Hi Jen,
After a torrid month or so of blundering around a web-design application and with the help of the team at Wild Lime Media, we have finally published (and hopefully de-bugged) our new website; complete with a ‘Rainforest Revelations’ weblog.
Now that that’s done, I can return to some semblance of a life. In my absence from your blog, I have captured some interesting images.
The Daintree Cape Tribulation rainforest is at its most vibrant in the wet. Some of its best-kept secrets are revealed in circumstances that are frustratingly uninviting to visitors. Nevertheless, we at Cooper Creek Wilderness carry on with our tours and share the wonder of the wet with a privileged few.
This image of a brush-footed trapdoor spider was captured two nights ago at the entrance to its burrow, deep within the buttress roots of a Javan Ash.
Primitive spiders lack trachea and have very limited respiratory capabilities. Their gill-like book-lungs confer a greater proximity to an aqueous pre-existence, than the more modern and mobile Araneomorphs. They are also less able to travel great distances from the protection of their burrows and tend to have more immobilizing venom.
Also known as whistling spiders, barking spiders or Australia’s Tarantulas, they are subject to concerning pressures from collectors who sell them as pets for around $400 each. In an attempt to control these impacts, their trade has become regulated by licencing requirements (I wonder if this is having any success).
The other interesting image is a magnification of a longicorn beetle’s head, Batocera sp., whose family includes Australia’s largest beetle.
Their powerful mandibles rip into timber and their large, white and fleshy larvae are favoured bush-tucker for Cape York bama.
All the best from Cooper Creek Wilderness,
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.