Friends of Grasslands
It was wonderful to welcome members of Friends of Grasslands and Royalla Landcare to Wandiyali~Environa Wildlife Sanctuary for a stunning late Spring morning and early afternoon (following a visit in late October postponed due to heavy rain). We waded through waist high Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) looking at drifts of Fringe Lilies (Thysanotus tuberosus subsp. tuberosus), Onion Orchids (Microtis sp), Scaly Buttons (Leptorhynchos squamatus), Hoary Sunray and myriad native grasses, and visiting Blue Devils (Eryngium ovinum), Pale Wedge Peas (Gompholobium huegelii), Swan Greenhood Orchids (Hymenochilus cycnocephalus), Swamp Lilies (Ottelia ovalifolia subsp. ovalifolia) and some still flowering Bulbline Lilies (Bulbine bulbosa) and Lanky Buttons (Leptorhynchos elongatus). We lunched beside a small waterway, and returned to the vehicles in warming temperatures and a rising nor’westerly, preface to considerable storms later in the afternoon.
Box Gum Grassy Woodland ©Andrew Zelnik
‘Common’ Fringe Lily (Thysanotus tuberosus subsp. tuberosus)
Inland Sprinkler Squeaker Cicada (Popplepsalta notialis incitata)
Kangaroo Grassland with Plume Grass (Dichelachne sp) ©Andrew Zelnik
Perunga Grasshopper (Perunga ochracea)
ACT: Endangered
Very careful to let this gorgeous girl walk onto my finger to move her off the road. Do not pick up as they easily lose limbs.
"This species appears to have a small range stretching 180 km east–west and 150 km north–south and including Murrumbateman, Gundaroo, the ACT and Bungendore. However, the area of occupancy within much of this range is likely to be low because habitat alteration and fragmentation have reduced or destroyed populations.
Approximately 99.5% of Natural Temperate Grassland in Australia has been destroyed or drastically altered since European settlement. The Perunga Grasshopper is mostly restricted to larger areas of remnant habitat.
This small grasshopper is characterised by a pale cross on the upper side of the thorax and vestigial wings. The species is flightless—but it can leap more than a metre. Females are about 30 millimetres long and males about half that. The colours on its back can vary from year to year, with a tendency toward grey-brown in dry years and greenish in wet years.
Nymphs hatch in late summer and autumn and develop over the winter and early spring. They only have a 12-month cycle. The grasshoppers eat forbs (small flowering plants).
In the ACT, the grasshopper has been found in Natural Temperate Grassland dominated by wallaby grasses, speargrasses or Kangaroo Grass, and in other native grasslands. Field observations suggest the species uses grass tussocks as shelter spaces, and likes sites containing vegetation mosaics with tall tussock grasses, shorter grasses and forbs and bare ground."