Good weather for Copperheads and Skinks

My friend and neighbour, Matt, rang me this morning to say he had a snake near his front steps, and would I like to come and check it out?
Silly question. (In fairness, it was a rhetorical question.)

Slaty-grey back of Highlands Copperhead Snake
(from a previous post of mine)

Here is another more authoritative link
Austrelaps ramsayi

 

After we had a cuppa on the back verandah,
the Snake had poked its head out
just enough for me to get this quick shot
of the neck and head.
Click on image to enlarge it and read the notes.
Neck shows strong copper colour
Head shows light coloured throat,
dark eye and flat, dull scales on top of head.

While we were discussing the gardening strategies Matt and Cat could undertake, to make their front steps less congenial to a Copperhead, I noticed this foolish Skink hiding beside the rear of the same Daisy bush as the Copperhead. The caption is "Skink living dangerously".

Skink seems not to be aware of the Snake
less than a metre away,
on the other side of the daisy bush.

A final look at the Mystery Blue Fungus (Entoloma)

I had been promising to go back to Granite Falls. The full reason for this trip will be revealed tomorrow, but for today, here is the full look at the critical diagnostic features of Entoloma virescens

Entoloma virescens - fading slowly, damaged cap.

Entoloma virescens - blue gills, coarse, brown spores

While we were at Granite Falls, we also came across this little Skink. It had run out into the very shallow water running over the granite rock bed.

Skink on thin branch over creek bed

Skink with Insect - probably a wasp

I have looked at this insect as closely as I can, and from the shape of its wings, I think it is a Wasp. In the field, I was inclined to say it might have been a flying Ant.***

Christopher Taylor has kindly told me it was indeed an Ant. He said:
"The insect is indeed an ant (which is, after all, a type of wasp). You can see the two horns on the narrow segment joining the front and back parts of the body that identify it as such. Specifically, I'd guess that it was a young queen; the male ants that I've seen have all been more slender."

New Skink for my list.

Further to my recent post on cold-blooded creatures, here is another one - a new species for my list here.

It goes under the unfortunate name of "Weasel Skink" (Saproscincus mustelina).

Click to enlarge image, and to read notes.

I had guessed the identity (from internet sources), but I sought confirmation before going public with the ID on this one, because it was sufficiently unusual that I did not want to get it wrong. I had no idea what its distribution is. Apparently it is recorded from the Illawarra Region. The only photos I could find of it came from the Victorian Museum, and several overseas-based herpetologists. One, at least, had photos of this species from the Blue Mountains (New South Wales).
The helpful people at the "Search and Discover" service of the Australian Museum (Sydney) came through with this advice:

Dear Denis, Thank you for your enquiry. The lizard is a Weasel Skink (Saproscincus mustelina) - a crepuscular species (active dawn and dusk but not at night or during the middle of the day) which is relatively common, but not often seen due to the hours it keeps. More information about it and the answer provided by our Herpetologist - can be found on the following answer and weblink:- "It is a Weasel Skink (Saproscincus mustelina) - the white tear-drop marking behind the eye is a good diagnostic feature for this species from other small skinks within its range.- Ross Sadlier http://museumvictoria.com.au/discoverycentre/infosheets/lizards-found-in-victoria/weasel-skink/ http://home.vicnet.net.au/~fbpw/page11.htm" Please let us know if we can be of any further assistance. Kind regards, Martyn Robinson Naturalist

Unfortunatley, I had taken only a few images, and the Skink was very nervous, so I did not handle it, for fear that it might drop its tail. So I could only get "top down" views, as it had been trapped in a clear plastic fruit container. Consequently I missed the most diagnostic feature, a tear-drop mark below its eye.

The thing I noticed was the relative length of the tail to main body.

Apparently it is a question of knowing what to look for, much as with the Peron's Tree Frog, where one needs to looks for the yellow skin on the inside of the back legs. One needs to know what features to look for, and they are not always obvious.

The scales on this lizard's head are very distinctive
and along the body the scales are very fine.
In these images they appear slightly oily, but in fact they were not.

If you have some photos of an unknown or unusual creature, and wish to consult the Australian Museum staff, you can do so by sending them an email at: sand@austmus.gov.au or phone: (02) 9320 6202.

My first email was wiped of its email attachments, but the staff sent me an email address where I could send them some images. That worked fine, and I was able to get an answer within the week.

More creatures from the rotten logs of Robertson

Following up the last post about Bob's Millipede search, here are some (few) other creatures we found while conducting that search.

Inevitably some were too fast for me to get images of, including some nice greenish Centipedes, which do not stay put for anybody. Clearly I would have needed a collecting bucket or similar to have held them in, temporarily, in order to get some kind of image. Some other time perhaps. (A good pair of gloves would be handy too, for them.)

I did manage to get a snap of this nice little golden Centipede, before it woke up to the fact that it was free to go - at which point it departed the scene, rapidly.Here is a two-image shot of a large shiny Ground Beetle. There were many such beetles living in these large rotten logs on the ground in the wet forests.

Left image is underneath side of the live beetle.
Right is top view (just before it scampered off).

Bob took some precautions (gloves) with this guy,
because of the very powerful jaws.
A large black beetle.
This is a Beetle larva (2 images)
Six tiny legs are clearly visible on the front end.
Speed is obviously not a great requirement for these larvae
when crawling around inside rotten logs.
I believe these are "Collembola" - "Springtails", which are apparently related to Crustaceans
(although their body shape does not resemble traditional crustaceans to my eyes.
But I am not an entomologist - or whatever students of Crustaceans are called.)

For some reason, I find these tiny creatures quite cute. I have seen similar creatures (Proturans) living inside fungi previously.

One of the most impressive creatures we saw was this huge Earwig (twice the size of common garden Earwigs). Its "cerci" (its tail appendages, incorrectly assumed to be "pincers") were very formidable. Its bright orange legs presumably have a warning-symbol function, as well as a very practical function of carrying around this relatively large Earwig. It has large antennae. Turning to another "Order" completely, here is a very fine Earthworm specimen. It is NOT the Giant Earthworm which I have seen just near where this specimen was found. But just a very healthy specimen of large earthworm. The Giant Earthworms live very deep in the basalt soil. This worm was in a rotten log.Here are two "Flat Worms" - which differ from the one above in not being "segmented worms".
This one is a lime green colour - with brown lines along its sides.This is a creamy coloured Flat Worm, also with brown stripes.Here is a very fat little Red Velvet Mite. Tiny, and almost "comical" in appearance - to my eyes, but probably not to what ever smaller creature it wants to eat.
Here is a golden silverfish. Not silver. Not a fish. Cute, but determined to not stay out in the sunlight for long. This is a triple image - a composite. Another dweller of the soupy environment of rotten logs.And just to show that some "higher order" creatures also live in this rotted log environment, here is a tiny Skink - a reptile, one of the few vertebrates to make its home in here assuming you discount the local Wombats (which burrow under the rotted logs, instead of living within them, as this fellow does).I believe this is one of those Lizards known as "Three-toed Skinks" - which are famous for being ground-dwellers, by which I mean burrowing lizards. See this quote:"when unearthed [the three-toed skink] thrashes violently, trying to burrow back in the ground." and he's spot on".
Indeed, I have seen these creatures on my block when I first moved to Robertson, when I was doing things like moving rocks out of the way, prior to building my house and garden. I make a habit of not moving rocks now, so as to not disturb my invisible neighbours - the "Three-toed Skinks". They wriggle like snakes, because their legs are so reduced in size and functionality (see the tiny front foot) that they are all but useless for propulsion. But the little Skink can (and did) twist and squirm its way out of my hands, and back into the rotten log, where it felt safe.