Hi all,

 

Some tidbits from the last week and a half.

 

Two jumping spiders from the Cosmophasis group. Totally harmless and iridescent, they are common on sunny days.

 

Some Nardoo in the afternoon sun. Yes it looks like a four leaf clover

but it is a wetland fern that smothers parts of the floodplains.

 

 

I was out fishing with friend Ben Fox the other night and we stumbled on this Eastern Small Eyed Snake.

This species has killed people and ranks, I think in the top 8 venemous land snakes. When I picked

him up, he was snappy but quickly settled down to the point where I could have let him crawl over

my hands. Due to the nasty, myotoxic (muscle wasting) venom I decided against it.

 

  

New species is the Ian Thorpe of the ant world

  

 

Water is normally a formidable, if not an impossible barrier for ants.

Sitting a jar of honey in a bowl of water normally keeps it safe, but not

where Polyrachis sokolova is concerned. This 15-20mm ant specialises

in mangroves, building its nests below the high tide mark where it gets

constantly flooded. Living in this zone raises some problems, but

these ants have loads of tricks.

 

The first one is that they can swim. In the next two shots you can

see this. I placed one on a rock in a puddle to see what happens. The

ant first investgated its little island, then totally voluntarily crawled into the water!

 

Getting in...

 

...making it to the other side.

 

For an ant, its swimming style is surprising. The ant uses

its two front pairs of legs more than the rear pair, whizzing

them around like determined little windmills.

 

They appear to navigate under the water, carrying an air supply. They will

also cruise on the surface tension of the water. If the ant sinks, it

can flick its body much like a yabby or shrimp to get nearer to the surface.

 

The ants are easily found feeding on nectar found flowing from the bases

of native Hibiscus leaves. They would also most likely scavenge.

 

I first noticed this ant months ago, several were swimming along the surface

under our steps on the river bank. I thought this species must already be

well known, as they are everywhere along the river, but only weeks ago

scientists announced on the news their discovery of this ant near Townsville.

 

The sokolova part of the scientific name I believe (after a quick google search)

is possibly named after the

biathlete Natalia Sokolova, from Russia.

 

Research on this amazing ant is in its early stages and I am sure

you'll hear more about them in the near future.