The next scheduled Paluma After Dark evening walk will be this Saturday evening at 6:30pm. This time we will be exploring Don Battersby’s property and nearby forest for animals that he has seen around there over the last decade or more.
We will meet at 6:30pm at Don’s place just around the first bend of Hussey Road on the left. Bring a head torch and UV light if you have them – and warm clothes!
The UV lights have proven useful in highlighting some highly flourescent mosses, liverworts and other seedlings, but they are also known to pick up scorpions. I can testify that this is the case for at least one scorpion species that was spotted during my recent trip with Tony and Julie Bligh across the Simpson Desert. Paluma also has at least on species of scorpion so we might see one of these on the prowl this Saturday
The wet season was late to start this year and in the forest this was reflected in the relative paucity of mushrooms and other fungi during the initial months of this year. The recent late season rains have partly made up for this, although the cooler weather may have inhibited growth in some varieties. I have been keeping record of any mushrooms I have seen since January when I got back from travelling out west and decided to compile a gallery of the results, together with any preliminary identifications I have been able to glean from various references.
One of the highlights for me this year was a blue mushroom that I had seen in previous years but never photographed. This species is quite different from the one that Michele photographed last year (and which I misidentified as being the one pictured here). It has a more mat surface and more muted colour but is quite striking nonetheless.
Entolama hochstetteri is also referred to as E. virescens (a Japanese species) on many web pages and there may still be some uncertainty over which name is most appropriate (or indeed whether it is a separate possibly undescribed species). If you care to do some further reading there is a very readable article in the Queensland Mycologist 12(2):5-8. It’s an unusually fun read with historical anecdotes as well as a brief diversion to discuss the national origin of Pavlova! In New Zealand, where the species was first described, the indigenous name for E. hochstetteri is called “Werewere kokako” which translates as “Kokako’s wattle” referring to the similarity in colour between the mushroom and the facial wattle of the Kokako, a native wattlebird, both of which are featured on the NewZealand $50 note.
The mushroom below (Schizophylllum commune – split gill fungus) is currently still visible growing on old pine logs (ask Lynda Radbone if you would like to see it). Michele Bird first noticed it and its unusual shape led us to think it might be something rare and unique. However it turns out to be a common cosomopolitan species often seen growing on dead wood in gardens and forests. has a shape and texture quite unlike most other mushrooms. it gest its name from the fact that the gills on the undersurface can split lengthwise. The upper surface can be covered in fine white “fluff” and its colour ranges from brown or cream to pale green. This mushroom is considered pathogenic with recent research indicating it can cause respiratory diseases. DO NOT SMELL IT!
UndersurfaceSchyzophyllum commune
Coral fungi are always a joy to see, and this one found by Juanita on the H-track is no exception. It is probably a member of the genus Aphelaria.
Aphelaria sp – Coral Fungus, photo by Juanita Poletto
Identification of a mushroom usually requires a check of the undersurface of the cap to determine if it has gills (Agarics) or fine pores (Boletes or Polypores) The mushroom below is a typical bolete. It most probably belongs to the genus Boletellus and looks like the “shaggy cap” B. emodensis. I’ve found this a couple of times along dryer sections of the Witts lookout track and the Bluegum track. Its attractive pink flakey cap and yellow undersurface are very distinctive.
Boletellus cf emodensis – Shaggy cap
Little red mushrooms are a common sight along the forest tracks poking up from the leaf litter. This one is probably Hygrocybe miniata, which has a mat red surface, a cap that becomes flattened or even concave as it grows larger.
Hygrocybe cf miniata – vermillion waxcap
A few other specimens found over the last few months are set out below – with names where I have found something likely.
Hygrocybe cf proceraHygrocybe cf proceraRussula spRussula spEntoloma pamelae?Entoloma pamelae?Laetiporus sulphureusLaetiporus sulphureus Chicken of the woodsMycena chlorophosMycena chlorophosFiloboletus manipularisFiloboletus manipularis
Text and photos (unless indicated) by Jamie Oliver
This Saturday’s Paluma After Dark walk along Lennox Cr and the start of the H-Track was a success with a small but enthusiastic group of residents and a bit of luck with the inclement weather. Colwyn Campbell was able to joint the group, together with Michele Bird, Jodie Pace, Juanita Poletto and myself. Fortunately, the rain paused just before our scheduled walk and started up again just as we finished. The wet forest floor was covered in gleaming droplets lit up by our torches, but we were still able to see eyeshine from some huntsman spiders and a nocturnal moth. There were several larger items on display as well, including a medium-sized amethystine python crossing the path in front of us, a native rat glowing bluish in our UV lights, a small colony of glow worms (and a minute luminous mushroom) along Lennox Cr. and a large log covered in brilliantly fluorescing liverworts.
One of the things we learned on the walk was that when it comes to using UV light to bring out fluorescence, “torches ain’t torches”. The common inexpensive UV torches available in Townsville stores emit light that is only just within the UV range and also produce substantial visible violet light that can mask or mute the fluorescence. A recently purchased (but more expensive) UV light that emits more light fully in the UV range (365nm) induced more brilliantly blue fluorescence in the liverworts, but also created stunning red fluorescence in some mosses and the new leaves of small seedlings in the forest floor.
Here are a few photos from the walk that will hopefully inspire others to join our next walk in June.
The second “Paluma After Dark” night walk is scheduled for this Saturday at 7pm, starting at Potters Park (27 Lennox Cr).
In the weeks since the inaugural walk in March, there have been a number of unofficial night walks around the village that has uncovered some additional features that can be easily seen along Lennox Cr or the H-track. The most spectacular is the discovery of brilliant green fluorescent liverworts along the H-track. These small moss-like plants are not normally visible in the dark, but suddenly glow electric blue when illuminated with UV light. On the H-track, these liverworts can cover entire logs, mostly as an understory plant beneath and between moss and other non-fluorescing liverworts. Andi Cairns, who is a local expert on liverworts organized a dedicated collecting trip with me and Will Cairns as collectors (the most conspicuously fluorescing logs were just out of wheelchair access range for Andi.) Andi has identified the species as Bazzania vittata.
A rotten log on the H-track. Top left: Illuminated by normal torchlight. Top Right: Illuminated with a UV torch. Bottom: Using both torches to show how the fluorescent species is a relatively inconspicuous component of the surface of the log, which is dominated by a moss and a larger liverwort, Photos by Will Cairns.
After consulting her network of experts from other states and countries it appears that this phenomenon is a recently discovered property of just a few species. And her posts and pictures have motivated other bryologists to go out with UV torches to see what they can find! There is active speculation (but no firm conclusions) on what adaptive advantage this fluorescence confers on the liverwort. It is possible that it provides some protection against UV damage as the fluorescence serves to absorb potentially harmful UV and re-emit it as safe visible light, but there may be other possible explanations.
Another log glowing brightly under UV illumination. Left: under normal torch light. Right: Illuminated with UV torch only. Photos by Jamie Oliver
I have been out on 4 occasions over the last month and have seen these glowing liverworts each time, so I am pretty sure they will be visible during our next Paluma After Dark walk this Saturday.
The other discovery (at least for me personally) is that there is a small colony of glow worms living on a low vertical earth cutting just before the first left-hand bend in the crescent (starting from Potters Park). Several residents have mentioned to me that they have seen glow worms in the past around Paluma, but it’s great to find some right along the road near my house. unlike the fluorescent liverworts, glow worms are bioluminescent and emit light during the nighttime to attract small insects that they feed on. Glow worms are actually the larval phase of a small fly (several species of fungus gnat) belonging to 3 genera. In Australia & NZ there are nine species belonging to the genus Arachnocampa. Here in Queensland the predominant and endemic species is Arachnocampa tropica, which can be found throughout the wet tropics. The larvae of all glow worms produce a series of horizontal and vertical threads with viscous droplets that act as a fly trap for small insects. The larvae live and grow for about 6-11 months while the adult is very short-lived.
Left: No torch lighting-Close up of the luminous larvae (top centre) and adjacent threads and droplets . Right: the entire trap illuminated by torchlight with larva top centre. Photos by Jamie Oliver
I will certainly ensure that we check these out as well during our next night walk.
Text by Jamie Oliver, photos as indicated
The next Paluma After Dark walk will be at 7 pm, Saturday, April 23, at Potters Park (27 Lennox Cr). Bring a head torch and a UV torch if you have one. I will have several UV torches to share.
Members (and prospective members) are advised that the Annual General Meeting of the Paluma & District Community Association Inc. will be held on:
Saturday,April 23, 2022, at 12pm for a BBQ lunch followed by the AGM at 1pm in the Community Hall
Nominations are open for all Executive Committee positions. Nominations should be forwarded to any member of the Executive Committee or by email to PalumaPDCA@gmailcom. Please use the nomination forms, which can be downloaded here.
Positions are:
President,
1 or 2 Vice-Presidents
Secretary
Treasurer
General Committee members (numbers flexible)
Members are reminded that Annual Subscriptions are now due and should be paid prior to the commencement of the AGM. Membership is $45.00 Please use the subscription form here to submit your dues. New members are more than welcome and should use the same form.
Please note that you must be a PDCA member to nominate someone to the Committee or vote for any Committee member.
The AGM will be followed immediately by a normal General Meeting with the new Committee.
Over the last month or so, one of the consistently flowering plants in my garden, as well as other gardens in the village has been bromeliads.
Broms belong to the family Bromeliacea which includes “air plants” in the genus Tillandsia. They come in an amazing range of colours (on both the flowers and leaves) and flower shapes. They can grow anywhere from full sun to deep shade and in wet and dry habitats.
In Paluma they are great plants for “mature” gardens with a full shady canopy that restricts the number of brightly flowering plants that can grow in the gloom. Currently one of my favourite broms is blooming throughout the village. Bilbergia pyramidalis, like most bromeliads, comes from South America. Its common names (flaming torch and foolproof plant) are certainly apt. It has a stunning large red and purple flower and it tends (at least in my garden to bloom during only a short few days in March when the effect in mass plantings is quite spectacular.
Bilbergia pyramidalisThe beginnings of a mass planting next to Wilfred’s house
This year the blooming period seems to be less synchronous and more prolonged, perhaps due to the lack of a “proper” wet season.
This species grows prolifically in semi-shaded to fully shaded areas and it is dead-easy (fool proof) to grow and propagate. I have created a living boundary “fence” along one side of my garden by heaping up my endless supply of branch timings and then just tossing B. pyramidalis onto the top of the pile. Three to six months later it formed a living cover and a spectacle of colour once a year thereafter.
A living and flowering border fence
Another stunning relative of the bromeliad that has just finished flowering is the Pink quill (Tillandsia cyanea).
Tillandsias are also called air plants since they can grow epiphytically on tree trunks or rocks without any soil. T. cyanea is different in that it prefers to grow in a small pot of well drained soil. It produces 2-4 “pups” each year so it doesn’t take long to get a row of these delightful plants lined up on a ledge in your garden (see the header for this post).
Tillandsia cyanea
Some of the other broms that have been flowering, or showing off their colours are also shown below, together with any names I have been able to attribute to them (this is still a work in progress). If you are interested in long-lived flowers then Guzmania conifer and Achmea fasciata keep their blooms for up to 6 months or more!
The inaugural Paluma After Dark walk around the Village occurred after several hot and dry days and my expectations for sighting of larger vertebrates were not high. There was a group of 5 including Julie Bligh, Juanita and two day-visitors (Russel and Joel) from Townsville who decided to delay their return in order to join us. Our brief walk took us out along the Witt’s Lookout track for ~100m and then to McClelland’s Lookout and the lower car park before returning to Potters Park via Lennox crescent.
There was plenty of eyeshine to be seen reflecting back from our torches, but they were almost exclusively from small wolf spiders roaming the ground in search of prey, and various moths resting on leaves. There were no frogs calling and only a few crickets faintly chirping. We were buzzed by several small insectivorous bats swooping past the street light at the back of Lennox Cr, but they were too fast-moving to identify.
Andi Cairns made a suggestion in the post for this event that we should bring UV lights to look out for fluorescent lichen, and Juanita was able to scrounge up 4 small lights from COVID RAT tests we have purchased. These were great fun to use on leaves and trunks, revealing distinctive red colours to the undersurfaces of some leaves and complex multicoloured patterns on trunks. No distinctly fluorescent lichens were found, but the highlight of the night came when Julie noticed that one of the thick smooth green vines that occur along village tracks (White Supplejack) was glowing brightly in the UV light and looking like some otherworldy snake winding its way up to the forest canopy. Words can’t really do it justice so I hope the picture shows why it was it was so memorable.
A White Supplejack Vine (Ripogonum album) fluorescing under UV light
You can never tell what interesting things will present themselves when you go out into the rainforest so I encourage everyone to come along on our next night walk in about 2 months. UV torches will be part of our standard kit from now on!
We have had two previous posts in 2020 and 2021 celebrating observations of the world’s biggest moth (Coscinocera hercules) here in Paluma. This wet season there have been two further reports from Michele Lando and Barry Smith. Comments from previous posts suggest that this striking moth used to be quite common in Paluma some twenty years ago but are now a rare sight.
Photo – Michele LandoPhoto – Barry Smith
Perhaps the local population is on the rise? It is plausible that the proliferation of preferred food plant (Bleeding Heart trees – Homalanthusnovo-guineensis) around Paluma since cyclone Yasi (2011) has provided an increase in the food source for the caterpillars. There are some empirical data to support this notion. A quick look at records from the Atlas of Living Australia shows the number of records of the Hercules Moth in Queensland has increased substantially since about 2011, which is the year that Yasi hit Queensland.
Recorded observations of Hercules Moth (primarily in Queensland) since 1991. Source: Atlas of Living Australia
This type of observational data needs to be interpreted very carefully, however, since it is also possible that the increase since 2011 is simply due to an increase in the number of people recording observations in the popular iNaturalist app.
If you see any more of these wonderful creatures around Paluma, please let Michele Bird or Jamie Oliver know.
For a small community, Paluma could be said to have a fairly active schedule of evening events throughout the year, but on most nights the village is pretty quiet – in terms of human activity. However this statement belies the fact that our village and surrounding forest have a very active and often noisy nightlife.
Over the last year or so, following the lead of my son Michael, I have been taking nighttime walks through the village local tracks to see what I could see and hear. With the help of a head torch, binoculars and a frog call recording app on my iPhone I have been able to identify most of the more common and easily detected animals.
Cogger’s barred FrogNursery Frog
Common sightings include bandicoots, Pademelons, barred frogs (on wet nights) native rats. Less common to rare, and mostly not yet seen by me at night are Dingos, pythons, nightigers, Feather-tailed gliders, Possums, and even (over a decade ago) a spotted-tailed quoll.
Long-nosed BandicootRed -Legged Pademelon
Common sounds include 2 species of frog (again on wet nights), the thumps of unseen Pademelons retreating into the forest, and the piercing buzz of cicadas (as yet unidentified), Babook owls and Lesser Sooty Owl
Lesser Sooty OwlLuminous mushroom
Not every evening walk results in a sighting, although after heavy rain, frogs are just about guaranteed. And of course the tiny gleaming eyes of wolf spiders and the ever-present sound of cidadas mean that no night walk is without signs of life.
I am keen to continue to go on a regular night walks around the village and perhaps along the road out to the Dam this year. I invite anyone who is interested to join an unofficial “Paluma After Dark Club” and spend an hour or so every couple of months to see what we can record and discover. The inaugural walk will be this Saturday evening (February 26). Meet at Potters Park opposite 27 Lennox Cr at 8 pm.
Bring a head torch, preferably a bright one that can be focused to a narrow beam. Binoculars are also surprising useful to identify mammals and night birds once they are in the beam of a spotlight.
If the first event garners sufficient interest, we might also consider bringing some experts on specific groups up to give us a talk and a guided walk.
The native hydrangea (Abrophyllum ornans) is a small understorey tree (up to 8m high) or shrub that is endemic to Qld and northern NSW. It can be found in rainforest gullies and streams or regrowth areas from Batemans Bay to the McIlwraith Range NE of Coen in Cape York. The Genus Abrophyllum belongs to the family Rousseaceae, which is restricted to New Guinea, Australia New Zealand and Mauritius.
The scientific name refers to its attractive leaf and is derived from the Greek habros (splendid) + phyllon (leaf) and the Latin orno (adorn).
The bark of the native hydrangea is grey or light brown. The alternating leaves are ovate with pointed tips and finely serrated edges (up to 2ocm long and .8 cm wide).
A. ornans fruit and flowers (photos by Russell Cumming
Small perfumed whitish yellow flowers develop in branched clusters from October to December and the unopened buds can resemble true Hydrangea flower heads (although the two species are not related). Flowers develop into distinctive purple to blackish berries about .5cm in diameter.
A. ornans is cultivated as a garden ornamental, valued for its handsome clusters of berries, or as an indoor plant. It is easily propagated from cuttings or fresh seeds. It is also considered a useful plant for restoration along rainforest edges.
Photo by Jamie Oliver
There is a tagged specimen of A. ornans (white tag # 26) on the H-track at the bottom of the slope down from the start at Whalley Cr.
Text by Jamie Oliver Photos (unless indicated) by Russell Cumming on Flickr
