Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. Lots of stages of development from tiny pins to old, cracked cups.
This is Crucibulum laeve - one of the birds nest fungi. Their spores are grouped into white, rounded packets and are dispersed by raindrops splashing into the cup shaped body.
Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. Lid on right is disintegrating.
The fruiting bodies develop with a protective cover which shrivels and falls away on maturation.
Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus
Each cup is only 5-10mm in diamiter, and though distinctive, they are easily overlooked.
Crucibulum laeve - Birds Nest Fungus. A dense cluster of emptied cups.
Here is Hochstetter's Frog - Leiopelma hochstetteri. This is probably the most endangered animal to be featured in this blog so far and it is also the first native terrestrial vertebrate I have found in New Zealand after 7 months of nature rambles.
Hochstetter's Frog - Leiopelma hochstetteri
The last few decades are full of tales of calamitous population crahses of various amphibians and while this frog is more widespread than the other native New Zealand frogs, it's habitat is fragmented and more in contact with the upheaval caused by human factors.
Hochstetter's Frog - Leiopelma hochstetteri
An Enigma: I was recentlly reading Joel Samuel Polack's New Zealand Journal 1831-1837 (much recommended for the curious anecdotes and outrageously florid writing style!) He mentions frogs being widespread in swamps in New Zealand three times in the book. Each time he describes them as swamp dwelling creatures that croak loudly when it rains:
p150: ...became continually fearful of the croaking of frogs, who congregate in the adjoining marshes in great numbers, from the ridiculous superstitions of these
people.
p305: Their notes partake of the melodious croaking of the frogs, whose vocal powers are exerted for their own satisfaction in the adjacent swamps and morasses.
p318: ...toads, frogs, with their barometrical croak! croak! abound in the swamps. These subsultive reptiles do not differ from the species in Europe, each being animated with a similar determination to subjoin their remarks with open throat on approaching rain ; and, near to mountainous districts, the situation of these hydromancers is no sinecure, from the frequency of the falling fluid.
The native New Zealand frogs are all practically silent - they don't even have the physiology to be capable of loud croaking. None of the existing species are swamp dwellers either. It would be interesting to see if anyone can find corroborating notes from the early years of the colony.
This is Austroboletus niveus - a fairly large and handsome bolette native to New Zealand.
Austroboletus niveus
It has a soft, spongy texture and is the only mushroom I know which, on handling, imparts a sticky, resin-like substance which is difficult to remove from the skin.
I haven't been able to find much written about it at all... :-/
Not sure I've covered any metal fenceposts before - they don't generally have much growing on them, but the corrosion itself can bring forth beautiful forms.
Anyway, these are from an old metal gate on Long Road Track in the Waitakere Ranges.
The Waitakere Dam Tramway is a divertingly different hiking route in the Waitakere Ranges. It follows the line of a - still well maintained - tram route and also a water pipeline. There is little gradient and the path is broad and clear and as the track hugs the steeper slopes, you get good views out across the Waitakeres over the tree tops.
Waitakere Dam from the tramway.
There is one short tunnel on the route and a couple of (station?) platforms, one of which has a picnic area attached. The tramway runs from the Waitakere Dam - also worth a nosey - for a little under two Km.
The short tunnel.
Siding near the Scenic Drive end.
At the far end it enters a very long tunnel under Scenic Drive, which is barred and locked. From there you can retrace your steps back to the Dam, or climb up to Scenic Drive via the Anderson Track, although this is a much rougher track than the tramway.
While on a walk in the Waitakere Ranges, I found this weird, gelatinous blob stuck to the underside of a leaf - perhaps some kind of egg-sac? But then as I examined it more closely it sprouted eye stalks, became slug-shaped and shot off at speed across the leaf!
Athoracophorus bitentaculatus? Leaf-veined Slug. Active - moving at speed.
This is no ordinary slug. With its leaf-vein pattern and distinctive body shape. It lacks an obvious mantle - the lump on the back which makes European slugs slug shaped. It belongs to a group called leaf-veined slugs - many are native to New Zealand, the rest come from neighbouring islands and Australia.
Athoracophorus bitentaculatus? Leaf-veined Slug
I haven't been able to find much information on these creatures either on line or in Auckland library. Particularly no mentions of what struck me as their remarkable alacrity. Here's one of the more informative websites: link! The two that I have seen so far look very like Athoracophorus bitentaculatus, which seems to be the most commonly encountered species in New Zealand.
I first read about velvet worms - aka. peripatuses - in Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful Life - a book about the burgess shale fossils (among other things) and immediately went to look them up on youtube and wikipedia. They are beautiful creatures that, unfortunately, live nowhere near scotland.
Peripatoides novaezealandiae - Peripatus
However I had noted that they do live in New Zealand, so when I decided to take a trip to Auckland, peripatus went straight to the top of my list of things to see!
Over the weeks and months of looking under logs and asking people, I slowly came to the realisation that they are a pretty rare and hard to find animal in New Zealand. Perhaps their range and fecundity have been affected by the massive environmental upheavals of the last few centuries - like so much of the rest of the native fauna.
After three months of nothing, I eventually engaged the enthusiasm of a very experienced local bush man, who had seen peripatuses before and thought he might know a likely spot in the Waitakere ranges.
Peripatoides novaezealandiae - Peripatus
Sure enough, under the first log we looked at we found a small, formless, velvety blob. As I held it in my hands, it extruded feelers and legs and elongated until there was a fully formed, caterpillar-like creature gliding sinuously over my palm.
We placed it back on its log, and took some photos and videos as it walked about. They are nocturnal, and it was obviously uncomfortable being out and about during daylight on a cold winter's day.
Although we continued looking, that was the only velvet worm we found, and it may be a very long time before I see one again.
