noahfenwick's Favorites

For @stephen_thorpe — farewell, my iNat friend.

Back in May 2023, I received a message from Stephen. He suggested I should keep an eye out for these obscure scale insects that are only found on Apodasmia similis — he (of course) had been the only one on iNat to observe them up until then. As luck would have it, that particular restio is planted in my garden, and it's packed with those inconspicuous little scales. In fact, I've found (with a little help) that they're quite common on oioi all around Christchurch, including in planted gardens far from natural habitat — not bad for a flightless, sedentary blob, especially considering it's thought that no males occur in this species!

Who else other than Stephen would've ever noticed this endemic but rather uncharismatic scale insect? The same could be easily said for the thousands of other tiny, obscure creatures he has observed or identified here over the years — for which he often was the first and/or only person to do so in living memory. Who else would have the patience, focus, and skill to find, photograph, identify, and upload the overwhelming number of esoteric taxa that he worked so tirelessly on sharing here — especially considering the great many limitations he had to work within.

I'll always admire Stephen's enthusiasm for and fascination with the living details that made up the world around him. I often think of him when I come across something so small and obscure that only he could be excited to find it.

From the many tributes that have already accumulated in just a day or so, it's clear that his enthusiasm and skill touched many lives.

Sit tibi terra levis, Stephen.

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/D7ZD3TBBD8JS86MNGR5A/full?target=10.1080/0028825X.2022.2095919

Breitwieser, Ilse & Ford, Kerry A. (2022). Four new species of Craspedia (Compositae/Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae) from the South Island of New Zealand, all characterised by dark red-purple anthers.
New Zealand Journal of Botany. Received 03 May 2022, Accepted 27 Jun 2022, Published online: 14 Jul 2022.

https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2022.2095919

A single large bush growing on a ledge on a rock cliff above the lake. Growing with mahoe (Melicytus ramiflorus and Coprosma crassifolia. New Zealand spinach (Tetroginia implexicoma)was growing through the lower branches

Kaitorete Spit is one of the last strongholds of this rare and endangered native shrub.

Muehlenbeckia Astonii Shrubby tororaro, wiggywig, mingimingi,shrub pohuehue.
North and South Islands. In the North Island known from Eastern Wairarapa south to Cape Palliser and just west of Sinclair Head. In the South Island now known only from Clifford Bay, the lower Awatere Catchment to Cape Campbell and Kekerengu. Also in North Canterbury, on Banks Peninsula near Lake Forsyth and on Kaitorete Spit.
Found coastal to lowland. This species is associated with ‘grey’ scrub communities in association with various coprosma and other muehlenbeckia species, plus matagouri, coastal tree daisy, tauhinu and leafless lawyer.
The only member of the muehlenbeckia genera to form a shrub. Other species are vines, though some tumble and tangle together to resemble a shrub.
Forms dense, interwoven masses up to 4 x 4 m of highly divaricated, interwoven branches, hence its common name of wiggywig. Tiny green or white flowers. Lizards, which are attracted to the fruit and the excellent cover these bushes provide, have an important role as seed distributors.

The highlight of my night at Trotter's Gorge!!! Was delighted. A rare species I was hoping would turn up after I noted a prior record from Brian Patrick and I also found the host plant mountain carrot (Gingidia montana) growing in the area. Two of them actually came to light and were captured but I only got one photo of the underside of the second individual (last image) before accidentally setting it free prior to its photo session! Never mind, delighted with the first one!

X marks the spot! The highlight of the night was seeing this beautiful moth arrive 2.5 hours after the lights were turned on (lights on at 6 pm, moth arrived at about 8:30 pm). I didn't know they would be at this site and wasn't expecting them to be out at this time of year either. There must be some Streblus heterophyllus in the bush. Several photos of the moth and a few of my setup and the view at the end. Great spot! Yay!!! That is Meterana species number 22 for me (incl. the undescribed 'Urtica' one).

Observed (and just caught on the dashcam) a hawk nailing a pigeon that was sitting on the ground in this field — very lucky to see!

There's been a huge flock of pigeons in the field for a few months now, and often I see hawks hanging around... so stoked to see one in action though. I'm having some difficulty uploading a gif that demonstrates the behaviour a little more clearly.
Update: appears to have uploaded now, but it might take a minute to load fully before you can watch it — might work better if you view the image detail page.

Growing in rubble, 20+ individuals of NZ magpie moth feeding on the one plant. Surrounding senecio plants had no individuals. edit: no catepillars were found on immediate surrounding plants, 10-20m further down oxford terrace there were more plants with lots of individuals. This plant had the most individuals.

Freshly dead adult Invisible Rail. Photographed at Foli, Halmahera, Indonesia on 18 October 2011. Detail of the head and bill. This unfortunate individual had been caught in a snare set out for scrubfowl just a day or so before we arrived at Foli. It was still in remarkably good condition considering the extreme humidity.

Hi folks,
This is an image that has been sent to me for a guess at id.
The thing that puzzles me is they say the body length is 16cm give or take a cm.
Someone I trust to get it right.
It's on a railway sleeper so does give some idea of size.
It's not our big dudes Argosarchus ?
To me it looks like Clitarchus hookeri, but they dont get that big ??
Any thoughts O knowledgeable ones ???

Edit :
The sleeper has been measured at 18cm.
So 15 or 16cm is still the measurement thought.
New better image added.