AUSTRAL I AN NATURAL HISTORY

Published Quarterly by the A ustra/ian !vluseum, College Street, S; dney

Editor : F. H. TALIJOT, P h. D ., F.L.S. Annual Subscription , $1.40 po5ted

VOL. 16, 0. 2 JU E 15, 1968 r

CONTENTS

PAGE

A usTRALIA!\ DRAGO:-IFLIES-J. A. L. Warson 33

T HE SEA-LIONS OF D A GEROUS R EEF- B. J. Mm·!oll' 39

FISHES B ENEATH ANTARCTIC ICE- Dona/d £. Woh/sch/ag 45

D ISTR IBUTIO A D ADAPTIVE DIVERSITY OF TRA PDOOR SPIDCRS- Barbara York Main 49

THE LITTLE B E 'T -\ I GED B AT- E VOLUTIO I. PROGRLSS- P. D. Dll'yer 55

ECOLOGICAL A SPECTS OF SERPULID fou u , G-Da/e Straughan 59

BOOK R EV IEWS .. 48, 54, 58, 64

e FRO T COVER : A large burrowing frog, Cyclorana australis, from central Queens land. This specie grows to nearly 5 inchc in length, and is found in many pans of Queensland. the Northern Territo ry, and Western Australia. During the dry cason it burrows up to everal feet underground, where it aestivates in a pecial cavity until, with the coming o f rain, it comes to the surface to feed and breed. (Pho to: Howard Hughes). BACK COVER: A de ert gecko, Lucasiu111 daiiiOf!lilll, from a mallee-spinifex community in central-weslCrn New South W ales. This gecko. which grows to about 4 inches in length. is found commo nly in the a rid spinifex or porcupine grass (Triodia pecies) area in all mainland States. Like most geckos it is in­ sectivorous, but is especially partial to termites. The female no rmally lays two parchment- helled eggs. (Photo: C. V. Turner). Front view o f the dragonfly Rhyorhemis graphiprera (Rambur) in a typical perching position. The wing­ span is approximately 6 cm (about 21 inches). The abdomen is lnidden behind the thorax.

AUSTRALIAN DRAGONFLIES By J. A. L. WA T 0 Curator of Odonata, Dh•ision of Entomology, CSJRO, Canberra, A.C.T.

ET G very con.spicuou insects, dragon­ larger dragonflie , as food and bait for fi sh ; flie are fa milia r to most of us. Their what Au tralian trout fisherman has not Bla rge ize, powerful flight, rapacious habits heard of mud-eye ? a nd bright colo urs all command attention. In po int of fact, the Odonata, the o rder of They have common na mes in many insect to wh ich the dragonflies belong, language ; the Japane e have long accorded con titute le s than 0·5 per cent of the known them a prominent place in art; they were species of insects. The o rder contains two o bvious models fo r the early designers of main subo rder , the Anisoptera or dragonflies :flying machines; and the sustained interest proper, la rge, sturdy insects which generally of collecto rs ha provided us with a better rest with the wings spread, a nd the Z ygoplera k nowledge of the world fauna than exists for or dam elflies, lim insects generally resting most other in ect . The attention of laymen with the wi ngs closed above the body. has al o been attracted by the larvae of the owaday the name dragonfly is loosely

June, 1968 Page 33 applied to both subo rders, a ltho ugh its older a l o bulky, rugged creatures, and, unlike usage, dating back some four centuries, other dragonflies, live in burrows in wet applied only to the larger species now mud. Their diet is correspondingly different recognized as Anisoptera. and includes earthworms, terrestrial beetles, and other small a nimals of the bogs. All dragonflies are active predato rs. T he adults are highly speciali zed for catching a nd Another primitive group is the subfamily consuming other insects in fli ght, and flies, eopetali inae, two species of which occur in wasps, moths. and even sma ller dragonllies southeastern Australia, the remainder livi ng commonly fall victim to them. The larvae, in South America. The family Ae hnidae, to which are almost always aquatic, use their which the neopetaliines belong, a lso incl udes uniq uely modified labium to catch food. many common and widespread dragonflies, When suitable prey comes within range, the mostly la rge. The two Australian neo­ la bium is shot forward. and the unfortuna te petaliines are Austropetalia patrrcw anima l is trapped between the apposed teeth (Tillyard) from the Blue Mo unta ins (New a nd spines of the two latera l lobes. Neither South Wales) and Victo ri a, and Archipewlia larva nor adult is harmfu l to man, despite auriculata T illyard from the mo untains of the na me ho rse-stinger which is commonly Tasma nia, the most primitive living aeshnid applied to the adult: rather the reverse, fo r known. Both species, in common with the diet of both larvae and adults often other member of the subfamily, have a row includes flies a nd mosquitoes. of reddish spots along the leading edge of each wing. T wo unrelated Australian damselflies. M ore than 4,000 species in world Hemiphlebia mirabilis Selys and Chorismagrion The Australian dragonflies are few in risi Morton, are unique in showi ng venationa l number, the total number of species being characteristics otherwise known only in probably less than 300, compared wi th the fossils from the Permian period. [t is world fauna of something over 4,000 species. possible that the venational characteristics On the other hand, the Australian fauna a re secondary, in which case the arguments includes a great number of ancient or for affinity with the fossils would founder; problematical forms. There are dragonfl ies yet such characteristics would be striking closely a llied to the species of Jurassic times, cases of parallel evolution, especially in I 50 m illion years ago, in the age of reptiles; Hemiphlebia. Both species have a genu s species whose only known relatives live in to themselves, and occur only over a limited Chile: species whose nearest counterparts are range; Hemiph/ebia mirablis apparently fossils from the Permian period, approxi­ occupies only a short tretch of the Goulburn mately 250 million years ago; a nd, at the R iver in Victoria, a nd Chorismagrion risi other extreme, there is Pantala flavescens is confined to the rai nforests of northern (Fabricius), a species known from temperate Queensland. and tropical zones all around the world. The known larvae of the m o re pnm1t1ve P redominant among the ancient groups is Odonata breed in permanent water, generall y the family Peta luridae, a family abundant in streams. They commonly take more than among the dragonflies of the Jurassic, and a year, sometimes up to 6 or 7 years, to reach now reduced to nine li ving species. Four the adult stage, so it seems that the larvae of these live in Australi a, o ne in New Zealand, of ancient dragonfli es first colonized o ne in Chile, two in North America, and one permanent waters, where temperature and in Japan. The fo ur Australian species all oxygen content were fairly even. But how belong to the genus Petalura, which is can we be sure that dragonfly larvae were co nfined to Australia; two occur in no rth originally terrestrial? The petalurids give Q ueensland, one ranges from south Quee ns­ us a clue, but the respiratory systems of land to central New South Wa les, and the larval dragonnies provide more convincing fourth is confined to southwestern Australia. evidence. Terrestrial insect breathe air All are huge dragonflies, and Peta!ura through segmentally arranged apertures, the ingentissima Tillyard from north Queensland. spiracles: aquatic insects generally breathe with a wing-span of up to I E.5 cm, is the by means of gi ll s of various types. D ragonfly largest living dragonfly. T he larvae are la rvae have gills, at least four distinct and

Page 34 Australian N atural History The damselfly Agriocnemis dobsoni Fraser, pho tographed in a swamp near lnnisfail, Queensland. The tiny Agriocnemis, all only 2 to 3 cm long, have a di tribution similar to that of Pseudagrion. independent types being represented, some a nd o utheastern Au tralia respectively; o n the out ide of the abdom en a nd others in Argiolestes pusillus Tillyard occurs only in the rectum. Tn addition, however, relics of southwestern Australia; and Austrocordulia a bdo minal spiracles are commo n to all. We refi·acta Tillyard is confined to eastern can be sure that they were o nce terrestrial, Australia, in the coastal regio n from southern presumably in the moi t atmospheres of the New South W a les to northern Queen land. mid-Palaeozoic era. One of the striking features of "modern·· ''Opportunists'' dragonflie , together with a few of the older Secondly, we find pecies that have forms, is that they have forsaken the hortened their larval life to a peri od permanent stream and can now breed in compatible with the duration of temporary ephemeral and often ha llow and warm ponds. Such species are opportunists, layi ng waters. The species that have overcome the eggs when water is available, and fl ying far problem of breeding in temporary waters to find it. Thus the adults a re widespread have d o ne so in one o f two ways. Firstly, throughout Australia. and are better known the larvae of several unrelated dragonflies, than those of other specie . Perhap the mo tly species that breed in boggy place . mo t interesting point i that, like the pecic have developed the capacity to withstand that have developed re i tance lo drying. drying. Although some can urvive only if the e opportuni t have evolved indepen­ the mud around them remain damp. o ther dently from a erie of unrelated gro ups­ tolerate long periods in d ry sand. H owever, le tid a nd coenagrionid dam el fl ies and no ne of the e Australian pecies have spread aeshnid, corduliid and libellulid dragonftie - widely, a nd the resistance to drying may be a i ncl ud i ng some cha racteristically Australian relic of the necessity to tide over the period genera. Hemicordulia tau Sely , perhap the of maximal aridity in Australia some 5,000 mo t ubiquitous specie , will lay eggs in the year ago. Thus Synthemis leachi Selys and water lyi ng in sheep troughs or trapped in S. eusta/acta (Burmeister) are now confined mall ti n after rain. All pecies apparently to the area of higher rainfa ll in southwe tern hare a tolerance of the high temperature and

June, 1968 Page 35 low oxygen ten ion that are common in hallow pond , and grow rapidly in uch condi tion . Newly hatched larvae of Diplacodes, Hemicordulia and the ae hnid Hemianax papuensis ( Burmeister) can reach the adult stage in 2 to 3 month at 29 C. Yet even this rapid growth i often an insufficient in urance, and many lanae die when their pond drie out before they can emerge. The tendency for the more prtm JtJve dragonOie to live in cool, pe rmanent water affects their distribution in Australia. A an example we can take the Synthemidae, a family of dragonflies confined to Australia and surrounding islands. The family i an ancient one, connecting the aeshnoid group of fami lies to the libelluloid group. Recent unpublished studie by E. F. Ri e!... in Canberra how that larvae, almo t certainly ynthemids, are prc cnt in Victorian depo it from Cretaceou l

Side view of the head a nd part o f the thorax of a la rval Hemitmax papuensis ( Burmeister). The huge labium lies folded beneath the head. and the left lateral lobe shows the large hook at its tip

Page 36 Australian arura! History Family SY NTHEMIDAE

Genus PSEU DA G RION

The approximate distributions of rhe family Synthemidae and the genus Pseudagrion in Australia. The synthemids exemplify the southern element of the fauna. and the Pseudagrion the northern element. and warm temperate regions of the old Brilliant coloration world. Four pecie a re known from The tropical pecie include ome of o ur Australia, and their range is shown in the most brilliantly coloured d ragonflie , accompa nying map. T wo species are pa rticularly forms with tinted wmgs. The confined to Australia; a third occurs a lso libell ulid genu Rhyothemis includes five in New Guinea; the fourth, Pseudagrion Australian pecie , one with clear amber microcephalum (Rambur), was originally wings mottled with dark brown ciphers, described from India, and includes a wide other with wings patterned in black, and range of forms of uncertain status, spread o ne in which the ma le has the basal half of across a n enormous a rea of southern Asia a nd the Pacifi c. Unlike many of the northern the wi ng ti nted a vivid metallic blue. The element , two species of Pseudagrion have range of a ll except one of these five penetrated far outh of the Tropic of Rhyothemis extend beyond Australia, some Caprico rn, and one even into the cold, far into J odo nesia a nd the Pacific, and other monta ne a reas of southeastern Australia. pecies occur in ouihern Asia and Africa.

June. 1968 Page 37 F urthermo re, it i likely that o me of these M esozoic. Of the e, the peta lurids and tropical d ragonflies are rapidly extending neopetalii ne ae hnids now comprise only a their ra nge in Au tra li a. So me 50 years mino r pa n of the fauna, but the synthemid ago, the great tudent of Australia n dragon­ have th ri ved , li ke the ma rsupia ls. So have fli es, R. J . Tillyard, commented that the o me la te r a rrivals. such as the genus conspicuo u pecies Rhyot!temis grapliiptera H emicorclulia, which range over the entire ( Rambur) a nd Pseudagrion aureofrons continent a nd occupie a wide variety o f Tillyard were known to occur as fa r south habita t . Finall y, there are the newcomer as the Clarence and Bellinger River. .S.W., that have invaded the northern parts of respectively. Both now extend at lea t as Australia a nd, it eem , a re preading fa r south as Sydney. T illyard· ho me for ma ny outhward . We may hope. tho ugh, that year , a nd Pseudagrion aureofi·ons i commo n the ancient Australian dragonnies will with- near Ca nberra and Gundagai, N .S.W., in the ta nd the p re ure fro m the north bette r mo untain. a nd We ntworth. N .S.W., o n the tha n the ma rsupials with tood the a nalogou plain . pres ure fro m the placental ma mma l . If The Au tralia n d ragonfues thus pre ent a not, a ha already ha ppened with the situatio n clo ely pa ra llel to tha t hown by the d ragonflie of o uthern Africa. the a ncient mamma l . T here are a ncient, pro blematica l eleme nt wi ll all but disappear. dragonnie uch as Hemiphlehia, a na logou [The photos and the dra11·ing of rhe lal'l'al with the m o notreme . There a re group head and thorax are by the author. The map which pro ba bly reached Austra lia during the is by M rs G. C. Palmer.]

The geckos include some o f the mo t interesting lizards. The onhern Leaf-tailed Gecko (Phy/lurm comwus), ccn abo,e, is the largesL Australia n gecko, reaching a length of 10 inches. The original tail of this specimc111 has been lost and the one shown has grown in its place. The Northern Leaf-tailed Gecko i largely a n inhabitant of the rainfo rest of coastal easLern ustralia. [Photo: Ha ro ld Coggcr.]

Page 38 A usrralian 'antral H isrory An ad ult female sea-lion with a ha lf-grown pup, estimated to be about 10 monrhs old. o n Dangerous R eef, Spencer Gulf, So uth Australia.

The Sea-lions of Dangerous Reef

By B. J. MARLOW Curator of Mammals, Australian Museum

R UE ea ts o r phocids occur in Australia the south and we t coasts of Austra lia. The T o nly a straggler from the Anta rctic, so adult ma les, which have a white na pe, may a ll the resident seals a re members of the family grow to a total length of abo ut lO feet. Ota riidae. which are known popula rly as while the adult females a re co n idera bly ea red seals. Eared seals are divij ble into maller. These eals occur in gro ups of two ma in gro ups, fur seals a nd sea-lions, a bout I 00 animals on various i lands off a nd both these form are repre ented here by the coast between Adelaide in South Australia the genera Arctocephalus a nd Neophoca a nd H o utman's Abro lho off the west respectively. coast of Western Austra lia. lL is onl y during this decade that any An opportunity of visiting some of these eri o u study of the general bio logy of these colo nies occurred during Octo ber, 1966, a nima ls ha been started, and a t the present when an invitation wa received from the time inten ive investigations of fur seal are Depa rtment of Shipping and Tra nspo rt to being carried o ut near Melbo urne by the a il in the Cape Pillar, the vessel which Victoria n D epartment of F isheries and ervice the lighthouses o n vari o u island Wild life. a round the coast o f South Austra li a. Co lonies of sea-lions were seen on the The Australia n sea-lio n, Neoplwca cinerea, South Neptunes, Four Hummocks, and ha been much neglected in the pa t a nd Pearson I la nd but there wa no evidence of virtua ll y nothing wa known of ma ny aspects breeding at any of these ites. On the o ther of its general biology, a lthough it is a large hand, a large number of very young pups and conspicuous a nimal which is co nfined to was seen o n a small rocky isla nd called

June, J 968 Page 39 D angerou Reef (34u 49' S., 136 12' E.), wa loaded o nto the Cape Pillar and carried to which lie in Spencer Gulf, South Au tra li a, D angerou Reef. T here the hut wa erected a bou t 17 nautical mile southeast of Port by members of the crew of the hi p after it Lincoln. Since thi was obviou ly a n had been landed in a large a mphibio us important breeding site, which is vi ited at vehicle called a LA RC. regular intervals by the Cape Pillar, it wa Thi hut was extremely comfortable and decided that this would be an ideal place in was equipped with built-i n furniture in the which to study the general and reproductive form o f two bunk . two table , and a seat. behaYiour of the Au tralian ~ea- li o n . The whole tructure \\a lined with Caneite. Great a istance was obtained from A gutter and downpipe were fixed at the Mr John Thompson, R egio nal Controller. lower end of the loping roof. which enabled South Au tralia, of the Depa rtment of extra rainwater to be collected. This roof Shipping a nd T ransport, without who e water wa adequate fo r washing but was not co-operatio n it would have been impo sible fit to drink. ince it was heavily contaminated to carry o ut thi tudy. Once permission with the droppings o f ea birds. particularly had been obtained to stay on Da ngerous gull and hag . Although tock of fresh R eef. an aluminium hut mea uring 10 feet water were re tricted, it \\a found that. with quare wa con tructed at the Australia n due economy, t\\ o people could get by quite Museum and ent by road tran port in ea il y on a gallon a day between them. sections to Adelaide. T hi hut. together A large ra nge of t inned food was taken with three 44-gallon drums of drinking water, onto the i land and wa repleni hed fro m

Aerial view of Dangerous Reef. bowing the Jiving-hut on the right and the light-LO\\Cr. The island is 250 yards long and I 00 yard~ wide. T he right-hand edge of the photo face north.

Page 40 Australian 01ura/ History ti me to time with fresh food brought in on Rocky I land periodical vi it from a privately owned boat from Port Lincoln. Thi boat, owned Dangerous Reef is a rocky island mea uring by Ray McDonald, wa u ed for the tran pon 250 )ard in length by about 100 yard in of all the equipment and food to Dan gerou~ '' idth, which i 12 feet above sea-level at it Reef at the tart of the project on lOth J uly, highe t point. In the centre of the i land 1967, at a time when the water drums and there i an unmanned li!!ht-tower about hut had al ready been delivered by the Cape 45 feet high, with a balcony at the top. Pillar and erected. Two-way contact was from which it was pos ible to view a ll parts kept on a daily chedule with Port Lincoln of the i land and ob erve the seal without by mean of a mall tran cei\er radio, which disturbing them in any \ ay. wa lent by A.W.A. Fuel for lighting and T he vegetation i extremely par e and cookingwa taken in the fo rm ofa lOO-pound con ist merely of about three species of cylinder of Portagas; this was used to fi ll sma ll herb . which are concentrated a round smaller bottle from which ihe e appliance the ba e of rocks scattered over the urface. ran. The slay on Dangerous Reef lasted from A varied and abundant bird fauna was lOth J uly until 13th October, a total of present which incl uded ilver gu ll , Pacific 94 days. The party, wh ich consisted of gull s, cormorants, banded dotterels, crested Howard Hughes, the Australian Museum terns, fa iry terns, and sooty oyster catchers. photographer, and myself, a rrived earlier Other species, incl uding Caspian tern , fai ry than wa nece ary. Since the exact date penguins. and ospreys, were represented by of birth of the pups, which had been een a few i a lated individuals. All the more in the p revious October, wa unknown. it wa a bund ant bird species were breeding on the decided to arrive well ahead o f the breeding island during September a nd October, well season, so that o bservati o ns o n the initial in advance of the seal . The la tter, together tages of the formatio n o f territories could with the birds mentioned, were the only be made. The e took place at the beginning terrestrial vertebrates on the island , but a of September, and the fi rst month was spent la rge n um ber of invertebrates, including in observing the general non-breeding moll usc , cru taceans, a nd echinoderm . were behaviour of the a nima ls. present along the sho reline.

A general view of the campsite at Dangerous Reef, showing the living­ hut on the right and the s torage hut at the ba e of the light-tower.

June, 1968 Paf!e 41 D angero u Reef consists of a granite base of the a me approximate dimensions and capped with a limestone top. Much of the confo rmation as the adult females, a nd it shoreline con i t of flat gran ite pl atforms wa only by careful examinati on of their which are awa h at high tide. In bore from genita l regio n, while lying facing the observer, these, the gro und is covered with granite that their sex could be readily determined. boulder of varying izes. M o t of the observation on the seals The whole i land was marked o ff in a grid were made through a n X20 tele cope mo unted pattern a t 10-metre interval by painting on a tripod. and notes were dictated directly numbers on rocks with yellow road -paint. into a portable battery-o perated tape In this way it wa possible to give a grid recorder. These notes were then tra n cribed reference to any point o n the island to the during the evening into field note books. nearest I 0 metres. During the day the majority of seals spent much of their time sleeping, or grooming D uring J uly the population consisted of them elve by cratching their bodies with about 160 ea-lions, but as time progressed the claw of their hind feet o r rubbing a steady decline in numbers occurred until them elve against rock . T he adult females Octo ber, when a total of about 30 a nimals pent long periods in suckling their pups. was pre ent. Although considerable daily T oward evenine.. individual animals would fluctua tion occurred. it was evident that the leave the in which they had been number were decreasing and it i considered group~s lying during the day. and move very gradually that this was due to the presence of humans down toward the shore a nd into the sea. on the i la nd. lt was n ot possible to walk presumably to spend the night fi shin g. a bout D a ngerous Reef without disturbing seals and if approached too clo ely they Many o f the rock platform were covered normally took Rig ht into the sea. Because of this decrea e in numbers, it wa possible to o b erve the behaviour of individual eals and to fo llow their movement , ince their activities were no t obscured by the presence of a large number of animal . On a rrival at the island, preparations had been made ro mark selected individuals with colo ured dye so that they would be recognizable, but this was found to be quite unnece sary ince the m aj ority of the a nimals bore natural sca r and injurie which enabled them to be disting ui hed quite ea ily. T he ac! ult female were accompanied by two pup of different age , a sma ller o ne. wn1ch wa till ucklin!!. about half her own size. a nd a larger three-quarter-size a nimal which was only suckling if there wa no sma ller pup pre ent. Both sexe were pre ent in these two age group . A variety of age group wa a l o present among the ma le . ranging from medium juvenile ma les through large juvenile males a nd ub-adult animals to the large. heavy, fully developed breeding bulls. At lea t fi ve age categoric o f males were ea ily recogniza ble. 1t wa not po ible to determine the chro no logica l ae.e which was represented by these differen t categories. but it i u pected that each tage may be eparated from the next by one year. The An adult fem1lc sea-lion with severe wounds medium- ized juvenile males presented o me on the neck and shoulder. probably the result of difficulty in identification. since they were hark a nack.

Page 42 Australian afltral History .. J

with slimy algae, a nd the seals seemed to when approached closely. All other seals, know the l.ocation of these slippery pa tches, including adult males, took fli ght under these which were used as slides to enter the water. circumstances. The fema les who had given birth to stillborn pups did not join other Social hierarchy groups of seals but were ultimately joined L ittle aggressive behaviour was seen among by an adult ma le, who attempted to court the fe ma les, but all age groups among the them. The male was continuously repulsed m ales, except for the large adult bulls, spent and no copulation was observed at this a considera ble amount of time in fighting. stage. This temporary association between Tt was evident that a social hierarchy existed the adult male and fema le ended after about and that indivi dua ls esta blished their position 5 days. in this by fighting. In spite of this agonistic At t he begi nn ing of September, a sbarp behaviour, little injury was sustained in increase in aggressive behaviour took place these combats. The scars and injuries which between the males in the different age groups were mentioned earlier appear to have been and the very large adult males began to inflicted by sharks, since many of the scars defend certain areas against ri val bulls. This were of a characteristic crescentic shape. territoriality was, however, extremely fluid, On occasion these wounds were very severe, and after a few days the dominant male and at least three different aduJt females in would desert the area in favour of a new the population had one hind flipper missing. piece of ground. Tn this way, ownership of H owever no seals were seen to die as a result territories was continua lly changing. I t later of these injuries. became apparent that the presence of cows Towards the end of July, a number of which were about to give birth was necessary premature stillborn pups were born, which for a permanent territory to be established. were guarded most solicitously by their The majority of territorial confl icts were m others. The adult female spends a great settled without actual fighting and it was deal of time lifting the dead pup by the obvious that position in the hierarchy was loose skin of its back, swinging it from side of considerable importance, since a dominant to side, and depositing it against her flank. male could drive off a subordina te from the T his behaviour may persist for more than territory that he was holding by threat 5 days after birth has occurred. Adult gesture and bluff alone. The impression fe males with either dead or li ve pups were was gained that a relict territorial system the onl y a nimals in the population which was being replaced by one based on social showed aggressive behaviour towards humans domina nce.

An adult fema le sea-lion with the ca r•as~ of a still­ born pup. Females may continue to pick up and mo u h stillborn pups for more tha n 5 days a fter birth.

June, 1968 Page 43 An adult male sea-lion with one of the two adult females in his harem and a 1-day-old pup. The pup shows the typical pale crown on the head.

At the end of September, the bulls were Future studies joined by cows, to form harems which 1t is hop ed that future tudies will be contained a minimum of o ne a nd a maximum carried out during October at D angerous of four fe ma les. If a female tried to move R eef this year, when further aspects of away from the harem, the bull would reproductive behaviour will be .investigated immed iately p osition himself in her path a nd a series of new-born pups will be m arked. and head her back to her former posi tion. This marking programme wi ll facilitate 1n spite of this behaviour, the bulls were at studies of the movements of the seals in a ll times very gentle with the cows, and on South Australian waters and wi ll enable us very few occasions were cows ever bitten to relate an actual age in years to the various savagely by the bulls. age groups which were described earlier in this a rticle. At the beginning of October, the first Ji ve pups were born, but the aggressive behaviour The study of a populatio n of animals in the of the cows m ade it quite impossible to field is a n excellent method of discovering a pproach them closely to examine and m a ny detail s of its ecology and behaviour. measure them at this stage. The newly This method, mo reover, is less liable to those born pups are very active at birth and have errors and misinterpretations which attend loose. wrinkled skin which fa ll s into folds labora tory studies of the behaviour of on the head and at the insertions of the animals in captivity. The size a nd habits flippers. The general body colour is a warm of Neophoca cinerea would render its study dark brown, with a paler crown and a dark in captivity relatively impracticable and the mask acro s the face. only feasible way of becoming acquainted wi th it is to study it in its natural state. ln About 6-t days after the birth of the pup, spite of the isolati on which occurred during t he female comes into oestrus a nd mates with 3 months on D angerous Reef, far less the bull. Copulation lasts for a bout 3 hardship was experienced tha n was hours and consists of a varying number of anticipated. Comfortable living conditions, separate acts of coitus with periods of rest a congenial compa nio n and quite peaceful between them. Unfortunately it was surro undings which contained a fascinating necessary to leave D angerous Reef soon populatio n of absorbingly interesting animals, after the birth of the first pups, a nd because m ade the stay there an extremely rewarding of this the d isintegration of h arems and the expenence. subsequent relations between pup and mother [The photos in this article are by H01rard were not observed . Hughes.]

Page 44 Australian Narural His;ory Fishes Beneath Antarctic Ice 8) DONALD E. WOHL C HLAG Director. nirer ity of Texas larine ciencc Institute, Port Aran a , Texas, U.S.A.

AN a tudy of the ecology and physiology C of Antarctic fishe add u eful knowledge about fishc that cannot be obtained else­ where? Be ide the usual motives for biological exploratio n. discovery, and cla sificati on, do the motives for the study of ecological, physiological, and evolutionary processes justify the costly logistic support'? Can cla ical descriptive and preliminary taxonomic phases of biological study be merged with contemporary experimental studie in the field? I there a need to investigate the geographic generality of biological principles derived largely fro m tudie of temperate org.ani ms? The fact that the an wer to these question about fi he - and o ther o rganisms a well­ is an emphatic "ye ·· i veri fied by the large amount of current Antarctic research upported by ma ny nations. T he Stanford University (U.S.A .) bio logi t . with wh o m the author worked as project leader from 1958 to 1965, were interested in the ecology of ma rine inverte­ brate a nd fi he o f the McMurdo Sound area, where the ea ice is almost permanently adjoined to the Ross lee Shelf a nd the ice shelf o f the Koettlitz Glacier. During some An example of the remains of a fish head summers the sea ice, which freezes to a depth (probably Dissosticlws mau·soni) frozen in the sculptured ice-shelf near the D ailey Islands in of a bo ut 9 feet in I year, breaks up back M cM urdo Sound. (Photo: Jack L. Littlepagc.] to the Ro Ice Shelf; for several yea rs in uccessio n, however, the sea ice m ay continue to fo rm at progres ively decreasing rate involve method s of sampling. Natura l until the thickness adjacent to the Shelf may crack and eal breathing holes are not a lway vary from 14 to 30 feet. Beneath the sea strategicall y located, a nd these openings m ay ice a nd the termina l po rtion of the Ross Ice refreeze at inopportune ti mes. The Shelf and Koettlitz G lacier tongue is a n technique. of chopping or blasting holes aquatic ha bitat that has a nearly uniform were a ba ndoned when it was discovered that freezing temperature of - 1·9° C (28·6° F) bl ock of ice cut with chain saws could be and a remarkable a semblage of a nimals. removed in succes ive tiers. Over these ho le How o many anima ls can be supported could be placed portable heated field ho use become a question of fundamental fro m which the investigator could fish or impo rtance, because t here can be photo­ sample other o rganisms with a lmost a ll the synthesi beneath the ice only in tbe summer comfo rts o f a laboratory. An accompanying mo nths. photo bows o ne of these field ho uses. Fishing with hoo k a nd line or by baited Methods of sampling trap that could be raised or lowered with a One of the fir t problem of studying mall powered winch became a relatively environments a nd o rganisms benea th ice ea y La k. Transpo rting the fish at freezing

June, 1968 Page 45 tern pera tures to the M c M u rdo Biological specimens is a good le son fo r the necessity La bo ra tory wa al o im ple. but maintena nce of studyi ng anima l in their natura l of ft hes in the laboratory required an environ ment . invclvcd a rray of large, insulated aquaria and cooling device . Metabolic rate One of the fir t tudie we carried out was Five or six kind of fishe are commo nl y the determination of the metabolic rates of caught beneath the M cM urdo Sound ice, several of the common red-blooded and a no ther five or six a re taken much less nototheniid species by placing them (after frequently; a bout ten additiona l species are acclimation to a given temperature between ra rely taken by trap or line, b ut occur in seal - 1·9° C and about + 2 to + 3' C) in a or fish stomachs. Superficiall y, these fi hes circular enclosed pia tic metabo lism chamber very much re emble many fishe taken in in which their oxygen con um ption rate other eas. And ri a hev ( 1965) notes that could be mea ured. The oxygen con- there are about sixty-seven specie in the umption rate . as an indirect measure of continental coastal waters, of which 81 per metabolic rate . were unusually high- not a cent a re notothenoids, a group that is no hig h as tempera te fishe at moderate tempera­ doubt truly A ntarctic in origin. Amo ng the tures, but about three time a high a Antarctic pecies there i o ne fa mily, the temperate fi he extrapolated thro ugh C haenichthyidae, or ice fis hes, tha t bave ordinary temperature decrea e from 20° C neither red blood cell nor haemoglobin to freezing, o r about 13 time as high a (Ruud, 1965). R uud· charmi ng tory about lropical fi he extrapolated in the ame his di covery of the whi te-bl ooded nature of way from 30° C to freezing! Thu , a t the e creature years after their taxonomy temperatures at wh.ich temperate fi he would wa reasonably well-known from preserved die or be extremely inactive, metabolicall y

A portable field hut over a fishing-hole in sea ice near Cape Armitage. R os Island. Blocks of ice, removed in excavating the 4-foot- quare hole, are scattered about the area. A small portable electrical generator (right) i nearly buried by drifted now. [Photo: Author.]

Page 46 Australian atural History speaking, these Antarctic nototheniid are He sugge ted that the e organisms were truly cold-adapted. frozen into the bottom of the glacial ice As might be expected, the notolheniid where sea ice accretion added to the thickness metabolic rate differed somewhat among the of the glacier at the same ti me a ablation species, but a zoarcid (eel pout) not on l y~ had occurred at the supper surface. Tn th i less than half the oxygen consumption rate manner the animal remain would eventua lly of the nototheniids, but it could be acclimated be expo ed at the glacial surface. G ow' to above + 4 C. The explanation seems to ( 1967) report on the Koettlitz Glacier be that, because zoarcids have taxonomic e sentially verified this process. except that affini ties with areas outside Antarctica, they he considered the floating sea ice shelf, would not be expected to have developed the beneath which there was freezing, as a degree of cold adaptation that characteri zes eparate frontal portion of the true glacial the nototheniids. Recently Hemmingsen ice tongue. He e ti mated that bottom ice and Grigg ( 1967), who had the unusual wo uld appear at the surface within about opportunity to tudy a McMurdo Sound 50 year . haemoglobin-free chaenichthyid, found that In 1960 a party working in the vicinity of its oxygen consumption rate was about one­ the Dailey Islands discovered the remains of third that of cold-adapted fi hes having many invertebrates and large fishes­ l1aemoglobin. including fishes with heads- emerging from ll i now clear that Antarctic fi shes have the ablating ice (Swithinbank and other . much higher metabolic rates than might be 1961). Almost exactly a year later, a live predicted. But what happens to the 53-inch, 58-pound fish was taken from a seal metabolic energy? Part of the energy must when the seal surfaced at the hole in one maintain a fis h and part must be utilized for of the fie ld houses. The fis h was Dissostichus growth. If maintenance requirements are mall"soni (named after Sir Douglas Mawson). large the fish would tend to be small and Sub equently many examples of this large slow-growing. Trematomus bernacchii, a species appeared when inve tigators learned small red-blooded nototheniid, reache a to take advantage of seal feeding habits ! length of about 8 inches in about 8 yea rs at Us ually the seal had eaten the heads first; - 1·9 C in McMurdo Sound. In slightly sometimes, presumably as a result of recovery warmer waters at Terre Adelie, the same from a very deep dive, the seals would return species grow at a l.ightly greater rate exhausted to the surface with the entire ( Hureau, 1964). But in South Georgia, fish. where the waters warm to a temperature of at lea t zero fo r a portion of the year, the On one occasion Pa ul Dayton and Anhur species (including a haemoglobin-free pecies) DeVries captured a 51-inch, 46-pound female grow at rather great rates and to over I foot specimen, managed to return it to the in length in 4 or 5 years (Oisen, 1954, 1955). laboratory in undamaged condition, and There is li ttle doubt that a good portion of finally determined its oxygen con umption the metabolic energy i available for growth. rate at 429 mill igrams per hour at resting conditions. The predictive value of some of our previous work with other fishes now Fish sizes became obvious. The onl y pelagic fi sh for While mo t of the Antarctic fishes are wh ich we had data was the sma ll chooling small (Andria hev. 1965). several species do Trematomus borcllgrel'inki (named for C. E. grow to over 2 feet in length. At Me M urdo Borchgrcvink, a orwegian who had been Sound, Si r Robert Falcon Scott"s party a school teacher in Austra lia and who made harpooned a Weddell Seal with the tail the first landing at Cape Adare in 1895). portion of a large fish in its mouth. Regur­ At freezing sea-water temperatures. thi gitated remain of fi hes much larger than mall species had yielded oxygen con umplion those caught by any of the expeditions are data in relation to weight and wimming also known. Debenham (1920) reported velocity to give the equation: Log oxygen fi ndi ng the headless remains of a very large consumption in milligrams per hour = fish and many sedentary invertebrate frozen - 0·5661 + 0·7534 log weight in gram in the ice helf off the Koettlitz Glacier + 0·0366 meters per minute swimming near the D ailey 1 land in McMurdo Sound. velocity.

Ju11e, 1968 Page 41 Because fishes generally have a q uite new technique . along with new interpret­ regular increa e in oxygen consumption atio ns of older ideas. have evolved to th~ v. ith weight. the log of 21.000 gram wa extent that Antarctic re earch result have utilized in the above equation at zero already been the basis for new re earch in '" imming \elocit) to yield an oxygen other le har h ea . comumption rate of 490 milligrams per hour, very near the observed val ue of 429. Support for the studie o n which this Interestingly. three other mall bottom­ a rticle is ba ed wa by a series of grants dwcllin!! member of the !!enus Trematomus from the .S. atio nal Science Fo undation would ha\e IO\\Cr rate fo; projections up to during 1958 1965. when the author v.a at the this weie:ht. Altholll!h data are not available. Depa~tment of Biological Sciences. Stanford the compari on .... between the large University. .S.A. Gratefully acknO\\ !edged Dissvsticlius 11/0II'Soni and the mall i the upport by the member of the ational Trematomus horchgre l'inki might suggest Science Foundation's Office of Antarctic that the amount of energy available fc r Programs. the various U.S. Navy Deep Freeze grO\\lh would be greater for the D. mmrsoni. Task Force '"'ho provided logistic upport. ''bile the maintenance energy requirements and the many graduate tudent and \\OUld be greater for T. borchgrel'inki. technician . of \\horn only a fe\\ are mentioned in the article. Energy conversion Ju t how can thi ecosy tern beneath the ice 5-upport o many animal like fishe and seal . which are at the top of food pyramid ? First, there i a considerable amount of photo ynthesi beneath the ice. Second, there i a rather great mass of zooplankton and a rich as embla!!e of bottom invertebrate BOOK REVIEW animal . But one-of the mo t important con iderations mu t be the efficiency of PLA 'T HARMF L TO MA~ 1!'\ STR Ll , energy conver ion from one pyra mid by D. F. Franci a nd R. . Soulhcolt. Miscellaneous (ecotrophic) level to the next. The high Bulletin No. I, Botanic Garden, Adelaide. 53 pp. degree of scavenging among both verte bra te a nd invertebrate suggests that there may be As its author indicate. this booklet i not inrcnded for botanists but for the guidance of the a relatively maller energy loss between medical profc sion and the general public. lt i ecotrophic level from bacterial deco m­ well wrinen and presemed. though rhe ver) brief po ition than may occur in more temperate descriptive notes and not very detailed line drawing m arine eco ystem . There i till a rich fiel d (presented for ome of the species only) will be of suggestive rather t han diagnostic value for the of ecological research in energetics of this identificatio n o f the pla nts concerned. under-ice ecosy tern just awaiting inve ti­ gator . P hy iological mechani m of cold The booklet would have been more accurate!\. entitled ..Some Plants Harmful to Man in Au tralia ... adaptation are a lso important. T wo There are many toxic species which are not included, examples of current research ill ustrate the though mo t of the more notorious appear. 1t is diversity of physiological tudies that are urprising to find no mention, for example, of the pertinent. Dr A rtbur L. D eVries, now at the poisonous properties of the T ung Oil tree (A ieurites fordii ), o f In kwced ( Phytolacca octandra), or o f University o f Califo rnia at D avis, has many other common species. The statements that di covered ome unusual a nti-freeze marihuana or hashish ( Cannabi.~ satil·a) is a narcotic pro perties of the fish blood and i now and that its u e is supprcs cd as being "a potent tudying their biochemical nature. addiction-causcr" are rather out-of-date in the light of many recent report from pharmacologist Or George . Somero, at the niversity o f that marihuana. illegal though its use may be. i Briti h Columbia, i actively engaged in neither a narcotic in the strict sense nor physiologic­ biochemical studies of enzyme system ally addictive. A few of the botanical names arc invo lved in cold adaptation. out-of-date or mi spelt. Perhaps the mo t intere ting conclu ion T he publication is a useful contribution to the semi-popular literature on poi onous plants in that can be drawn from o ur tudies of usiralia but is certainly not a comprehensive Anta rctic fi hes i that both new idea a nd handbook on the ubject. L. A. S. Johnson.

Page 48 A11.1tralian 'arural HistOI')' Distribution and Adaptive Diversity of Trapdoor Spiders

Br BARBARA YORK ~ I A J N Honorary A sociate in Arachnology. \\ estern \ustralian Mu cum, Pert h .. u lQ UE ESS ... ··di\'ersity'·, "adaptive rad iatio n .. - thesc terms in reference to Australia·s fauna generally a pply to mar upials. bird , or reptile . Kangcroo and their allies. being the domina nt mamma!ian group of the conti nent. naturally have attracted greater attention even than birds a nd reptiles a nd certainly a great deal more than the smaller and le co n s picu ou~ animal groups. Nonetheless, when carefully tudicd the e. too. demonstrate the same phenomena of uniqueness. adaptivencss, a nd diver ity. Certain inve rtebrate gro ups, by their very antiquity and their i a lation from other conti nent , now represent the o utcome of a long and gradual adaptati o n to the lo,.,ly changing enviro nment o f the Au tralian landscape. lt is the outcome, a we see it today, o f the radiation of trapd oor pider that we shall discu s here. Of Plate I . A spider o f the genus lxamatus ( Dipluridae: D iplurinae). nece sity, due to the absence of fos il of pider , we mu t work "backward •· fro m what we observe today, in attempting to T asmania. Very gener:.t ll y. the ba ic under tand the pre ent-day diversity. tructure of piders of a particular fa mily ff we consider, in the whole, the record determines the sort of habitat its represen­ we have made to date o n the distribution of tative can li ve in . For e a mple. the trapdoor spiders in Australia and Ta mania, Ctenizid ae, of which all members have a again t a backgro und of ob ervations on digging rake of teeth. or ra tell urn (figure 1, c) their natural history, we can make certai n o n the fro nt of the chelicerae, often occu r in "gues es·· regarding the relative ages of extraordina rily hard, compacted. and stony different fo rms a nd explain the persistence of oil . In contrast, most Dipluridae. lacking ome relatively unmodified forms in contrast such a ra ke, are re tricted to mo re friable o r to other les "stable·· o ne . andy oils and fo rest humu and m o . They are genera ll y the domina nt Mygalo­ Firstly, by trapdoor spider we mean a ll mo rph of wet forest fl oors, having si lken • those spider of the M ygalomorphae, which tubes a nd sheet webs in natura l crevice . taxonomic gro up also includes "funnel-web rotting logs, and debris. H owever. in dry piders'' a nd ma ny other forms which do inland areas everal genera have developed not in fact construct a door to the burrow. tooth-like spines on the anterior inner angle Structurally, spiders of thi group a re of the chelicerae. Such genera parallel t he recognized by the presence of two pairs of Ctenizidae in their behaviour and similarly lung book (breathing organs) a nd the a re proficien t burrowers. horizontal. para ll el chelicerae (jaws) o f which the fangs. in tead of being like pi ncers, trike like those o f a nake (figure I, a, b). 'Life-cycle of trapdoor spiders Five o f the eight (generally accepted) families Trapdoor spiders a re tubicolous and of Mygalo morphae occur in Australia, e senti a ll y terrestrial: a few live in the mos although only th ree of these occur in a nd bark of tree lrunk . T he life-cycle i

June, 1968 Page 49 long, spiders taking everal years to mature, dependent on sea o nal rain. Thus we find after which males live only a short time but that certain genera and species have their females li ve on for everal years, often reproductive behaviour a ociated with raising succes ive broods. Except for autumn- winter rai n, other with the late "wandering·· males, a spider li ves out its spring break of a "dry"', some with summer entire life within the o ne burrow, which it rainfall. while o me inland species a re enlarges according to it own growth. dependent o n sporadic summer thunder­ Mating lakes place in the female's nest, storm to timulate the reproductive cycle. where eggs are depo ited in a silk cocoon. Becau e of the longevity of females and the After hatching, the spiderling remain in the great protection afforded by ealed burrow , parent burrow for everal mo nths before the pider (as population ) are able to dispersing. The burrow, whether closed by persi t through ea on of drought. During a door or not, i thu a permanent retreat, a adver e periods di persal and1or mating may mating and brood chamber. and erves as an be uspended for one or several easons. "ambush., ite for prey capture. It i a Thi method of urvival is in direct contra t shelter against the vagar ies of weather and to that of short-lived spider . which may be the dangers of predators, and during long exterminated in one area during an periods of enforced fa ting due to drought. unfavourable sea on but which, becau e o f Dispersal of young usually takes place simply aerial disper al on gos a mer. are able to by the piderlings running out over the coLonize from other local itie during ground until they begin excavating their own subsequent more favourable easons. burrows- except in the genera /11/issu/ena and Conothele, which are di persed on Adaptive diversity gos amer. Wandering of males and, there­ Within particular group adaptive diver ity fore, mating, and di persal of young, are is expressed in several ways- morphological, burrow tructure, method of prey capture, seasonaL breeding time, and, pre umably, phy iologically. To illu trate more fully what we mean by adaptive diversity of a group we will elect the genus lxamatus (Dipluridae) (plate I). T hi genu occur in o utheast Queensland, no rthea t New South Wales and outhwe t We tern Australia. Such a di junct distribution i interpreted a implyi ng a once widespread range in perhap a diagonal outhwe t­ northeast trend across the southern part of the continent: the outhwe tern and ea tern groups would thu repre ent terminal relic of a former ra nge. Thi distributio n ha a rough parallel with the thicket-inhabiting cru b-bird (A triclwrnis). Ixamatus typically occurs in damp boggy b ituations which may be \\aterlogged in winter and which in ummer may remain mo ist or. alternatively, dry out at lea t on the surface. Tbe eastern species have a simple. obliquely angled. open-holed burrow and occur in damp humu and open patches of damp friable soil in rainfore t and southern beech fore t. However, in We tern Australia Figure I. Ventral view of the body of pecies occur in a variety of habitats, from the a trapdoor pider. hawing: a, parallel thicket-grown peaty bog along gullie in the fang ; b. opercula of lung books; c. jarrah forest of the D arling Range, peaty raslellum. bog of the south coast, meadows fri nging Page 50 Australian atural History A B

I!~

,___,,.

Figure 2. Sections of burrow of Dipluridae: E. F, G , Ixamatus ; E. simple burrow; F, slightly modified burrow with simple side-shaft: G. complex burrow of tlhe "goldfield ·· species, doors (a) in "open" position. A, 8, C are burrows of three species of a nother genus which has independently developed a door-building habit. (a) being door of ide-shaft in "open"' po ition. D, section through the entrance of a burrow of a •·typical" trapdoor spider (Ctenizidae). Note: the arrows indicate the position of spiders when in ··reeding stance··.

granite tors and cord-rush, summer-dry the pockets of western Jxamatus population "bogs" of the inland wheatbelt, to the represent relic which have persi ted with "islands" of braided creek course of the varying degrees of adaptatio n to a changing ea tern goldfields (ea t of Coolgardie­ climate and physical environment. K a lgoorlie and south to Nor ema n). Most lt i significa nt that the forms found .in the of these ituation , although waterl ogged or peaty bogs of the D a rl ing Ra nge are "boggy" for part of the winter, and someti mes morphologically most like those of the eastern subjected to sudden heet-flooding, are for a population and have a simple burrow. pan of the summer dry o n the surface. except sometimes for a lateral pocket ju t lt is known from fos il that during the abon the high water "mark'' of the water­ early Tertia ry the Southern Beech logged o il. ~ During ummer when the (Nothofagus) occurred near Coolgardie. surface drie out the burrow is ealed with a furthermore, for part of Tertiary time a oil plug and the spider retreat to the marine embayment extended northward to bottom of the burrow. lt is the "goldfields'· about the a rea where lxamatus now occurs. pecies which is morphologically distinct In the li ght of what we k now of M iocene and has a highly modified burrow. Also. climate a nd the requirement of Nothofagus it doe not mate in the pring as do the we can a sume that at that time the habitat primitive eastern forms a nd little modified for the pider would probably have been, Western Australian form . but in autumn­ in many of it characteristics, clo e to that early winter. The burrow is complex (plate 2 pertaining to o me of the mountain habitats a nd figure 2G). There is a small entrance of the present eastern pecies. J t is well opening into a large chamber which leads known that the climate for the whole general through a hinged door into the main vertical region of Western Austra lia under discus ion haft, across which another door opens was also much mo re h umid in a part of the into a sma ll horizontal side-shaft. This type Miocene than it is today, after which a fa ll of burrow is of particular interest because two in ea-level was accom panied by progressively diplurid genera (both in southwest Western drier conditions. Thus it would seem that Australia) have independently developed the

June, 1968 Page 51 door-build ing habit. Such door-building in Di plurinae i uniq ue and i converge nt to the behaviour of Ctenizidae (''t) pical'' trapdoor piders) and to some extent Barychelidae and Migidac. However. the diplurid adopt a completely different stance in relation to the door "'hen feeding. A "typical.. ctenizid sits in the bu rrow wi th dor urn to hi nge and facing the apenure of the burrow from beneath a slightly open door (fi gure 20 ): it then leaps f'onh, emerging only partly from the burro\~, to catch prey. The diplurids ha\e the door opening flat. and the spider sits poi ed acro . the hinge line with legs prcad out oHr the upturned under ide of the opened door (figure 2, B and C) and thus catche prey at the "back" in tead of the ''front" of the bu rrow. While holding the prey the pider drop backwards into the burrov., pulling the door down as it does ~o. In both door-building dipl urids the doors arc thought to be (in part) a protection agai nst tl ooding. The ''goldfields·· pecie. of f xamatus Jive in the deep li tter and fl ood detri tu -..vh ich accumulate a "i lands" aro und the butts of trees and again t shrub and log- in braided, pa medicall y fl owing creek cour es. The entrance chamber is thus a feedi ng chamber and ometime a Plate 2. View o f a burrow. which has been prey trap, whic h mecha nicall y could not excavated from the ide. of the ..goldfield " upport a flood-proof " plug" door at the species of lxamat11s. See al o figure 2G , a n opening into the litter- this ha been outline drawing of the a mc burrow, and the accomplished at the bottom of the ante­ text, for explanation. chamber. Specie of the other Western Au trali an genu . which occur in open, of burrow . method of prey capture in lightly littered or bare ground of low-l yi ng rela tion to modined bu rrow: and change in areas subject to flo oding. have their doors ea on of breeding and di persal. flu h on the urface of the ground (figure 2, B and C). [For discu io n of a similar anti­ Role of trapdoor pider as predators fl ooding device in aganippine trapdoor pider (Cteuizidae), ee my article in The En Australia Mygalomorph piders are Aust ration Museum M aga::.ine, Vol. 12, pro babl y the dominant group of inverrebr(lre No. 5 ( 1957)). The ide-shaft in both predator in terrestrial ha bitat . In semi­ diplurid genera is proba bly used as a brood arid areas they are, apart from reptiles, chamber. almost undo ubtedly the dominant terrestri al predator . In any one locality thi is Thu it would seem that the adaptive evident from the den ity of in gle- pecies radiation of f xamatus (and the other e:enus aggregates. As many as twenty-six mentioned) has been in re pon e to change pecimen of the trapdoor pider Anidiops from uniformly moi t weather conditions l'il!osus have been ob erved with in the litter to a climate having alternating wet and dry zone of a in gle isolated acacia hrub in sea, on , where udden heavy rain pre ent mulga woodland. Wi thin the same zone both a hazard in flooding burrow and a eig ht diplurid burrows were also pre ent. timulus to b reeding and di per al. The Frequemly ix diffe rent pecies (repre enti ng main adaptations within the genus are perhaps three d ifferent fa mil ies) may be fo und diver ity of habitat occupied ; modifica tion in d o e proximity within a habitat wh ich

Page 52 Australian 1\ 'atura/ History how litlle apparent \ariety. Such den it y of ant and the den. ity of littcr-and-gra - and di ve rsity of species are all the more foraging termite and, to some e~tent, of remarkable when one considers that moth . individual spiders are almo t complete!) A comparable density and diversity of edentary. being confined, even when pecic may be found in the subtropical foraging, either directly to a burrow or at rainforest of southeast Queensland and lea l within a very short distance of it. northeast New South Wale , where the Unlike corpions, centipede , crickets, and forest flo or provide a multitude or minor even burrowing wolf piders, trapdoor spiders habit ats and a variety or prey unequalled do not roam away from the precinct of the anywhere else o n the continent. burrow when hunting. This ex traordinary predator density in semi-arid areas is [1//ustrations in tliis article are by rlre a sociated v. ith the abund ance and variety autlror.]

This remarkable prehisto ric stone carving, of unknown antiquity and ong1n, from Gatukai }<;lands, Solomon l ~ land s, will be one of the exhibits in the Australian Museum's new exhibition of Mclanc ian an, which will be opened by His Excellency, the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Roden Cutler, on lOth July. The display wi ll occupy the "vhole of the third noor of the Mus::um's new wing.

June, 1968 Page 53 BOOKS ON BIRDS REVIEWED

A TRALIAN BJROS, by Robin Hill, published by the plumage i similar, and the birds with richer Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd, Melbourne. Price, tawny buff flanks a re the southern breeding birds, 16.00. which migrated north in winter and mixed with the local pale bu!T birds in the winter flocks. After the tremendous publicity given this book There is a very useful chapter on the classification it is with adness that o ne find that, as regards of bird at the beginning o f the book, and alc;0 the accuracy, it is no better than the books to which Royal Aus/ralasi~ll Omilholo'

Page 54 Auslralian al/tral History The Little Bent-winged Bat­ Evolution in Progress

By P . D . DWYER Lecturer in Zoology, University of Q ueensland, Brisbane

H EN a species expa nds its range into W areas of different climate, ad aptive changes a re likely to be called for. D uring the past century the Q ueensland Fruit F ly I· as extended its range southwards, through New South Wales to Victoria, and has, at the same time, undergone progressive physio­ logical adaptation to the increasingly severe climatic conditi ons of more southerly latitudes. T oo seldom do biologists have the opportunity to witness such instances of evolutionary change. The emergence of popu lations of black Peppered Moths in industrial areas of Britai n, where soot A Bent-winged Bat in flight. pollution led to blackening of tree trunks and , thereby, decreased the likeli hood that black the slopes country, Af. australis is seldom individuals would be p reyed upon by bird , found away from the coastal lowlands. A stands o ut as an unrivalled example of natural few colonie have, however, been found in selection in action. Evolutionary change i , limestone caves of the escarpment at the however, generally more subtle than this. southern limit of the species distribution. Overt morphological changes are not the The Macleay population of M. australis rule. Interactions between the environment has been studied for several years. Visits and the genetic endowment of the species to colonies at all seasons have revealed are complex, and the time scale is typically patterns of change in numbers, and in sex long. As a result, current evoluntionary a nd age composition, through the year, change in populations are d ifficult to detect. while a mark-recapture p rogramme involving The present article d iscusses the biology of some I ,600 individuals has shed light on Little Bent-winged Bats (M iniopterus movement patterns. austra/is) in New South Wales a nd suggests Lh at here, at the southern limit of the species Diagram 1 show annual changes at the distribution, adaptive changes are occurring Willi Willi Cave. This cave serves as a a nd that these a re in su ch a direction that nursery at which a ll adult females in the further range expansion may eventually be population aggregate in spring to give bi rth possible. and to rear their single young. In March, when the young are independent of their mothers, the nursery colony disband and Biology of M . austvalis d isperses from Will i W illi into other caves .In New South Wales M·. austra/is occurs of the Macleay Valley. Willi Willi Cave is as colonies in caves and mine tunnels of the on the foothills of the coastal escarpment subtropical coastal belt. It i found south and the bats move up to 37 m iles to wintering to the M acleay River area, about 200 miles sites that are situated either on the coastal beyond the Queensland border. Unlike lowland o r at higher altitudes of the its larger relative, M iniopterus schreibersii, e carpment. Females that move to Willi which is common at the higher and colder W illi from lowland caves return to low altitudes of the coastal escarpment and altitudes and, similarly, highland females tablelands and which occurs further west on return to their original caves. Ba nded

June, I 968 Page 55 individuals have not been found to move which cave temperature became increasingly between highlands and lowlands, and it cool a nd inappropriate to their peculiar appears that the total populltion i split metabolic demands, and environment in into Lwo ubpopulations thal seld om which the availabilily of insect-food th rough exchange adult individuals. Y oung bats, winter became increa in!!IY limited. Some however, probably d i perse at random to adaptive changes would be likely in such highland and lowland sites. circumstances and. in fact. these may be The behaviour of the e ubpopulation o f inferred by compa ri ng the biology of the M. aus1rali'1 differs in some respects o ne from two species in tropical and temperate another. Mating in the Macleay a rea occurs latitudes. In effect, thi comparison of through J une and July but is, o n the c.verage, present-day populalions to interpret the omewhat earlier in the hi2:h la nd sub- pa t amounts to the conversion of space population. Highland individ ua ls show into time: characteri stics of tropical ome increase in weight (about 4 per cem) populations today a re assumed to most before winter while lowland individuals do nearly reflect ancestral conditions while cold­ not, and , correlated with this, is the adapted populations are seen to have diverged observation that lowland individuals are more from the e. active through the winter mo nths, feeding T he reproductive behaviour of Miniopterus more regula rly and being less o ften found varies with latilUde. In north Queensland in a torpid state. (i.e .. Cape York) mating, in both species, occurs in August and the young are born in Comparative biology and the past D ecember. In ew South Wales, however, Evolutio nary hypothe es derive from two M. australis mate through June and July. broad classes of evidence: historical Thereafter, a period of delayed embryon ic (essentiall y from the fossil record) and development occurs till mid-September, a nd comparative. l n the present study the young a re again born in December. palaeontological evidence is of little help. The cycle in southern populations of M . There i no fo sil record of the genus schreibersii involve even earlier mating (late Miniop1erus and, hence, we do not know April a nd May) a nd a longer period of when the e bats o riginated. H owever, the delayed development of t he embryo (see distribution of miniopterine bats is primarily diagram 2). lndo-Malaysia n a nd this sugge ts that From these o bservations it may be Austra lian representati ves entered from the surmised that colonization southwards, into tropics. In colonizing southwards, there­ cooler latitudes, by M. schreibersii has been fore, they were faced with increasingly paralleled by shifting the early phases of severe environment environments in the reproductive cycle (i.e., sperm develo p­ ment and mating) back before \.\ inter. With sooo

,.. 1,.000 z 0 .J 0 \.) ,. 3000 d Diagram I. Annual "'oA changes in the ize and d composition o f the z~ nursery colony of .. 1000 L ittle Bent-winged 0 Bats at the Willi Willi Cave, Macleay Valley, Ul... N ew South Wales. - 1000 o.ll

ru~Y Au~ ScPT Oc.•. I>Jov Oec. TA.w. >ee. ,..,.~.~~. . 1\.PII. MA.Y T""'£

Page 56 Australian Natural History 3o•s

D iagram :2. The distribution of Bent-winged Bat in eastern Australia. M. schreibersii is shown b) the total haded area. Al. rmstralis by double cro sing-hatching. The timing of the reproductive cycle i shown on the right. At 15 S. the cycle in both species is the same: at 30 S. the two species are shown separately.

mating behaviour accompli hcd befo re the colonies of bo th specie occur in cave of on et o f winter there would be no nece ity to uch a tructme (i.e., domed ceiling o r remain active throug h the e month , a nd cnclo ed chamber ) that the activity of the con equently "hibernation" could be thou and of individua l compri ing each expre ed tro ngly in tbe season of food colony warms the a ir in ide the cave. In thi carcity. In ew South Wales wi ntering way the nursery caves are converted into behaviour o f M. schreibersii involves extended giant incubators in which the young ca n be periods during which feeding ceases, a nd may uccessfully protected from the tre e of low involve a much a a 20 per cent increa e in temperature. Thi behaviour would not be weight befo re winter. The southern necessary in tro pica l latitude ; unmodified population of M . auslralis i intermediate, cave temperatures would be naturally both in reproductive and wintering behaviou r, appropriate to nur ery requirements. But between populations of either specie in the dispcr a l of pecies into new areas is North Queen land and populati o n of typically the role of one, or a few, individual M . scltreibersii in the outh. lt therefore and in lhe case of A1iniopterus thi would repre ents a tage through which i\1. hard ly eem po ible. A few individual schreibersii mu t have passed at some time would never be able to war m a cave to d uring its dispersal southwards. A nd , appro priate level ! Fo rtuna teJy, a olution further. there i the implication that to this paradox i appa rent for M . austra/is. J'vf. auslralis ha a rrived at o uthern latitudes In the Macleay area thi specie share since M. sclireibersii: that it has had le s nursery quarter with a much larger (abo ut time to achi eve the same degree of 12,000 adults) colo ny of M . schreibersii and reproductive modificati on a the latter it i the latter specie that i p rimarily pecie . re ponsible for warming the cave. Since T his last uggestion rai e an additio nal i\1. austra/is appears to have colo nized is ue. At outhern .la ti tude the nursery southwards later than M. schreibersii, it may

June, 1968 Page 57 be that it ha merely taken advantage of upon the di tribution of M. australis would pre-exi ting nur cry facilitie . It wo uld only no longer apply, and further expan ion of be nece ary for a few di per ive individuals range o uthward and we tward could occur. to chance upon a nursery of the larger The tudy of M. australis di. cussed here pecie for o uthwa rd colonization to be rcpre ent only a part of a fa r more complex succes ful. At pre ent, however, the ame whole. lt wa developed as an appendage paradox remai n unre olvcd for M . to a continuing tudy of J\1. schreibersii in schreibersii. though it is probable that the ea tern Au tralia in the hope that clue to proce imolved was quite different to that the pa t of thi specie might emerge. T hat in M . australis. thi i con idered to have happened hould be apparent above. But what hould al o Evolution tod a~· be apparent i that thi tudy rai e additional At the pre ent time the distribution of que tion . The problem of the o rigi n of M. australis in New South Wale is limited. M. sclireibersii in outhern lati tudes has To the south and we t the winter cl1mate already been mentioned. Many other i sue become incrca ingly evere. Popul ation remain unan wered a wel l. Until all the e probably could not urvive in the e areas can be accommodated with in a ingle unifying unle s the reproductive cycle approximated hypothe i I must remain u piciou of that o f M . schreibersii and wintering current interpretations. What ha happened behaviour could. thereby. be expre sed as in the pa t can never be known for certain. trongly a in thi latter pecie . But de pite thi , the jig- aw puzzle o f But the differences between highland and evolution calls insistently for solutio n. We lowland subpopulations of M. aus1ra/is from can do no less, therefore, than to try. the Macleay area ugge t that appropriate change are currently in progress. In the [The illustrations in this arricle are hy 1he highland mating occur omewhat earlier author.] than in the lowland . No uch difference has been detected in !If. schreibersii. All ew South Wales population of M. schreibersii how far more ynchrony in mating than do the two geographically clo e BOOK REJ7IEJiV subpopulation of M. australis. And this is so in spite of the greater range of climates with POS UM M OOD S, by P a ule Ridpa th. Published wh ich M . schreibersii must contend. by re mith, ydney, London. Price, $2.95. H ighland M. australis are expo ed to T he common Brush-tailed Po sum (Trichosurus con istently lm.\er cave temperatures than ,.,fpecu/a) is a rlentiful mar upial well known to rhe individual colonizing lowland cave . Earlier majo rit> of Australian urban dweller . However. very few people who encourage the e animals around mating in the highl and could, therefore, be their hou es in the suburbs have much knowledge advantageou in permitting an increa e in o f their general natural hi tory. the length of "hibernation··, and, thereby, Paule Ridpath' book, which is delightfully enhancing the probability of survival through written and beautifully illustrated. introduces many the wi nter. It may be argued then. that fascinating aspects of the biology of the T asmanian natural selection. operating through ability to form of thi species. This book could not help but awaken a incere interest and appreciation of withstand winter conditi on , i favouring the nati\e fauna on rhe out kirt of our cities. earlier mating in the highland subpopul ation. With little capital outla) and v.ithout having to T he random di per al of young through both lea\e her O\\n garden, Paule Ridpath ha shown high land. and lowland wouid rewlt in that it i po sible to strike up a rewarding and continual dilution of the lo\\ land sub­ stimulating acquaintance \\llh a v.ild nati\c population by individuals that mated ea rlier. mar upial. B. J. Marlow. T he detected differences between the two subpopula ti ons merely expre s a time Jag in C O RRECTION this proces of dil ution. Given enough time, In the article ''Mangroves and their Fauna" in therefore. the reproductive cycle in the entire the March. 1968, i sue of this magazine, it was incorrectly stated. through no fault of the aut hor. M. australis population may be shifted back that an accompanying photo of the mudskipper to match that of M. schreibersii. If this Periophthalmu~ chrysospi/os wa taken in M ozam­ happen . then llhe current limitations imposed bique. l t was actually taken in Malaya.

Page 58 Australian atural History ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SERPULID FOULING

By DALE TRA G HAN Zoology Dep ~1 rtmeot , niver ity College of Tm~nsv ill e, Queensland

H E family Serpulidae (phylum Annclida. T clu Po lychaeta) i compo ed of worm which ecrete a calcareo u LUbe. Anyone explo ring exposed rocky heres in o uthern Au tralia wi ll sec masses o f calca reou tubes of Go/eo/aria caespi10sa. Alo ng no rthern Australian hore . Pomatoleios kraussii occupy thi zone. Mo L erpulid po e an operculum (pla te I) which is used to close the tube entrance. The operculum i either calcareous or chitinous and may be adorned with a variety of hooks o r spines (plate 2). The worm a l o posses a pair o f branchiae (gill s) which a re arranged in semicircles (plate I) o r piral . Mo t vi itors to the Great Ba rrier Reef are familiar with the colo urful Peacock Wo rm. Spirobranclws giganteus (large spiral branchiae), which is commo n in the coral. T he coral grows over the tube and ob cure it o that the worm a ppea r to be li ving surro unded o nly by coral. The branchiae a re u ed ma inly for collection of food, a nd no t, as their name uggest , for respiration. Re piration occurs thro ugh the surface of the thoracic membrane a nd collar.

Economics and ecology P late I. Merciere/la enigmatica collected from U ually serpulids cement their tubes to the the Brisbane River, Queensland. A, operculum; substrate (pla te 3A), but certain pecie in B. opercular spines with trapped m.ud; C. den e po pulations build tube vertical to the branchiae; D. tube. T he diameter o f the tube substratc in clump and cemem the tube to is approximately one-twelfth of an inch. each other (pla te 38 ). Co ntro l of this type of fouling o n submerged marine structures i do not occur o n the Magnetic I land coral, a eriou economic problem. The question while Mercierella enigmmica commo nl y that now ari e a re: Why do omc pecie occur in the R o River nearby. T he c form dense clumps o f this k ind and o ther specie li ve under different ecological con­ specie do not? What a re the conditions dition : Spirohranclws, o n a coraC ubstrate that a ll ow the former specie to grow to this in clean well-aerated water ; P. kraussii, the extent in ome localitie a nd not in others? upper urface of a olid sub trate in a more ln the T ownsville, Queen la nd, region, for heltered a rea, which i usually muddy: example, severa l pecies of Spirohranclrus H. basispino.ms, the upper urface of a solid are a bundant in coral at M agnetic 1 la nd but ub trate in a fairly expo ed a rea. which are rare at mainland localities. O n the may be a little muddy; . rermicularis. the o ther hand. Pomatoleios kraussii, Hydroides lower surface of a o lid sub tra te. The e basispinosus, and Serpula vermicularis are pecies occur in ea-water, while Mercierella abunda nt at ma rine mainla nd localities but occurs in brackish water.

June, 1968 Page 59 Plate :! . . The cleared top of an operculum. show1ng three rings of chitinous pines.

Maritime installation often provide condilion not typical of an area, and the distribution and abundance of fou ling Plate 38. Mercierella enigmarica on a jetty pile organi m may differ from tho e found under about. 10 m!lcs ~rom the mouth of the Glenelg normal condition . ormally P. kraussii i R1vcr, V1ctona. [ Photo: I. D. Hi cock.] abundant on olid ubstrate in a zone e tending from I to 4 feet above mean ea­ the ub trate, which may be rocks, cement. level. _Ho":"cver, in the orthern Electricity or other P. kraussii tubes. However, Authonty 1ntake chamber at the mouth of subtidally within the intake chamber. the Ro . Creek, Town ville. P. kraussii i dor al ridge i reduced and the tube tend to common from 4 feet above mean water-level grow vertical to the sub trate with their down to mud-level, 25 feet below mean water­ ventral surface only attached to olid level. The ubtidal fauna in the intake ub tratc at their base. Other fouling of a chamber i compo ed of fewer specie than non-calcareou nature rapidly accumulate occur at si milar levels outside the chamber. bet~een the e venical tubes. This type of o that it is po sible that reduced competition foultng can cause large reduction in the allow the erpulid to urvive at lower ~ia~eter of pipes- for example, a pipe 2 feet level . Within the normal ranue, com­ 111 d1ameter could have its efTective diameler pettllon from Ea/anus amphitrite c~au e the reduced by 2 to 4 inche in 2 month during red uction in abundance of P. kraussii. . ummer. Within its extended range, P. kraussii al o change it form of tube growth. Norma ll y Life-hi tory of a erpulid the tube ha a wide dorsal ridge which Before continuing the di cu ion of ''which protrude over the mouth of the tube, pecie ettlc where, and why'', a brief . urvey while the ventral ide i firmly attached to of the life-hi tory of a erpulid will be

Page 60 Australian 'arura/ Hisrory Plate 3A. Merciere/la enigmatica on stones in 6 inches of water at low tide, 5 mile from the mouth of the orth Pine River. South Queensland. [Photo: 0 . Wi eman.]

helpful. The specie chosen for description egg. T wo po lar bodies a re formed and these i M. enigm01ica, which occurs from the lodge under the yolk membrane (plate SA). river mo uth upriver for 30 miles in the The egg divide (plate 58) into numero us Brisba ne River, Queensland, while in the small cells until it looks li ke a mulberry (the R os River the upstream spread of the species morula stage). The cells then become re­ i barred by a weir a few miles from the a rranged to form a ho ll ow sphere called the ri ver mouth. blastula. which i covered with waving hair The adult population is composed of known as cilia. All this happens within males, females, a nd hermaphrodite which 3 hours of ferlilizatio n at temperature of a re at first male a nd Jater female. Egg and 25° C. Blastul a develo p into a stage called sperm are hed on neap tides during the trochophore within J 8 hours of fertilizatio n summer months. The eggs are irregul ar in at 25° C. These free-swi mming trochophores shape when released and gradually become have an apical tuft formed by everal long rounded in the water. Ma ture egg have a n cilia, a band of waving cilia (the prototroch) outer orange cytopla m urro unding a lighter in front of the mouth around the equator colo ured nucleus with a darker nucleolus (pla te 5C), and, in addition, ome cilia (plate 4a). Plate 4 a lso shows large fertilized a round the mouth and anus. Rotation of egg with no vis ible nuc!eu (b), and mall the trochophorc i maintained by beating of immature eggs lacking a nucleolu (c). The the proto troch cilia, a nd fo rward motion by sperm have round heads a nd long, ra pidly pulsation of the upper po rtion of the anima l. vibrating tail . They are released from the For the first 2 to 3 day , trochophores wim abdominal cavity in cluster . Abo ut 15 near the water surface. They disperse minutes later, all active sperm are d uring the next 10 days, and later co ngregate concentrated around mature eggs. Small near the substrate. ro und spots on plate 4d indicate the presence A large stomach develops by the third day of permatozoa. (pla te 50) and a ciliated gut is well formed by After fertilization, the fertilization the sixth day. The gut continue to develop membra ne separates from the outside of the a nd elo ngate during larval growth. After

June, 1968 Page 6 l -c

-0

-b

Pia te 5A (above). \lfercierella enigmatica egg with first polar body under the )Oik membrane.

Pla te 4. Mnrcierel/a enigmatica eggs: a, mature egg ; b, fertilized eggs (0.2 mm diameter); c, small immature eggs; d, spermatozoa. Plate 5 B (below). The first cleavage of egg . Eggs arc approximately 0.2 mm in diameter. the sixth day, the a nimal become elo ngated po teriorly a nd there is a gradual red uctio n in ize a n terior to the prototroch. T wo etigero u egments develop posteri or to the pro totroch by 13 days and a third by 17 day . Once the larvae have developed three etigerou egment posterior to the prototroch. they tart to " earch'' for a uitable place ro settle. T he larvae move over the ubstrate for a short di tance with their anterior end opposed to the surface, then wim for a hort d istance before examining the surface again. This enable the larvae to avoid unfavourable areas fo r ettlement a nd o "choo e" a elllement site.

Factors influencing M ercierel/a settlement Field experiments o n larval settlement, when d ifrerenl types of solid sub tratc were offered, how that there a re marked d ifferences in the abundance of settled larvae on d ifferent type of surfaces. Settlement is more abundant on a rough surface than on a mooth urface, on an opaque urface than

Page 62 Australian Natural History on a tran parent urface. on a dark surface than on a light surface. Likewi e. the angle of the e\po ed urface. expo ure to tidal current . . e\po ure to n\er current . stage of development of initial layer of micro­ organi m on the urface. pre ence of oth er pecie of fouling organi m . and presence of already ettled M ercierella. all influence the abundance of larval eulement on a urface. A. tated previou. ly, Mercierella breed. on neap tides during the summer month . Larva l development take approximately 3 week , so that peak in larval ettlement occur on spring tides. Settlement i not of equal intcn ity during all periods of summer spring tide . Ri vc rflow during the free­ ·wimmi ng tages i one factor that can change the abundance of larval settlement. If there i a hea' y fre hwater runoff in the rive r while the larvae are di per ed in the ' ater, !anal ettlement i ve ry low in number. . (The larvae are killed by the lower alinity and or wa hed out of the river.) If there i fre hwater runoff in the la t few day of the free- wimming tage. larval elllement occur do er to the river mouth than prior to the fresh.

The Bri bane River catchment is m an Plate 5C (above). A dorsal view of swimming area of relatively dry winter and wet first-day Merciere/la enigmatica trochophorcs. ummer , o that there is a gradual increase showing the actively beating cilia of the prototroch. Plate 50 (below). A lateral view in river pollution duri ng the wi nter months. of a three-day Merciere/la enigmatica trocho­ Foll owing very dry winter in 1960 and 1961 , phore, o; howing eye pot and stomach. Trocho­ when the river became very polluted (oxygen phores arc approximately 0.2 mm in diameter. level les than I part per millilitre in ome area ). the peak in larval ettlement occurred on pring tide 4 to 6 week after the fir t heavy fre hwater fl ow in the Brisbane River each ummer. In 1962- 64 the settlement peak occurred on . pring tide 8-12 wee!-.. after eulement commenced for the summer. Thi peak occurred between early 'ovember and mid-December. depending upon the time \\hen ''ater temperature we re high enough for breeding to commence. Settle­ ment at these peak reache a den ity of 1.000 individual per I ,600 q mm in the ab encc of competitor . and is often greater than the entire settlement over the remaining summer. Larva l ettlement occurs at alinit ie from I0 - 30 parts per thousand on slack water at high spring tides. Therefore, by keeping ri ver craft moving in this region or the river during thi ettlement period and removing tho e craft not in use. heavy fouling by \ fercierella can be avoided.

June, 196 Page 63 Development and settlement in other species H owever, when chemicals are added they can Larval development follows a similar be used most effectively and economically pattern in most erpulids. In one group, during larval settlement periods, because the Spirorbinae, development proceeds smaller do es are needed to kill settling larvae almost to the settling stage either in a brood than established adults and one avoids pouch in the operculum or in the tube. In wasting chemicals when no settlement is these species the free-swimming stage usually occurring. lasts only a few hours and the larvae do not [The illustral/ons in this article are by 1he d isperse far from the adult. ln laborato ry author. except ll'here athenl'ise staled.] experiment with one species. while a ll larvae settled within 50 mm of the adult , they also settled more abundantantl y on ome types of substrate than o n other . J n general, the jmportant factors governing Merrierella larval settlement influence the BOOK REVIEW larval settlement of o ther serpulids. T a ke waterf1 ow, for example. When water wa BIRDS OF PARADOX, edited by Jack Pollard. pumped rapidly through the intake chamber Lansdowne Press Pty Ltd, M elbourne. Pp. i-xv, at the T ownsville orthern Electricity l-246, plus 16 pages of photographs. Price, $5.95. Autho rity Power Station, no serpulids settled Birds of Paradox is an anthology of Au tralian on fouling plates in the chambers even when and New Zealand bird lore collected from many they were settling abundantly on fouling sources by Jack Pollard, an experienced anthologist plates out ide the chambers. with three earlier companion volumes to his credit. Prose and poetry, fact and fiction, seem to jostle Larval settlement of most marine fouling for position on the pages of this attractive volume. organ. m is concentrated in short defined which is set off by a colourful jacket. Do ubtless the thick sheets and the q uano size of the book periods. There is often a correlation between represent a modern trend in publishing. yet such a these periods of ettlement a nd tidal o r lunar format, if carried to exces in the future. could cycles. Although in some cases it may be lead to uncomfortable fireside and bedside reading. argued that this is purely coincidenta l and The items chosen by Mr Pollard are interesting of no significance to the a nima l concerned, and informative and have popular appeal; they it is of considerable assistance to a nyone are also in sufficient variety to satisfy a wide reading wi hing to control the e organisms. public. The selection has been m1de from the published writings of men and women well known Approximately 70 per cent of fouling in the realm of Australian natural history a nd in o rganisms, including serpulids, in the other fields of literature. The reader finds himself Townsvill e Northern Electricity A utho rity in the pleasant company of such personages as Power Station intake chambers, settle on (Sir) Joseph Banks, John Gould, Or George Ben nett. E. J. Banfield of .. Beachcomber" fame, Katherine tides with a ra nge of I 0 feet or more, while Mansfield, J udith Wright, and many other nature over 90 per cent settle o n tides that have a writers whose experiences reveal so much that is range of 8 feet o r m ore. Hence, in this ea e, fascinating in the world of birds. settlement is concentrated into periods of Unfortunately, the captions to the excellent spring rides. photographs illustrating some of the subjects discussed are often either erroneous or misleading. Examples are: a Stone Curlew standing over its Control of fouling two eggs is said to be··... on guard over brooding T he best method of controlli ng fouling is a nd young birds··; the White-necked Hero n is to prevent larval settlement. Methods that given the sciemific names of the Nankeen Night Heron, and even then the generic name of that species can o metimes be u sed to prevent fouling is spelt wrongly; adult Fairy Penguins are referred include keeping water moving over the to as young birds; Demoi elle Cranes are titled submerged surface or removing the Brolgas: a Golden Bower-bird at its large bower ubmerged surface from the region of larval is said to be on a nest estimated to contain 50 cubic feet of sticks and which stood 8 feet high: a Wedge­ settlement during the period of la rval tailed Eagle is noted as being the world's largest settlement. Antifouling paints a re used on eagle, whereas it is fourth on the list according to large craft, but it is impossible to u e these those who have studied the matter closely. Such methods in some industrial pipes and drains. mistakes as these are inexplicable and inexcusable in an otherwise carefully prepared, well produced Adding freshwater to the effluent or ra1smg and very readable book- a book to be opened at the temperature will olve the problem. leisure and with pleasure.- K. A. 1-/indwood.

Page 64 Ausrra/ian Narura/ H isrory THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

PRESIDENT Of TR TEE ; EM ERHUS PROFE SOH A . P. El Kl '. C.M.G .. .tvi.A .. Ph.D.

CROW T R UST EE:

E 1 ERJTUS PRO FE ~OR A . P. ELKL . C.~I.L .. M .A .. Ph.D.

OFFICIAL TR STEES:

TH E HON. THE <. IIIEF J STICE, TH E HO • Ti l E PRESIDEN T O F TH I-' I EGISL ATIVE COUt ('If . THE HO . THE CHIEF SECRET A RY. T H E HON. THE ATTOR EY-GE ERAL. TH E 1-10 . THF TREASURER, THe H ON. T H E M INISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS, T H E l-ION. THE M I NISTER FOR EDUCAT IO , THE AUDIT OR-GE ERAL. THI' PIH' SII)ENT OF T H E ~I-W OUTH WAU:S MFDICAI. BOARD, T HE U RVI-'YOR·GENFRAL AI"D CIII EF SUR VEYOR, T ill· CROW ' SOLICITOR.

ELECTIVE T RUSTEES:

IR FRA ~ K M cDOWJ-U ; R 1. ~O BL!-. .B.E .• B. .:. gr.. M . c .. Ph.D.: PROFE OR A. H . \.01 EY, D . S ~.; G. A . JOH 0 • M.B.E.: PROFE SOR J. R. A. Me 'IILLA . M .S., D.S.:.AI!r.; S. I-I A\ '11 A D, C.B.E.; K . L. UTHI-'R l A • D. D .S..: .. F ..A. : PROH O R L. C. BIR( H. D.S: .• F.A.A.; PROH SO R D. P. M ELLOR, D.Sc., F.R.A.C.I.: PROFE SOR H. BARBER, F.R.S.: R. C. RICHARD; W. H MA7E, M .S~.

DlltECTOR: OEI'UTV DIRECTOR:

F. 11. T I BOT. Ph.D .. F.L.. . C. 'I ::.M I TI-t FRS. M .Sc.

The Australian Museum's field is the animal kingdom, minerals, fossils, and anthro­ pology. The Museum is open free, daily, at the following t imes: Tuesday to Saturday, and public holidays, I 0 a.m. to 5 p.m.; M onday, 12 noon to 5 p.111. (during school holidays, l O a.m. to 5 p.m.); Sunday, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. lt is closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. Special facilities for study are aPailable to schoolleachers and pupils on application to the Education Officer. A rooftop cafeteria is open daily, except Sundays, from 10 a.111. ro 4.30 p.m. An annual subscription (four issues) ro this maga=ine is obtainable at the Australian Museum or, by pos1, from the Goremme111 Primer, Box 4050. G. P.O .. Sydney. .S. W. 2001. Price, $ 1.40 posted.

PRI..,TE;D BY V. C. "· BLIGHT. GQVf.RNMCNT PAI-..T£:1l, SYON~Y . "< ,$.\\,

Australian Museum Card No image REG.NO.: PUN4857 DATE: 28 Jul2014

ITEM: BODY ACCESSORIES arm ornament

GEOGRAPHICAL AREA[am locality ret] : Comparable to other examples of arm ornaments in Pacific collections, with known shell species Trochus niloticus.

HOW ACQUIRED: Old Collection NAME(S): Unknown ACQUISTION HISTORY: NAMES: ROLE DATE

OBJECT NAME CHANGE:

INDIGENOUS NAME OF OBJECT:

CULTURAL ASSOCIATION: NAMES: ROLE

RECORDS:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

NOTES:

RESEARCH: This arm ornament is possibly made from the species, Tectus niloticus. Is a very large (up to 15 cm) lndo-Pacific top shell, which has a very thick inner layer of nacre. This species is commercially exploited to make mother of pearl buttons, mother of pearl beads, pendants and so on. DESCRIPTIONS: A cross section arm ornament made form shell.

DIMENSIONS: Height: Width· Weight·

Diameter: 10.5 Circumference: Depth: Clothing Size:

PERMANENT LOCATION: (P3-11-05-01]