all day, unlike the nocturnal and more common Garden Orb-weaving Spider (Eriophora sp.), which tears down and rebuild its web almost daily. Nefertiti leaves her web up until it’s so ratty that it needs to be repaired and her home is adorned with a rather gruesome array of dead insects. Professor Elgar and his colleagues showed that this vertical band of detris is a stockpile of food but also serves another intriguing function; it attracts more food. The spiders deliberately incorporate bits of rotting vegetation to make their larders irresistable to flies.

The underside of a large mature female Nephila edulis on her web. In the background is her egg sac and hanging in her web is a detrius band of dead insects.
Source: Museum Victoria

Another fascinating aspect of Nephila biology is the difference in size between males and females. While females are generally much larger than the males, within males there is a big variation in size. Professor Elgar and colleagues investigate how this has evolved. It’s a complex question with no definite answers and lots of factors to consider.

A pair of golden orb-weaving spiders illustrating the difference in size between males and females. The tiny male is on the left while the large female, feeding on a moth, is on the right.
Image: Bill & Mark Bell
Source: Used under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) from Bill & Mark Bell

Male N. edulis have two strategies when it comes to approaching a female. The risk of being mistaken for her lunch is pretty high so it pays to be careful. One tactic is to crawl onto the web on the same side as the female, while another is to approach from the opposite side and cut a hole in the web. Small males are more common than large males and they tend to use the first strategy. They also mate for longer and father more of the female’s offspring. However there are costs to being small, too: smaller males are more often eaten by females than large males. Furthermore, if there are a number of males loitering around the edge of a female’s web, large males beat small males in the battle to reach the female.

I don’t know if she was courted by a large or small male (or both - these spiders mate several times), but Nefertiti has laid a clutch of eggs in a golden silk sac. In spring her eggs will hatch and her babies will disperse on the wind to start the whole cycle again. Keep an eye out for them later in the year! Meanwhile, if you’d like to see a golden orb-weaver up close, visit the Orb Wall in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum.

The golden silk egg sac of Nephila edulis.
Source: Museum Victoria

Links:

Victorian Spiders

B. T. Bjorkman-Chiswell, M. M. Kulinski, R. L. Muscat, K. A. Nguyen, B. A. Norton, M. R.E. Symonds, G. E. Westhorpe and M. A. Elgar. 2004. Web-building spiders attract prey by storing decaying matter. Naturwissenschaften 91:245-248

J. M. Schneider, M. E. Herberstein,  F. C. de Crespigny, S. Ramamurthy and M. A. Elgar. 2000. Sperm competition and small size advantage for males of the golden orb-web spider Nephila edulis. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 13: 939-946

We have many different types of snail here at Melbourne Museum. They range from the very well-known Common Garden Snail (Cantareus aspersa), which was introduced into Australia from Europe in the early 1800s, to Australia’s largest snail, the Giant Panda Snail (Hedleyella falconeri), from the forests around the border of New South Wales and Queensland. There are many differences between the snails in our collection but one trait that they generally share is what they eat. Most snails are herbivorous and feed on plant matter or fungi – much to the frustration of many gardeners. However, some snails have different eating habits and they are in fact carnivorous. We have one such predatory creature here.

Carnivorous snail feeding on a Common Garden Snail.
Image: David Paddock
Source: Museum Victoria

Now, a snail is not exactly known for its speed, but these snails actually chase down and eat other animals, feeding on worms and other molluscs, including snails. While what they eat is different, the way that they eat is exactly the same. Snails have a radula – a tongue-like structure covered by rows of rasping teeth. To see the feeding structure (mouth) of a snail, place it on a clear glass sheet and watch from below.

Carnivorous snail eating a Common Garden Snail.
Image: David Paddock
Source: Museum Victoria

These pictures were taken here at Melbourne Museum in our back-of-house animal care facility. The smaller carnivorous snail (Terrycarlessia tubinata) is eating a Common Garden Snail. A few days later all that was left of the victim was an empty shell!

If you are interested in snails and would like to see some of Australia's biggest species, come along to Melbourne Museum and see our Rainforest Snails and Giant Panda Snails on display now in Bugs Alive.

Links:

Infosheet: Land snails of Victoria

MV Blog: Snail of a surprise

This guest post is by Chloe, a Live Exhibits keeper at Melbourne Museum.

At Live Exhibits we like to keep a range of funnel-web species. This way we can represent not only the infamous Sydney Funnel-web spider, but the majority of Australian funnel-web species in our exhibits.

As it had been six years since Live Exhibits’ last trip to Nariel Valley, it was time for Jessie, Patrick and I to pack up the car and head off on a field trip in the to find some Alpine Funnel-webs (Hadronyche alpina).

Alpine Funnel-web, Hadronyche alpina.
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria

Local resident Mrs Brown originally alerted the museum’s Discovery Centre to the presence of a population of Alpine Funnel-webs in the Nariel Valley and more particularly her front lawn. Young funnel-webs emerge from their mother’s burrow, find an attractive burrow site, and then burrow down, which makes for high density populations. For us, this leads to quick collection of multiple specimens.

After finding three funnel-webs around our campsite it was time to head off to Mrs Brown’s place, where she showed four large burrows. We started digging holes in the mud more than 30cm deep, a process much more lengthy than expected, using only a desert spoon to dig, trying not to destroy Mrs Brown’s lawn or injure the spiders. Finally we produced four plump female funnel-webs (which were less than happy about being disturbed) then we balanced them on a spoon to be transferred into their new glass homes.

Alpine Funnel-web, Hadronyche alpina
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria

Soaking wet with seven funnel-webs under our belt and no sign of any more, it was time to head off to Omeo.

The following day drove up the windy, fog-covered hills to Mt Hotham, where we began our search for Alpine Thermocolour Grasshoppers (Kosciuscola tristis), Alpine Blistered Pyrgomorphs, (Monistria concinna), Mountain Katydids (Acripeza reticulata) and Alpine Katydids (Tinzeda albosignata).

Left: Alpine Katydid, Tinzeda albosignata. Right: Alpine Thermocolour Grasshopper Kosciuscola tristis.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

On warmer days these invertebrates would be sitting up on small bushes and grass clumps, enjoying the sun. However on cooler foggy days, like the day of our visit, many of the invertebrates sink lower into the foliage to protect themselves against the elements, making our search a little harder and much wetter. Thankfully I had donned plastic pants and a rain coat which made the perfect outfit, although they didn’t help the situation in my boots, which contained enough water to fill a small lake.

Foggy conditions for collecting invertebrates at Mt Hotham.
Image: Patrick Honan
Source: Museum Victoria

During the morning of searching, Patrick’s alter ego Taxon Boy didn’t let us down, helping us bag 48 Thermocolour Grasshoppers, 7 Alpine Katydids, 1 Mountain Katydid, 12 Alpine Blistered Pyrgomorphs and a female Alpine Wolf Spider (Lycosa sp.).

Alpine Wolf Spider, Lycosa sp.
Image: Chloe Miller
Source: Museum Victoria

We made one final stop on our long drive back to the museum to collect some eucalyptus for our stick insects; here Taxon Boy also stumbled across some large Garden Orb-weavers (Nephila edulis) which you can now see on display in the Orb wall in Bugs Alive! at Melbourne Museum.

Garden Orb-weaver, Nephila edulis.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Links:

Infosheet: Spiders of Victoria 

MV Blog: TV Crew in Bugs Alive

The Live Exhibits Unit has taken on three new full-time keepers in recent months, who you might see working in the Forest Gallery and Bugs Alive at Melbourne Museum.

Dave Paddock hails from Wellington Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary and Werribee Open Range Zoo. He has travelled the world as a sightseer and tour guide. His favourite animals at Live Exhibits change depending on the day – today it is the toadhoppers in Bugs Alive, which Dave will blog about in the near future.

David Paddock getting out of the mud.
Source: Museum Victoria

As the photo illustrates, Dave is specialises at getting out of sticky situations on field trips. He also loves bushwalking and does an expert baboon impression. Dave has only one enemy – a cockatoo called Jake at Wellington Zoo.

Rowena Flynn has been a postie, horticulturalist and Art and Environment teacher with a degree in Asian Studies and honours degree in Political Science. She’s been a casual keeper on Live Exhibits since 2006 and her proudest moment is becoming a full-time keeper.

Rowena Flynn about to hit the surf.
Source: Rowena Flynn

Rowena once navigated with a compass from Kathmandu to Italy in a truck, and now travels Australia looking for the perfect wave. Her favourite animal is Mrs Moloch, the Thorny Devil, who can be seen feeding on ants from time to time in Bugs Alive.

Chloe Miller also goes by the name Sugar Rose and her favourite animals are chameleons, even though she’s volunteered with Orang Utans in Borneo.

Chloe Miller with a monitor lizard.
Source: Chloe Miller

Originally from Alexandra in central Victoria where she worked for Parks Victoria, Chloe has an Animal Science degree and was also a Customer Service Officer at Melbourne Museum. She has a killer bowling arm and her favourite music is the soundtrack to the movie ‘You’ve Got Mail’.

During the recent Bush Blitz biodiversity survey at Lake Condah, there was one insect that intrigued even the staunchest vertebrate biologists — the Mountain Katydid (Acripeza reticulata).

In this video, Patrick, Rowena and David from Live Exhibits talk about these unusual katydids and how they're establishing a colony of them at Melbourne Museum.

Watch this video with a transcript

Katydids are in the family Tettigoniidae, otherwise known as bush crickets or long-horned grasshoppers due to their very long antennae. The name 'katydid' comes from the noise that they make by rubbing their wings together which, in some species, sounds like katy-did, katy-did.

Bush Blitz is a three-year biodiversity discovery program supported by the Australian Government, BHP Billiton, Earthwatch Australia and Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN) AusPlots.

Links:

Mountain Katydid on Caught and Coloured

MV Blog: Bush Blitz finds

This morning Patrick Honan from Live Exhibits instructed the Bush Blitz team to keep an eye out for Mountain Katydids (Acripeza reticulata). These are large, robust long-horned grasshoppers that are usually found in cold high-altitude areas so Patrick was surprised to see them recorded in a previous ecological survey of Lake Condah. Ranger Brad Williams and botanist Val Stajsic brought in two specimens from Muldoons that they’d found on Tuesday, suggesting that they’re reasonably common here.

Muldoons is property adjacent to the Lake Condah Mission site but getting there is not straightforward. There was a bridge decades ago dating back to when it was the hunting ground for people living on the mission. Matt Butt, the Coordinator of Land Management, explained that the bridge was washed away in a heavy flood in the 1940s. The road into the property was built only five years ago and the terrain is incredibly rocky. It’s also incredibly beautiful; the bush is largely intact since the ground was too rocky to be any good for agriculture. The ground is dotted with rock-lined sinkholes in the lava flow from Mount Eccles (known to Gunditjmara people as Budj Bim, meaning ‘high head’). Some of the sinkholes are full of water where Remko Leijs, from the South Australian Museum, has sampled the small crustaceans that live in the groundwater. Later in Bush Blitz some of the MV marine scientists will put on their SCUBA gear to film the wildlife of these water bodies.

Most of the MV biologists were at Muldoons for a couple of hours this morning and found some amazing animals. And yes, one of them was a Mountain Katydid plodding through low grass just a metre away from the road. She’s a female and particularly fat, possibly because she’s full of eggs. She’s gone back to Melbourne Museum with the Live Exhibits staff where they hope she will be the start of a captive colony for display.

Female Mountain Katydid found at Muldoons.
Image: Julian Finn
Source: Museum Victoria

Budj Bim rangers Simone Sailor-Smith and Deb Rose caught a beautiful Jewel Spider (Austracantha minax). Another amazing find was a Peripatus or velvet worm. These are ancient animals that share some characteristics with worms and some with arthropods, and haven’t changed much in millions of years.

The tiny and beautiful velvet worm found at Muldoons.
Image: julian Finn
Source: Museum Victoria

We also found scorpions, centipedes, beetles, lacewings, ants and lizards. Where possible, the team is only collecting the first specimen that is caught and releasing subsequent finds. For birds and mammals, the surveys are by sight, by ear or through capture and release. The birders spent a few hours this afternoon at Lake Condah and reported breeding Musk Ducks plus three Reed Warblers which is interesting because they have usually flown north by this time of year.

One of the hungry tiger leeches that are common in swamps, on low shrubs, and clinging to Bush Blitzers!
Image: Julian Finn
Source: Museum Victoria

Of course, all this time we're spending in swamps is great for one local animal - the leech. We've all become quite good at spotting and flicking leeches before they latch on to feed, but some of us have still become hosts for these blood-sucking parasites...

Peter Lillywhite with a leech feeding on his neck.
Image: Berlinda Bowler
Source: Berlinda Bowler

Bush Blitz is a three-year biodiversity discovery program supported by the Australian Government, BHP Billiton, Earthwatch Australia and Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN) AusPlots.

Last weekend's balmy evenings brought out a squadron of deadly aerial hunters in my backyard. I saw about ten dragonflies zooming around, plucking flying insects from the sky. It was an amazing sight – I’ve never seen so many in action in such a small area. From the half-eaten bodies I saw on the ground, it seems they were feasting on a swarm of young ant queens and males on their nuptial flights.

Dragonflies and damselflies belong to the 300-million-year-old insect order Odonata. You can tell the difference between the adults easily; damselflies are generally smaller, more delicate, and hold their wings together above their body when resting. Dragonflies are their beefy relatives and most rest with their wings held out to each side. As juveniles, odonates – known as nymphs – mostly lurk in freshwater ponds and streams eating smaller creatures such as mosquito larvae and small crustaceans.

Compound eyes of a dragonfly.
Source: Museum Victoria

Adult dragonflies have incredible eyesight thanks to large compound eyes that wrap almost all the way around their heads. Combined with extraordinary agility, they are skilled hunters and snatch gnats, moths and flies from the air, eating them on the wing with their powerful jaws. They even mate on the wing; the male guards the female while she lays eggs in the water, grasping just behind her head with the claspers at the end of his abdomen.

A pair of dragonflies laying eggs in a pond. The male is holding on to the female just behind her head as she dips her tail into the water to lay eggs.
Image: Susan McBratney
Source: Susan McBratney

I love watching these animals and their amazing behaviour, which is reflected in the common names for some dragonfly families – hawkers, cruisers, skimmers and perchers. Another common name, darner, harks back to a medieval folk tale that they were the devil’s darning needles that would sew shut the mouths of unruly children!

Male scarlet darter (Crocothemis erythraea) male on the island of Crete. The thorax of the dragonfly is packed with powerful muscles that drive their wings. Unlike most other insects, dragonflies and damselflies can move each pair of wings independently of the other.
Image: Stavros Markopoulos
Source: Used under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 2.0 from macropoulos

A lot of people have mentioned seeing more dragonflies than usual this season so I had a chat to MV’s aquatic insect expert, Richard Marchant, to find out more. He says that knowledge of Australian dragonfly biology is patchy, but they’re quite long-lived – nymphs might take one or two years to reach adulthood, and adults probably live a month or more and travel many kilometres. He believes that all the rain Victoria has received this summer means the increased areas of standing water has attracted dragonflies in huge numbers to many parts of the state, including the greater Melbourne area. So look up, and enjoy the stuntwork of these acrobats in the summer sky!

Links:

Infosheet: Dragonflies and damselfies

Australian Museum: Order Odonata

Devil's Darning Needle

600 Million Years: Giant invertebrates in the Carboniferous

Herald Sun: 'Bugs galore as Vic gets steamy'

What's going on here behind the aquatic invertebrate display?

A Water Scorpion in Bugs Alive hanging out while the TV crew sets up.
Source: Museum Victoria

Saturday morning TV show Kids' WB have been shooting in Melbourne Museum's Science and Life Galleries today, with a special visit to Bugs Alive this afternoon. Some of the museum's young visitors were very excited to see hosts Lauren and Andrew but for the resident insects, it was all in a day's work.

Chloe from Live Exhibits and Kids' WB hosts Lauren and Andrew filming in Bugs Alive.
Source: Museum Victoria

Chloe, one of our Live Exhibits keepers, brought out some special big invertebrates for Lauren and Andrew to hold. Let's just say that Andrew enjoyed this bit more than Lauren...

Chloe shows Lauren and Andrew a Spiny Leaf Insect.
Source: Museum Victoria

You can see Melbourne Museum featured on Kids' WB when this epidsode screens on Channel 9 at 10am on 5 March.

Bernard in Public Programs didn't just receive a gory makeover for his stint as a security guard in the Science and Life commercial; he also needed a haircut to tame his unruly locks.

 Going, going, gone... Bernard's wild curls are trimmed off.
Source: Susan Bamford Caleo

But don't worry, the trimmings were put to good use... as nesting material for the finches and wrens in Melbourne Museum's Forest Gallery. In the wild, these birds salvage tufts of animal hair to line their nests and provide a soft bed for their chicks. During the birds' breeding season, Live Exhibits collect all sorts of materials that will make good nesting matter. This includes coconut fibres, fleece from sheep and horse hair to name a few. Staff stockpile material in spring and disperse them out in small amounts throughout spring and summer.

 Trimmings from Bernard's haircut.
Source: Museum Victoria

Rowena from Live Exhibits had the strange task of scattering the hair around the Forest Gallery early one morning. When I told her it was Bernard's, she said, "I don't know if it's better or worse, knowing who it belonged to!"

Rowena scattering the hair in the Forest Gallery for birds to use.
Source: Museum Victoria

If you have wandered into the Forest Gallery in the new year, you may have noticed that the creek looks much clearer. Just before Christmas 2010, Live Exhibits staff got together to clean ten years' worth of silt and sludge that had built up since the opening of the gallery. It was a tough and dirty job, but the end result was well worth it when the clean water was turned back on.

First we had to drain the creek.......

The Forest Gallery creek drained of its water.
Source: Museum Victoria

...so we could remove all the rocks.....

Removing the creek rocks.
Source: Museum Victoria

...and scoop out all the stinky mud!

Scooping out ten years' worth of mud from the creek's base.
Source: Museum Victoria

With all of the rocks washed and returned...

Squeaky-clean rocks back in position
Source: Museum Victoria

...we could fire up the pump...

The pump that circulates water through the Forest Gallery
Source: Museum Victoria

...and let the water flow. C'est fini!

Sparkling, crystal-clear Forest Gallery creek.
Source: Museum Victoria

Links:

Forest Secrets

A couple of weeks ago, an ex staff member of the museum dropped off some interesting snails that could work well in Bugs Alive!, our display of invertebrates at the museum. Amongst the collection was a moderate sized land snail that looked remarkably like a Giant African Land Snail.

Giant African Land Snails are one of the biggest potential agricultural pests for Australia. In the 1970s they entered Australia and were found in Queensland. Australia managed to eradicate them from the environment this time, but the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) continue to be vigilant to stop them from getting across our border again. Although they originate from Africa they are now a pest species all over the world. Close to home they are found on Pacific islands where they have overrun some of the local land snails leading them to become endangered (as well as introducing carnivorous snails to eat the Giant African Land Snail but they enjoyed the taste of the local snails more – but that is another story...).

 This moderate size land snail looked far too much like a Giant African Land Snail to not have checked out by the experts.
Image: Adnan Moussalli
Source: Museum Victoria

My story stems from the fact that on my desk turned up this interesting looking snail. I was immediately alerted to action to get this snail checked out. I left the Live Exhibits department and ventured up to Sciences where I spoke to Adnan, the resident snail expert of the museum. He was not only interested in this snail but also the bundle of other snails that came along with the package – including carnivorous snails who had eaten their house mates and a Snug – what looks like a cross between a snail and a slug.

Hard to believe - but there are snails around that are carnivores. This snail came to us in en enclosure with two empty snail shells - it had a feast in transit.
Image: Adnan Moussalli
Source: Museum Victoria

This amazing group of animals, which we have fondly called Snugs, have been kept in captivity by Live Exhibits for a number of years.
Image: Adnan Moussalli
Source: Museum Victoria

It did not take Adnan long to coax the snail out of its shell and confirm that it was just a very interesting local snail called Pygmipanda automata. It has now become a resident of the Melbourne Museum and we can use it for public programs and display. Australia is full of amazing snails that are so rarely seen by many people. Their tendency to venture out when it is dark and wet when we are all tucked up in bed means they are rarely spotted.  

Tash is another bug-crazy animal keeper. She is passionate about arachnids including scorpions and primitive spiders (tarantulas and funnelwebs in particular).

They look like dinosaurs I hear you say?

Come and meet our Cunningham Skinks Egernia cunninghami who have moved into the rocky high rise estate in the reptile enclosure in the Forest Gallery! These Cunningham skinks were born here at Melbourne Museum and their ages range from 2-8 years. They are sun-loving and enjoy posing for the camera. They are not picky eaters and their diet consists of specialty reptile pellets, fruit, vegetables and any insects they come across.

Three Cunningham Skinks come out and enjoy their vegies.
Image: Natasha Shadie
Source: Museum Victoria

Cunningham Skinks are distributed widely over eastern and central Victoria, excluding central and southern Gippsland. They are live bearing and can produce between 2-8 young in late summer. They like to hang out in rocky crevices where their backward facing spiky scales make it difficult for predators to pull them out.

This is a perfect time to come and see thm sunbaking and playing with their food. 

Jack the Satin Bowerbird is arguably the superstar resident of Melbourne Museum's Forest Gallery. His gleaming blue plumage is gorgeous. His skills in construction are unparalleled. He's a great collection manager. But could he also be an illusionist? 

Jack the Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria

Deakin University's John Endler reported a fascinating possibility in his recent paper in the journal Current Biology. His study of the bowers constructed by the Great Bowerbird, Ptilinorynchus nuchalis, suggests that these animals arrange the ornaments in their bowers in such a way to make themselves look bigger, and thus more impressive, when courting females.

The principle is the same as that in the Ames Room in our exhibition The Mind: Enter the Labyrinth. The distorted, forced persepctive tricks our brains into interpreting people at opposite ends of the room as being dramatically different in size.

Of course, we're not sure if bowerbirds see this illusion the same that we do. And no one has noticed any partiular pattern to Jack's set-dressing, but perhaps there's more to his collection of blue things than first thought!

Links:

Birds use optical illusions to get mates, New Scientist, 9 September 2010