Little is known about species of myxomycetes associated with vertebrate dung in Australia. In the present study, dung samples of 15 species of mammals (eight marsupials, three native rodents and four domestic or feral eutherians) and a large flightless bird (the southern cassowary, Casuarius casuarius) were collected and processed in 84 moist chamber cultures. Fifty-two percent of these cultures yielded evidence (fruiting bodies and/or plasmodia) of myxomycetes. Eleven species belonging to seven genera were recorded. Licea tenera was the most common species in the study (recorded from 12 moist chamber cultures) and is also a new record for the continent. Perichaena depressa, Didymium difforme and Cribraria violacea were the only other species appearing in at least three cultures. Samples of dung collected from small mammals did not yield any myxomycetes.
The desert rat-kangaroo or ‘ngudlukanta’ (Caloprymnus campestris) was once sparsely distributed in the Lake Eyre Basin of north-eastern South Australia and adjacent parts of Queensland, but has not been collected since the 1930s. However, numerous reported sightings, including some recent, provide some hope that it may still be extant. In 2018 and 2019, we searched for evidence of this species at sites where it had been collected in the 1930s, and at places where people have since reported seeing an animal that fits its description. Our survey, which analysed data from more than 6000 camera trap nights, 536 predator scats and 226 km of spotlight transects, was the most extensive field-based search ever undertaken for this animal; but we found no evidence for its continued existence. However, our work did detect other threatened species including a range extension for the kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei), thereby demonstrating the value of surveys like this one. Because of the vastness and inaccessibility of much of the terrain comprising the supposed distribution of C. campestris, we do not see our null result as definitive for this poorly surveyed animal; we instead hope that it provides a starting point for future surveys aimed at resolving its status.
Fungi are an important food source for a diversity of vertebrates and invertebrates around the world and in turn, these animals play a key part in the dispersal of many fungi. These associations have been most thoroughly studied between mammals and truffles. In this natural history note, we provide the first report of mycophagy by the Australian King-Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) and the first documentation of wildlife consumption of the genus Cyttaria in Australia. We also review the literature regarding use of this southern hemisphere endemic genus Cyttaria for food by vertebrates and how these associations may impact its dispersal.
Red-legged pademelons (Thylogale stigmatica) occur as several subspecies in eastern Australia. The northern subspecies (T. stigmatica stigmatica) in north Queensland is considered common; the southern subspecies (T. stigmatica wilcoxi) in north-eastern New South Wales is, by comparison, rare and is listed as threatened. Activity patterns should also vary between these subspecies because T. s. stigmatica emerges from the forest at night to graze, whereas T. s. wilcoxi remains in the forest throughout the 24-h cycle. Using camera traps, we detected pademelons at a greater rate at a Queensland site occupied by T. s. stigmatica than at a New South Wales site inhabited by T. s. wilcoxi; this result is consistent with their conservation status. However, pademelons at these sites displayed remarkably similar activity patterns within rainforest over the 24-h period, a result that was unexpected based on what is known of their diel behaviour.
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