#foxes lair

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#3499 - Megaceria sp.

One of at least 3, but more likely over a dozen, species in the genus. Apparently they're different enough that is they were found in the Northern Hemisphere taxonomists would probably have named them as different genera.

Unusually for Ichneumonids in this subfamily, they're parasitoids of moth larvae - other Ctenopelmatinae are almost always parasites of sawflies.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin.

[drhoz]

#3505 - Camponotus cinereus ssp. notterae

A common species in arid and semi-arid woodlands in southern Australia, where workers scurry swiftly with their gasters vertically raised. The holotype was collected at Gooseberry Hill here in Perth, but was probably destroyed during the bombing of Berlin during WWII.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin

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#3501 - Papyrius sp.

The genus, with two described species, is known only from Australia and New Guinea, where they nest in dead wood in forested areas. Like many ants they farm bugs for honeydew, but protect them inside shells built from plant fibres. A few of the ants here are clearly very full of honeydew.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin.

[drhoz]

#3506 - Cryptandra sp.

The generic epithet means "hidden man", referring to the stamens.

Spiny, heath-like shrubs from the Buckthorn family Rhamnaceae surprisingly, with small, clustered leaves and flowers crowded at the ends of branches. Endemic to Australia.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin

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#3508 - Chamaexeros serra

The generic epithet means 'on parched ground'. 'serra' refers to the finely serrated edge of the leaves.

A rhizomatous, tufted perennial herb in the Agave family, growing to about 10cm high and twice that wide. It grows in gravel, sand, clay, granite, and lateritic soils, across much of the inland SW.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin

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#3497 - Olearia rudis - Azure Daisy-Bush 

An attractive shrub native to WA, and the region of the SA/NSW/Victorian border. Described as 'Aromatic and frequently glutinous', it grows around rocky outcrops and boulders in calcareous sandy or gravelly lateritic soils - in this case, the latter.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin.

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#3491 - Styphelia acervata

Dense, prostrate, mound-forming shrubs, growing in sandy soil in open woodland, in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest bioregions.

First formally described as Astroloma acervatum in 2013 by Australian botanists  Michael Clyde Hislop and Annette Jane Gratton Wilson. The specific epithet means "mounded" or "heaped".

Foxes Lair, Narrogin.

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#3507 - Hakea trifurcata - Two-leaf Hakea 

AKA kerosene bush.

A Hakea with two wildly different leaf shapes, on the same plant, at the same time. The larger broader leaves resemble the fruit, which remains green at maturity, and probably help protect the fruit from passing cockatoos.

Endemic to the SW, in sand over limestone or laterite, loam, and gravel.

Foxes Lair, Narrogin.