Mantis Hatchlings

I had been watching the ootheca of a springbok mantis - Miomantis caffra - on the wall next to my front door since I moved in here five months ago, then suddenly, last week it was covered in a swarm of tiny little mantis nymphs, each about 7mm long.

There were twenty on the first evening. With smaller numbers emerging over the next three days - all in the late afternoon.

I caught the hatching process on video a couple of times, but it is a long, slow process - emerging as a worm-shaped thing, and then wriggling to unfurl their limbs.

They then hang around on the ootheca until they have hardened and turned brown, after which they mostly seem to wait nearby until nightfall before dispersing.

These little guys still have a way to go to become a fully-fledged adult:

Hochstetter's Frog

 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.

I found this article on the same topic form 1962: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bio09Tuat03-t1-body-d3-d6.html

Austroboletus Niveus

Monday Mushroom #60

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... :-/

Austroboletus niveus

Contoured Rust-scape

Fencepost of the Week #65

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.

Space Ribbon reveal

I've been messing around with an idea for a procedurally generated racing game: One player (can be AI) flies a spaceship which vomits racetrack out of its rear end as it zooms through space. The other players drive along this road and try and catch up!

The prototype is producing some really fun, vertigogenous courses. It will probably work best as quick-fire races 1-2 minutes long with scoring done over several races.

Anyway, here's a video of 4 AI drivers chasing me down:

Not sure when something playable will be available - it has some rough edges, no scoring, no sound and I need to attend to the graphical styling before unleash it, too.

Watch this space, but don't hold your breath! :-P

Favolaschia calocera

Monday Mushroom #59

Favolaschia calocera - sharing a rotten twig with some blue-green lichen.

This is a favourite fungus from my first mushroom season in New Zealand. But the small, bright orange fruiting bodies only arrived in this country about 50 years ago.

Favolaschia calocera - growing on a pine cone in a plantation.

They may be native to Madagascar, where they were first recorded, or their true origin may be somewhere in Asia. Either way, they are firmly established in New Zealand - very common even in the native forests where most foreign fungi cede the field to New Zealand's distincitve native biota.

Translucent Egg Cards

I found that some of my ink drawings on certain kinds of paper looked really beautiful when viewed from the back of the page while held up to the light. I wondered how I might use this property - lapshades that reveal extra detals when the lamp is turned on sprang to mind.

So far all I have done with them is to turn them into greetings cards. I paint the picture on the front of the card, then completely cover it with a cut-out drawing of an egg. When the card is held up to the light, the original painting is revealed, shining through the egg.

Tui Nestling painting ready to be covered up by an egg!

You will need to do some tests to find a paper and painting technique that works well when held up to the light. Also a way of attaching the egg to the front of the card that doesn't show up would be good - spraymount is probably ideal, I have used double-sided sticky tape here, but you can see its outline a little.

Tui Egg and Nestling