Livelife 3 - Tiliqua rugosa

Dip and strike?! We don't need no stinkin' dip and strike!


This blue tongue lizard was clearly not fooled by the request to take a dip and strike on an outcrop of late Neoproterozoic cap carbonate in the Flinders Ranges. He was also clearly unimpressed with the fact that he was standing at the end of the 'Snowball Earth' and the start of the Ediacaran Period. There's just no pleasing some lizards!

The fat tail shows that he was in good condition as that's where they store their fat reserves.

Blue tongues, shinglebacks, or sleepy lizards, as they are commonly known, are members of the skink family (Scincidae).

Livelife 2

Hi Ho. Hi Ho. It's off to work we go . . .



Geologists always walk around looking at the ground because that's where the rocks are. Especially in a creek bed in the middle of a gorge in the Flinders Ranges. Occasionally you see something else of interest.

This group boldly heading out along the floor of the gorge took me by surprise because, although there are several species of butterflies and moths native to the Flinders, I'd never seen caterpillars there before (click on the image to enlarge). The ripples in the creek bed can clearly be seen, and the trail of caterpillars almost mimics the rise and fall of the ripples. The lens cap is 52mm in diameter

Livelife 1 - Nephila edulis

As a counterpoint to the deadlife that usually populates this blog, I'll be posting some images of livelife that has occasionally interrupted the search for said deadlife.

Nephila edulis, or the golden orb weaver, (click image to enlarge) is common throughout the Flinders Ranges, and is an FBS, where the B and S stand for Big Spider. This one is about 15 cms (around 6 inches) in total length. The female always builds the web, as the males generally live on the periphery of her web and are usually about 1 cm (0.5 inch) long. She will sit in the centre, next to her tube of spoils, maintaining contact with the web, ready to pounce on anything unlucky enough to get trapped, and bring it back to her tube of spoils.

As befits a FBS, she builds a FBW where the B and W stand for Big Web. The central web is 120+ cm (4+ ft) long, and usually stretches across a clearing between two large bushes. In other words right across where you would normally walk. In other words right across where you would normally walk while looking down at the ground (because you are a geologist and the ground is where the rocks are).

If you are lucky, the centre of the web is at chest height, or above head height.

If you are lucky.

You aren't always lucky.

However, the local name for them is "drop-off spider" because, if you are unfortunate enough to encounter a web, the spider will generally drop off the web, or you, rather than bite (they have small jaws anyway and on the rare occasion that they bite, the results are not too bad).

Very polite of them considering the amount of work that went into the structure you have just destroyed.

The web framework is incredibly strong and will actually resist breaking, so you are in no doubt that you have just encountered one.