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Estern Petalura (Petalura Hesperia\ Belongsto a Primitive Family of Dragonflies,The Petaluridae

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Estern Petalura (Petalura Hesperia\ Belongsto a Primitive Family of Dragonflies,The Petaluridae he western petalura (Petalura hesperia\ belongsto a primitive family of dragonflies,the Petaluridae. ESTERN Thisis a relictfamily:onewhose original environmenthaschanged. Fossil records suggestthat petalurids, notunlike those ETALTJRA living now, were plentiful some150 million yearsago. Only 10 species exist ANCIENT RELICT today, and four of these occur in OF THE JARR AH FOREST Australia. The other representatives comefrom NewZealand, Japan, Chile andNorth America.The generic name Petaluraisderivedfrom Greek and refers to the flat, petal-liketail appendagesin the mafe. The specificname hesperia also comesfrom Greekand denotes 'western',a referenceto its distribution in Australia. The westernpetalura is by far the largestdragonfly in WesternAustnli4 with a bodylength of 8-10 centimetres and a wing-span exceedingll0 centimetres in some individuals.Though larEe by modern-daystandards, it is dwarfed by monyl.the largestofthe early fossildragonflies, which had wing-span of about centimetres.Overall, westernpetalura's is a sombredull However,closer exami revealsthatthe facial area, a narrow on top ofthe abdomen,and the edgesto thewings, are pale yellow. wing membranesthemselves transparent,with the veinsforming denseandintricate. netJikeDattern. eyesare set wide apart, unlike most the other large Western dragonflieswhose eyes meet in middle(see I,.4NDSCOPE.Summer 1986-87). In males,the flatpetal-like tail arevery distinctive. AUSTRALIA Is FAMoUS FoR ITS UNIoUE Westernpetaluras can be seenon BIRDS, MAMMALS AND REPTILES. IMAGES oF KANGARooSJ wing from Decemberto KOALAS, FRILL-NECKED LIZARDS, LYREBIRDS AND Comparedwithother PLATYPUSES ABOUND IN BOOKS AND ON FILM. LESS WELL draEonfliesthey look huge, and in KNOWN, HOWEVER, ARE SOME OF THE EXTRAORDINARY appearalmost black. Their behaviour INSECTS THAT INHABIT OUR ARID CONTINENT. ONE SUCH alsodistinctive. Like other INSECT IS THE I,I/ESTERN PETALURA, A GIANT DRAGONFLY they are predatorsand feed on a FOUND IN THE SOUTH.WEST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA of invertebrates.But theyare slowfl iers and generally STORY BY ANDREl/v WILLIAMS AND MATTHEW WILLIAMS technique to secure their I LLUSTRATIONS BY RAY ANDRESS Individualsperch on thetrunks of alongsideforest streams watching insectsto fly past.They then dart uta from their vantagepoint to catchtheir within the jarrahforests of the Darling nitive prey,often returning to the sameperch Scarpsouth ofPerth, and this is precisely ridae. to feed. wherethe westem petalura has recently iginal Thefirstspecimen ofthis magnifi cent been found to occur. As with other rcotds insectwas collected near Lesmurdie by Petalurids,the westernpetalura larvae those M. Hawkinin October1956. Soon after excavateburrows in boggysituations :150 its discovery,further searchesby Tony alongsidethese streams.Burrows i exlst Watson,then a studentat theUniversity examinedat Bull Creekby TonyWatson, ur ln of WesternAustralia, revealed local openedon to dryground, but extendedas atives populationsat nearbyKarragullen, and muchas 60 centimetres below thewater Chile at Bull Creekon theSwan Coastal Plain. table.The larvaeare thereforesemi- I Thefull-grown male larva is almost name Likethe adults,they forage for In bothcases, the dragonflies were located aquatic. I withoutpigment and takes on the refers near the headwatersof permanent livefood that may include such items as I colourof thesubstrate in whichit has gesin freshwaterstreams. Thiswas not entirely earthworms. Small insects that dugits burrow. Weria unexpected,as other membersof this investigatethe burrowswould, no doubt, )notes relictfamily require similarly specialised alsobe eaten. Little detailed information increasingpressure on the natura )unon breedingareas; their larvaelive in is presentlyavailable on the habitsand environmentaround Perth. Civen tha burrowsin boggylocations where there lifecycle ofthewestern petalura, but it is westernpetaluras are known to be rare ar the is a permanentsupply of freshrunning quitepossible that the larval development localand sedentary.concern for thei itlalia, \ /ater. couldtake several years, far longerthan long-termsurvival resulted in th netres ln south-westernAustralia, similar the fewweeks spent as an adult. Departmentof Conservationand Lan E 10 conditionsare found near the upper Ashuman populations expand, both Management(CALM) investigating th some reachesof a few permanentstreams urbanand rural developmentshave put distributionand conservationstatus c rgeby the species.Not surprisingly,thes ;, it is investigationsconfirmed that the petalur zeura habitatsclosest to Perthwere the on€ eearly mostunder threat. Bull Creek, theironl rhada knownlocality on the coastalplain, wa t70 most severelythreatened by urba development.Fortunately, other sit€ tration wherepopulations of westernpetalurz rown. persisthave now been identifiedi Iatlon forestedareas to the south of Peltl rwline Thesesites are on land managedI eading CALM.The greatestthreat to ther w.The ftagilehabitats is decreasingwat, :s are quality,and therefore,carefr ning a managementmust continue rn.The ensurethe survival of this tru nostof wonderful relict from tl tralian prehistoricpast. in the Iewels', lfr',ii1ffi",,.'. .lnthe Althoughrather ndages subduedin colouration,this is a senior dragonfly is the onlY AndrewWilliams ronthe oneof the four technicalofficer with CALM'S )ruary. Austld.liax,Petalura Scienceand Information Division. He can be contactedat the stralian speciesto showcolour .: li nflight tinting at the wing bases. WildlifeResearch Centre at on (09)405 5100. viouris woodvale onflies, MatthewWilliams is a research vanery The mud-encrustedfinal scientistwith CALM'SScience and ,latively I I larvalskin (exuvia)can be InformationDivision. He maybe unbush I found clingingto vegetation contactedat the ComoResearch prey. abovethe burrow after the Centreon (09)334 0299. oftrees adult has emergedand flown away.The larva may take dnEfor severalyears to reachfull lart out development. 0if,11,;: LANDSCOPE VOLUMETENNO.3 AUTUMN ISSUE I995 FABULOUSFANFLOWERS SUZANNECURRY THEAGE OF JARRAH MANDYCLEWS & TAMI\,IIEREID RETURNTO EDEN cARoLYNTHoMS0N & RON SHEPHERD............................. 22 Urceen for more than 100 gears and belieuedto haue bem extinct, Gilbert's potoroo tumed up quite unexpectedlg, LOST& FOUND:GII.SERTS PoToRoo Seepage 28. TONYSTART. ANDBEW BURBIDGE, EUZABETHSTNCLA|R &ADR|AN WAYNE ............................. 28 Flow e r arr angements feat uing eucolgptus foliage are becoming popular uith florists. Find out uh! on TURNINGA NEW LEAF UZBARBOUR& AUSON FUSS 35 HEALTHYFARMTAND, HEALTHY BUSHLAND KATEHOOPER & RICHARD GEORGE YALGoRUPNATIONAL PARK: A ptAcEoF LAKES DAVTDG0UGH&CHRtS P0RT10CK..................................... 45 Salinitg is a problem in the State's south-west, but famers, communitia WESTERNPETALUM and gouemmmt agenciesare working ANDREWWILLIAMS&MATTHEWWI1UAMS........................ 52 to frnd solutions. Seepage 39. INPERSPECTIVE BUSHTEI.EGRAPH ENDANGEREDWESTEBN 8RIsT1E8IRD,...,,,,............... 34 URBANANTICS A giant dragonlly lites in the south- The thick-bilbd grasswren is one of west of WestemAustralia. You csn se\eral animak that mag be lind out more about this ancient reintroduced to Shark Bag as part of 'Westem relict of the jaffah forest in an ambitious project. See 'Retum to Petalura' on page 52. Eden' on page 22. flfiaging EdilonRon Kalllalilak Edilor:David Gough Conltlb!fingEdilors: li,lddt Osrs, Vff'a Cdo, l(atefbopq, hlfl ]}urFc.l Sclanllffcand leahdcal rdvice: Andrcw Burbidgs, lan Abbott, Paul Jones The sttmning rogal roDe (Scaevola Deslgnand ptoducfon: Mada Dulhie, Sue Marais striat is one ofa host of fabulous Rnlsledart KarenAddison fanflowers found in WestemAustralia. lllustntionRay Andress; lan Dictinson, Gooitsen van der Meer SuzanneCurry discussesthis and other Carlography:Promaco Geod|ait lla*rling: Eslellede San Miguel ' {0914340296Fax 3lX{X98 Goodeniaceae page10. Subsc.lp{on.nq!lrl.i: r (09)334 0401 Fax 334 0498 on ColourSepadion by Propress Services PdntsdinWEstem Auslralia by Lamb Print OISSN 0815-1,165- Allmaterial copyrighl. No pan ol ths contenb olthe publicalionmay be reproduced udthout lhe consent olthe publlsherc. Theillustration is bg Philirya Nikulinskg- al Publishedby DrS Shea,Executive Dkector -t DepadmentolConserualion andLand Manag€ment, \/ 50Hayman Boad, Como. Westem Austalia 6t 52. twosmpa 3.
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