Faunaverse.com.au
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faunaverse.bsky.social
Faunaverse.com.au
@faunaverse.bsky.social
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Everything Wildlife. Fauna surveys, photography, books about Aussie wildlife in poetry, educational field days, getting people to engage with Earth and learn about the ecosystem we live in and the ecosystem that lives in (and on) us. Read the Alt text!
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faunaverse.bsky.social
This Katydid, Narea elongata was photographed near Kanangra in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney back in January 2004. I don't believe there are many photos of this leaf mimic. #Orthoptera #OzNature #Ozinverts. @nvolpe.bsky.social Have you seen one?
With long antennae and green wings bearing a striking similarity to leaves a Katydid sits on a Eucalypt.
March 25, 2025 at 12:00 PM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Treecreepers live up to their name by hopping up tree trunks and major branches looking for tasty invertebrates. This is a Red-browed Treecreeper from the south coast region of NSW. #Birds #OzNature #WildOz
A dark, brownish-grey bird with a rufous face, long, sharp bill, a pale throat, white streaks on the breast and a black-barred tail sits on a branch.
March 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
How awesome are Fleay's Barred Frogs (Mixophyes fleayi)? The Faunaverse team explored their habitat and in spite of a recent flood there appeared to be good numbers of these beautiful frogs. #Frogs #Herps #WildOz #OzNature
A Fleay's Barred Frog with yellow flanks, rich brown skin, large black eyes and black bars on the limbs perches on a small rock by a rainforest stream.
March 19, 2025 at 1:12 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
I have seen a lot of wolf spiders in my life. But I have never seen a mother wolf spider so laden down with babies as the one I saw tonight! #Spiders #OzInverts #Lycosids #OzNature
Adult female wolf spider looking at camera while absolutely covered in tiny babies. Adult female wolf spider so covered in tiny baby spiders that her body's shape is unrecognisable.
February 10, 2025 at 10:27 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Happy New Year from Team Faunaverse and our very pregnant Cunninghams Skink Glenda. #Lizards #Nature #WildOz #OzNature
January 1, 2025 at 8:37 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
I was visiting Richmond NSW and decided to go out with a torch and found about 20 Blue-banded Bees, Amegilla cingulata. #Bees #WildOz #Nature #Entomology #cute
Two Blue-banded bees with black abdomens striped with pale blue, fuzzy brown thoraxes, legs with long grey hairs and black tarsi, and greenish eyes grip the stem of a dead vine in their mandibles. This is how they sleep. Five Blue-banded bees with black abdomens striped with pale blue, fuzzy brown thoraxes, legs with long grey hairs and black tarsi, and greenish eyes grip the stem of a dead vine in their mandibles. This is how they sleep.
December 20, 2024 at 12:08 PM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Night time is when it all happens and I strongly recommend folks put on some covered shoes and venture forth with a torch (preferably a fairly dim one) to see what you can find. This was at Faunaverse HQ tonight. A native Dubious Dtella (Gehyra dubia) feeding on sap. #wildoz #oznature #gecko
A gecko hangs upside down beneath a narrow branch, its rear limbs wrapped tightly, its front legs extended, its head bent towards the branch with a slightly open mouth. The lizard has a pale belly with small, regular scales, and where its head is bent towards the branch the skin is folded at its throat. Its eyes are like black jewels and each of its toes has a rounded pad at the end, with a small claw sticking up from near the end of each digit. Only the gecko and the branch is illuminated by the small flash, leaving the background mostly black, apart from some of the closer leaves.
December 19, 2024 at 11:15 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Merry #Crusmas - I present the Decorator Crab, Notomithrax ursus, and a #Poem about this amazing crab under alt text. #Oznature #zoology #wildlife #invertebrates
A suspicious lump of seaweed moves across the bottom of a rock pool. Or IS it a suspicious lump of seaweed? Decorator Crab (from “Faunaverse Wildlife in poetry Tasmania”) Those creatures in the rockpools have to put up with a lot, like stormy seas producing waves that crash, or a low tide on a summer's day that makes the water hot, it's a wonder they don't come out in a rash! Look in these water gardens and you may be quite astounded, that so many things can live in such a place; You'll see algae-grazing limpets that to the rocks are grounded, sea-anenomes that wave their arms with grace. But predators patrol these pools, there's gulls and hungry fish, that are quick to spot and eat unwary prey, but if you're quick or clever, you might not end up as a dish, or breed before you do so anyway. Let me introduce a friend, a master of disguise, who you might find in Tassie, if you seek, but you'll have to look so carefully, as this beast can fool your eyes, with its mastery of camouflage unique. The Decorator Crab is really very hairy, and each hair on his body bears a hook, and by this short description, it sounds a little scary, but you'll only see one if you really look. They use the hairy hooks to hold their camouflage in place, seaweeds plucked from pools that they inhabit, and although perhaps not pretty, like silk or bits of lace, a gull that cannot see it will not grab it.  So they don't attract attention, these crabs are never swift, and look just like the seaweed moving there, and to the most observant they are an unexpected gift, a clever crab with seaweed in its hair. ©Alexander Dudley
December 18, 2024 at 5:39 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
By the way if you like nature, quirky poetry and stunning wildlife photography or you know someone who loves Australian wildlife, check out the Faunaverse Books, printed in Australia.
Australian customers only. #wildoz #poetry #nature
www.faunaverse.com.au
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www.faunaverse.com.au
December 16, 2024 at 12:15 PM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Lizards that have evolved to live primarily amongst rocks often have longer limbs and digits than their more terrestrial cousins. This saxicoline (or should that be sexycoline) skink from the Gulf country of north-west Queensland is Cryptoblepharus zoticus. #wildoz #oznature #herps #lizard
A small, pale, copper-brown skink with irregular darker blotches leans diagonally from a rock crevice. It has raised its slender body to avoid the heat radiating from the rocks and is looking at the photographer with its right eye, which is very large for the lizards size but covered in a transparent scale to avoid moisture loss. This scale is the remnant of its lower eyelid which is permanently closed, and one of the common names for this group of skinks is Snake-eyed skinks, because, like snakes, they can't blink.
December 15, 2024 at 4:42 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
How good is camouflage? This Tessellated Gecko (Diplodactylus tessellatus) is using not only colouration to blend in, but posture to disguise its lizardy goodness. Can you see it amongst the pebbles and clay? #FindTheLizard #oznature #gecko #wildoz
A scene of differently-sized, slightly-rounded pebbles on a surface of clay. Some pebbles are yellowish, some are reddish, some ar shades of brown. There are scattered narrow leaves and small sticks on the ground, and amongst this chaotic scene is a small male reddish-brown gecko, which has twisted itself into a very un-gecko-like shape, its short fat tail curved into a sideways hook. The lizard is very easily overlooked among the other colours.
December 15, 2024 at 4:19 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
How awesome are Cunninghams Skinks (Egernia cunninghami)? These social skinks may live on one log or stump for their whole adult lives, which may last for more than four decades (if they're lucky). This one is about to begin its search for a new home. :( #wildoz #lizards #HollowsAreHomes
A large brown skink with scattered white spots, keeled scales and an expressive brown eye surveys its future with some trepidation. It is the last of four siblings to be kicked out of home as it reached maturity, and as it is now 21 months of age it knows it is well and truly time to go. But the risks are huge- it faces a gauntlet feral predators such as domestic cats and dogs, feral foxes, cats and pigs. Native predators such as kites, eagles, goannas, pythons, Spotted Black Snakes and Eastern Brown Snakes are dangerous predators. And when this lizard finally does find a log- if it is already occupied, the chances of taking it over are slim, and if it finds it's own, then fires, firewood collectors and being able to forage safely and return to the log are all issues. This explains why once these lizards secure a territory, they tend to stick to it for their whole lives.
December 15, 2024 at 3:02 AM
Reposted by Faunaverse.com.au
scottedelman.bsky.social
The year before I was born, the threat of polio prompted DC Comics to run ads warning kids to —

1. Keep clean
2. Don’t get fatigued
3. Avoid new groups
4. Don’t get chilled

— because no vaccine had yet been invented. Parents and kids lived in terror. That's the world the GOP wants to bring back.
A rectangular box to the right side of a subscription ad in Action Comics #196 (September 1954) with the following text: Polio research will mean Victory! Gamma Globulin - obtained from human blood - protects for a few weeks, but it is in very short supply. When POLIO is around, follow these PRECAUTIONS 1. Keep clean 2. Don’t get fatigued 3. Avoid new groups 4. Don’t get chilled A VACCINE A safe and promising vaccine is being tested now, but results will not be known until 1955 THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR INFANTILE PARALYSIS
December 14, 2024 at 2:52 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
For all those who decided to follow team Faunaverse, Fangs a lot! #invertebrate #spider #oznature #wildlife
A badge huntsman spider with alternate half-bands of yellow, black and blue beneath its legs, and black shiny fangs. It is clinging to the underside of a plantain leaf.
December 13, 2024 at 4:38 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Team Faunaverse have a little colony of Eastern Broad-nosed Bats Scotorepens orion living under the capping of the post supporting the clothes line. #HollowsAreHomes #oznature #wildoz
December 11, 2024 at 12:31 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
I went for a walk last night to see what I could see. Night time is when all the action takes place in the bush in summer. I found this delightful Box-patterned Gecko Lucasium steindachneri posing on a tussock. #WildOz #oznature #gecko
A Box-patterned Gecko in an upright position clutching onto thin grass stalks looks at the photographer with large eyes. The upturned corners of the mouth make the gecko look as if it is smiling. The gecko is reddish brown above with a pattern of milk-coffee reticulations on the head and dots and dashes along the back. The belly is nearly white.
December 10, 2024 at 11:32 PM
Reposted by Faunaverse.com.au
ecolojolly.bsky.social
theconversation.com/warm-winters...
Warm winters are waking snakes early. Here’s what that means for them and us
Evidence suggests climate change could make snakes come out of hiding earlier. But it’s also likely to cause population declines or shifts in the long run, as snakes adjust to the new conditions.
theconversation.com
December 8, 2024 at 3:07 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Who like hollows? Way too many animals need hollows for the supply. This Musk Lorikeet's ancestors well all raised in hollows, as will be its family. Unfortunately, in Australia, most usable hollows take more than a century to form. #HollowsAreHomes #wildoz #nature
A Musk Lorikeet, a small, green parrot with a yellow shoulder and a red mask and beak, peaks out of a hollow in a smooth-barked gum tree.
December 6, 2024 at 2:22 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
As a married couple, team Faunaverse have a lot of drama around our home. Fortunately, we adore and respect each other, so we have to go looking for it.
At night.
With a torch.
#wildoz #nature #spider
A Badge Huntsman Spider chewing on a small Scarabid beetle. The otherwise brownish spider's legs are strongly banded with black and white on the underside, and it is hanging from the phyllode (leaf-like structure) of a wattle above the photographer. The spider is manipulating the beetle with small leg-like appendages called pedipalps on either side of its chelicerae.
December 6, 2024 at 12:52 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Unless I'm very, very much mistaken, the resident matriarch of our Cunninghams Skink family, Glenda is up the duff. Bebbies due to be born in early February. Don't be fooled by her calm appearance, I have seen this lizard attack and chase off a Brown Snake big enough to eat her. #wildoz #OzNature
A large rough-scaled brown skink lounges lazily in an open crevice made by two planks of wood. She has white spots on her lips which fade along her body which is covered in keeled scales which form small ridges running along her obviously swollen body. Her tail is relatively short and tapering, and the keels are much more spinose. Her left front limb dangles lazily over the edge of the wood. Her demeanor is relaxed but her eyes are alert.
December 5, 2024 at 5:12 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Found this little lady last night just chillin' on a stick waiting for a passing morsel to pounce on. She's an Eastern Stone Gecko, Diplodactylus vittatus, a common native gecko across much of Eastern Australia. #wildoz #Lizards #OzWildlife
A dumpy brown gecko with a white belly, large, black eyes and a pale brown ragged-edged vertebral stripe, breaking into dark edged irregular blotches on her swollen, rounded tapering tail.
December 5, 2024 at 4:58 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
A native resin bee, Megachile aurifrons, setting up camp in one of my Bee Hotels made from old hosepipe jammed in scrap ag pipe and plugged with clay at one end. #wildoz #OzInverts
A bee with red eyes, a greyish hairy body and a black abdomen banded with grey, its wings blurred by speed, hovers outside pieces of hosepipe jammed into a short length of plastic agricultural pipe.
December 5, 2024 at 4:51 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Will you look at the size of this tick on this poor Eastern Grey Kangaroo!! Holy moly! #WildOz Poem in AltText.
An adult female Eastern Grey Kangaroo gazes pensively to the left of frame. Her left ear is angled back at 45 degrees and a huge, grey tick about the size of a marble is fastened to the base of her ear. Nobody loves the tick. Some love the Echidna’s four headed-dick Or like the phasmid that looks like a stick, Or respect the Shark that swims so quick, But, Nobody loves the tick. Some people admire the role that ants play, And some really like snakes at the end of the day, And though spiders are cool, some make you sick, I’ve never met anyone who likes the tick. Is it because they can cause Lyme disease? They dig into your skin with such consummate ease? They carry scrub typhus, Q fever and Rickets, When a tick seeks applause there is nothing but crickets. It’s clear these arachnids make some people quite sick, Perhaps this is why people don’t love the Tick. The response to a tick meme never goes well, They’re all “Kill it with fire!” or “Burn it in Hell!” When posting their hating, the memers are quick, Cause nobody, nobody favours the tick. ©Alexander Dudley/Faunaverse
December 4, 2024 at 7:07 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
Goody! A new spider in the yard at Faunaverse HQ- a small member of the Cyclosa trilobata species complex and a rather weird-looking spider. We really do need more employed taxonomists or our biodiversity will disappear before we know what we've lost. #WildOz #Spiders
December 4, 2024 at 4:00 AM
faunaverse.bsky.social
The Oenpelli Python, aka Nawaran, Nyctophilopython oenpelliensis, is one of the largest species of python in Australia. This spectacular python is fawn brown during the day but turns a silvery grey at night. It is only found on the Kombolgie sandstones in the West Arnhem Province. #OzWildlife.
A slender pale silvery-brown python with irregular brown blotches and a large head is loosely coiled over a sandstone boulder, exactly as it was found back in 2002. At that stage the photographer, Alexander Dudley had been looking for this elusive python for many years. This remains the only specimen he has ever seen in the wild.
December 3, 2024 at 8:37 AM