Third weekend in the wet tropics of Australia

[Yunder Wækraus]

Been loving the past two weeks. My campus abuts rainforest, and there are all sorts of crazy critters here: cockatoos, lorikeets, megapodes, geckos, etc. Here are a few pix: a lipstick palm outside a friend's house, a tropical tree frog, a walking stick insect, and a large goanna at the beach. I'll post pix of campus palms once I get a chance to use my camera instead of my phone.

[bubba]

Yunder,

Great to see you posting from the real tropics. How does the region compare to the Glades? Look forward to more. Thank you 

[Yunder Wækraus]

3 hours ago, bubba said:

Yunder,

Great to see you posting from the real tropics. How does the region compare to the Glades? Look forward to more. Thank you 

Two things: (1) lusher (somehow!), and (2) just a bit less hot

[PalmatierMeg]

Those Cyrtostachys are fabulous! Enjoy your stay and all the great palm habitats.

[steve99]

The Goanna looks like a Lace Monitor.    Enjoy your time  (and the rain) in FNQ, there is plenty of interesting places to visit in that part of the world.

 

   

[Palmaceae]

I second the comment that those Cyrtostachys are fabulous! Enjoy the tropics!

[tropicbreeze]

The Lace Monitors, Varanus varius, are very common on the east coast. They're the only one of the larger Goannas that haven't been impacted significantly by Cane Toads.

The Stick Insect looks like a juvenile Darwin Stick Insect, Eurycnema osiris. Adults are larger with a thicker body, mainly green all over with some coloured markings.

Bit hard to tell with the frog but most likely Litoria gracilenta. They have a creamier colour underneath but exposed like that they hold their legs in tight and you only see the green surface.

If you like bushwalking/hiking there's a lot of great walks in that area.

 

[Yunder Wækraus]

59 minutes ago, tropicbreeze said:

The Lace Monitors, Varanus varius, are very common on the east coast. They're the only one of the larger Goannas that haven't been impacted significantly by Cane Toads.

The Stick Insect looks like a juvenile Darwin Stick Insect, Eurycnema osiris. Adults are larger with a thicker body, mainly green all over with some coloured markings.

Bit hard to tell with the frog but most likely Litoria gracilenta. They have a creamier colour underneath but exposed like that they hold their legs in tight and you only see the green surface.

If you like bushwalking/hiking there's a lot of great walks in that area.

 

Are you seriously telling me that those are BABY stick insects?!?!

[Yunder Wækraus]

Here are some more pix

[kinzyjr]

@Yunder Wækraus Looks like you are enjoying yourself down there!  We miss you here in the Sunshine State, but it's good to see all the neat sights!

[tropicbreeze]

3 hours ago, Yunder Wækraus said:

Are you seriously telling me that those are BABY stick insects?!?!

Can't tell size from your photo but it doesn't have the adult colours. Maybe next moult, don't know. One of the juveniles I found at my place.

This is a female I found at home, from head to tip of tail she was 230 mm, but with her front legs extended out front in camouflage mode she was 305 mm long. You can see the difference in body mass and colour compared to a juvenile. She also has a broad lilac streak along the full length of the back of the thorax.

That's a great photo of the Spectacled Flying-fox, Pteropus conspicillatus. They're considered pests by a lot of fruit growers, although they are a protected species.

[Yunder Wækraus]

38 minutes ago, tropicbreeze said:

Can't tell size from your photo but it doesn't have the adult colours. Maybe next moult, don't know. One of the juveniles I found at my place.

This is a female I found at home, from head to tip of tail she was 230 mm, but with her front legs extended out front in camouflage mode she was 305 mm long. You can see the difference in body mass and colour compared to a juvenile. She also has a broad lilac streak along the full length of the back of the thorax.

That's a great photo of the Spectacled Flying-fox, Pteropus conspicillatus. They're considered pests by a lot of fruit growers, although they are a protected species.

I think mine is a different species. The one in my photo has a head-to-abdomen length of at least 4-6", and if the outstretched front legs are added, the total length might be 7-9". Not sure what that is in metric, but it's definitely larger than 3cm! If a 6" bug is just a baby, I can't imagine the size of the adult.

[Yunder Wækraus]

Just realized I got the centimeters wrong. Sounds like your size ranges are in line with mine.

[tropicbreeze]

Just googled:

4 - 6 inches = 101.6mm - 152.4mm

7 - 9 inches = 177.8mm - 228.6mm

230mm = 9.06 inches

305mm = 12.01 inches

A slightly larger species is the related Eurycnema goliath. But if you like getting right up into the canopy of rainforest you might be lucky enough to find the largest one, Ctenomorpha gargantua, which can get over 600mm (= 23.6 inches) in camouflage mode (front legs outstretched). That's one I'd love to find.

 

[Yunder Wækraus]

1 hour ago, tropicbreeze said:

Just googled:

4 - 6 inches = 101.6mm - 152.4mm

7 - 9 inches = 177.8mm - 228.6mm

230mm = 9.06 inches

305mm = 12.01 inches

A slightly larger species is the related Eurycnema goliath. But if you like getting right up into the canopy of rainforest you might be lucky enough to find the largest one, Ctenomorpha gargantua, which can get over 600mm (= 23.6 inches) in camouflage mode (front legs outstretched). That's one I'd love to find.

 

Whoa!!!!!!

[tropicbreeze]

I dug up a photo on the internet of Ctenomorpha gargantua taken by researchers from Museum of Victoria in the wet tropics a few years ago.

[Neil C]

That's a branch insect not a stick insect!

 

Regards Neil

[steve99]

 

How's the HUMIDITY ?   

[Steve Mac]

Mate, those Lipsticks look better natural, like the first shot, not fake, that 'enhance' button is best left alone.

You really don't need to photoshop a Lipstick. Just my opinion, great shots anyway. 

 

[Yunder Wækraus]

16 hours ago, steve99 said:

 

How's the HUMIDITY ?   

Wonderful!

[Yunder Wækraus]

12 hours ago, gtsteve said:

Mate, those Lipsticks look better natural, like the first shot, not fake, that 'enhance' button is best left alone.

You really don't need to photoshop a Lipstick. Just my opinion, great shots anyway. 

 

Lol--it's the same shot from my old iPhone, but one is cropped. If I had been there with my proper camera, the shot would not have lost so much resolution after such a minimal close up.