Went back to the mallee in NW Vic during the easter break. We opened a couple of pitfall lines, here's some of what we got:
A couple of sub-adult Ctenotus brachyonyx
As always plenty mallee dragons running laps around the triodia
Morethia boulengeri were common in nearby Callitris woodlands.
As were white browed babblers
We also caught some nobbi dragons, beardies, painted dragons and dunnarts in pitfall buckets, and a spiny-tailed gecko (s. intermedius) found spotlighting on a road.
But the main reason I was up there this time was to study the processionary behaviour of caterpillars of the bag-shelter moth, Ochrogaster lunifer:
We gave them haircuts to see if they used their setae to mantain contact
If any of the caterpillars stopped they would wait for the lagging one to catch up, however if we cut their bum hairs off they wouldn't sense the caterpillar directly behind them in the first place.
A couple of sub-adult Ctenotus brachyonyx
As always plenty mallee dragons running laps around the triodia
Morethia boulengeri were common in nearby Callitris woodlands.
As were white browed babblers
We also caught some nobbi dragons, beardies, painted dragons and dunnarts in pitfall buckets, and a spiny-tailed gecko (s. intermedius) found spotlighting on a road.
But the main reason I was up there this time was to study the processionary behaviour of caterpillars of the bag-shelter moth, Ochrogaster lunifer:
We gave them haircuts to see if they used their setae to mantain contact
If any of the caterpillars stopped they would wait for the lagging one to catch up, however if we cut their bum hairs off they wouldn't sense the caterpillar directly behind them in the first place.