#waikawa

[drhoz]

#3879 - Pantopsalis albipalpis

"Everything is a pair of scissors, and pale palps"

Spotted on the kitchen windowsill, to my great delight.

First described in 1902 by Reginald Innes Pocock (1863 –1947) a British zoologist and pioneering morphologist.

A large and ridiculous harvestman, in a genus with 9 known species, all endemic to New Zealand. This one is a male, as you can tell from the hugely enlarged chelicerae that they use to intimidate rival males, and any humans that don't known harvestmen are completely harmless.

Waikawa, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[drhoz]

#3878 - Diaea ambara

"Amber-coloured through Spring", from the Sanskrit for yellow-brown hues, and the usually season these crab spiders are seen.

First described by Swiss-born Kiwi arachnologist Arthur Torrane Urquhart (1839 –1916) in 1885, as Philodromus ambarus.

A New Zealand endemic that's into bondage - or at least, the female lets the males lash her down with silk before he mates with her. He then flees, and the female breaks free without difficulty.

Like other crab spiders, an ambush predator that lurks among leaves and flowers for unwary insects.

Waikawa, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[drhoz]

Drhoz and Purrdence’s NZ Trip 2025-2026 : Waikawa

We stayed at a holiday home in Waikawa for the next few days, because it was a good base of operations for running around the rest of the Catlins coastline (although having to drive 70km when we needed milk was a pain the arse).

The garden was manicured, true, but unlike the one in Oumaru it included a good number of native plants, some in abundant flower, so a bunch of native species were taking advantage.

Waikawa has an interesting little museuum, too, and an extensive mudflat estuary that's one of the places bar-tailed godwits (Limosa lapponica) stop at on their annual migration to and from Alaska. There were certainly birds out on the mud, but so far away that I couldn't ID them even using the telescope I'd brought along for the purpose.

And of course there's Niagara Falls. Or New Zealands version of same.

[justnzlbackpackers]

Waikawa (glaube ich). Super entspannter Campingplatz.

[schlinkism]

On my way north to catch the ferry I stopped by Waikawa bay to bask in some views

[happi-photography-blog]

Friends, 2014-’15 ©

[wanderinggoy]

Waikawa (2014)

[lifeforthewild]

Meet Waikawa,  one of only 126 kakapo left in the world. I was lucky enough to have this little lady adopted for me in November last year. With rimu seeds looking to be plentiful supply for the next breeding season, she'll hopefully have new baby relatives arriving next year! To find out more about kakapos, and the amazing work that's being done to save the species visit http://kakaporecovery.org.nz/ Maybe you could even adopt one of these beautiful birds for yourself!