Flesh Fly

Flies belong to the order of insects called Diptera. Flies have just one pair of wings and mouthparts adapted for lapping or piercing and sucking (ain’t nature grand?). According to the CSIRO’s Flies page, we have about 30,000 species of them in Australia, many being endemic and barely half of them described.

House Fly and Blowfly - Museums Victoria

Flesh Flies are much larger than the Common House Fly and even larger than the Common Blowfly. The Flesh Fly has a stripey or chequered back and large, bright red/brown eyes.

Flesh Flies are mostly attracted to decaying meat, carrion, etc., rather than food scraps, manure, or human perspiration that tend to be the favoured source of nutrient for blowies. Their life cycle is particularly rapid – their eggs will hatch within a day of being laid on a carcass. The larvae will feed on the carcass for 3 or 4 days before pupating. The pupae bury into the soil and turn into adult flies within 15 or so days. The cycle is complete within a fortnight or three weeks, although sometimes, depending on seasonal conditions, the pupae may may over-winter and only emerge in spring.

Because of their diet and preferred habitat, Flesh Flies do pose significant health risks to humans. Continued or frequent presence of Flesh Flies can indicate an underlying issue with sanitation, like the presence of dead rodents or other animals.

 

Gold Dust Lichen

The lichen world is a complex one. Lichens consist of two or three organisms – a fungus and an alga – living together in a symbiotic relationship and existing as a single complex community. The fungi partner provides the structural part of the organism and absorbs water and nutrient. The algae uses photosynthesis to produce carbohydrates – food – for the organism. If you’d like to dive deeper into the world of lichens, try the Australian Lichens page of Australian National Botanic Gardens site. There’s even a link to a What’s NOT a Lichen page, so good luck!

Anyway, I think several trees in Drouin’s Golden Whistler Reserve have colonies of Gold Dust Lichen (Chrysothrix genus probably). They provide a colourful contrast to the surrounding non-lichenized tree trunks.

Just like plants, fungi, mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, etc., lichens have an ecological role to play in an ecosystem. Lichens provide food and shelter for a range of invertebrates. Some bird and mammal species are known to eat various lichens.

Gold Dust Lichen is what’s called a crustose lichen – a simple lichen which lacks a three-dimensional structure and simply forms a crust. It is a fairly common lichen and can be found growing on a variety substrates – bark, wood, rock, terracotta roof tiles, etc.

Eastern Spinebill

This small, active honeyeater is well represented in our district. Whilst the Eastern Spinebill is easy enough to see year-round in Gippsland, some of ‘our’ birds will spend summer in the high country and return to the warmer climes of the lowlands in winter. It is not unusual, and always a delight to have them visit our urban gardens.

Eastern Spinebills use their long curving bill for probing the tubular flowers of Common Heath, Kangaroo Paw, Correa, Appleberry, Mistletoe and similar species. Invariably, the birds get pollen attached to their feathers as they feed and this is transferred to the next flower, thus helping the pollination of the bush or garden. The adults feed largely on nectar but also take insects and spiders at times. The young are fed mostly insects for protein.

Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris; acantha = spine, rhunkos = bill, tenuis = slender, and rostrum = bill.

Eastern Spinebills, like many honeyeaters, are active and sometimes aggressive feeders. Mostly they move through their patch in small family groups and often can be seen foraging with other small species. Their rapidly repeated piping call is diagnostic.

 

 

Horse Dung fungus

Pisolithus arhizus is a common ‘puffball’ species found always in association with eucalypt species. It seems to grow in dry, disturbed areas like gravelly roadsides and walking tracks. This fungus is quite common in West Gippsland.

The aptly named Horse Dung Fungus is a mycorrhizal fungus; it has a symbiotic connection with the roots of nearby eucalypt trees. It is used as a component of plant root stimulant in the horticultural trade.

The spores develop inside cell structures within the body of the fruit. As the fruit matures, it cracks open and releases the spores into the surrounding landscape.

Pisolithus arhizus is considered inedible but the viscous gel inside the fruit can be used as a dye. Other common names include Dead Man’s Foot, Dyeball and Bohemian Truffle.

Burgan Wooly Scale

This scale insect, Callococcus acaciae, is endemic to Australia and is associated with plants in the Kunzea (Burgan), Leptospermum (Tea Tree) and Acacia (Wattle) families.

Scale insects feed on the sap of their host plant (and sometimes on fungi). There is an enormous variety of scale insects and of course, in a garden situation, they are considered as pests and if left uncontrolled, either naturally or by the gardener, they can devastate your favourite garden plant.

The female Burgan Woolly Scale insect has interesting morphology: it has no wings and no legs. There are glands on its back from which it exudes a stretchy-waxy substance.

These images were taken on some of the shrubs in Golden Whistler Reserve Drouin.  

Favolaschia calocera at Uralla

Since moving to West Gippsland about ten years ago, Uralla Reserve at Trafalgar has been one of my favourite places to go for fungi. From memory, Uralla was the first place where I’d seen Orange Pore Fungus at one, perhaps two sites.

It now seems to be on every second dead log, branch or stick beside the tracks in Uralla. It is also present in other West Gippsland locations.

Orange Pore looks like little orange ping-pong bats.

 Instead of gills, it has pores on the fertile underside of the cap, giving it a honeycomb appearance.

Favolaschia calocera is a saprotrophic fungus that inhabits dead wood.

Many references refer to this fungus as an imported weed-fungus from Madagascar which first appeared in New Zealand in the 1950s. Most records suggest it first appeared in Victoria in 2005. The main concern with this invasive species is that it displaces native fungi that have evolved to have beneficial symbiotic relationships with many native plants.

 

 

Pixies Parasol

Pixies Parasol, Mycena interrupta, grows on dead wood, usually hardwood species, in wet areas. It is a tiny fungus with its blue cap sometimes measuring up to 15mm diameter. They usually grow in small colonies.

It is a fairly common species, often missed because of its size and is often growing on the sheltered side of a dead log or fallen branch.

Always a delight to come across. Some references suggest it is Victoria’s most photographed fungi. It could be considered a good Victorian species, as records for SA, NSW and Qld are pretty sparse.

Map credit: ala.org.au

I found this little colony in Mt Worth State Park recently while trying, and failing, to pin down a calling Lyrebird nearby.