Transcript New Caledonia, April/May 2005

New Caledonia,
April 19th-May 7th, 2005
La Poule Couveuse de Hienghène,
east coast, Province Nord
Port Boisé campsite,
Province Sud
New Caledonia is located in the south pacific.
We collected in New
Caledonia because
little has been collected
from the island
previously and the
island’s flora is known
to be highly diverse,
highly endemic, and
contains many ancient
lineages of land plants.
The field trip included collecting in both the Northern
(Nord) and Southern (Sud) Provinces.
The collectors on the field trip were (from left to right) Geoff Monteith (Queensland
Museum), Post-Doc Michael Wall, PhD candidate Nik Tatarnic and Co-PI Gerry Cassis.
Seen here at Port Boisé campsite, Province Sud.
Haute Yaté, Province Sud – overlooking the maquis.
The maquis vegetation in New Caledonia is highly endemic and diverse. Collecting here
was not the best, possibly because there was little flowering vegetation at the time.
Driving through the maquis (high metal soils), Province Sud.
This road cut exposes the red lateritic soils that cover much of New Caledonia. These
soils are extremely high in heavy metals and home to a highly endemic, heavy metal
tolerant flora.
Michael Wall in search of mirids near the Cap N'dua Lighthouse, Province Sud.
Gerry Cassis collecting plant bugs from an Acacia sp. near the Cap N'dua Lighthouse,
Province Sud.
Chute Madelaine, site of the endemic gymnosperm Neocallitropsis pancheri (pictured
here in the foreground just below and to the left of the waterfall) host of an undescribed
large green orthotyline, Province Sud.
Rivierê Blanche section, Rivierê Bleue Reserve, Province Nord.
The Riviere Bleue Reserve has a good combination of tropical forest and maquis
vegetation. Nik collected some interesting orange phylines here at the rainforest edge.
Néhoue Campsite, Province Nord.
This was a good rainforest site in the inland
north. By slogging up the river we were able
to collect a new species of green orthotyline
on a species of Gymnostoma that we only
found along the river banks.
Travelling in style…campsite at Pindaï Beach, Pindaï Peninsula, Province Nord.
The Pindaï Peninsula has the largest remaining dry sclerophyll forest left in New
Caledonia. We collected a diversity of plant bugs here, including some ant mimics and
at least one species of Pseudoloxops.
Geissois sp. (Cunoniaceae): on this species we found two species of an undescribed
genus of Orthotylinae.
A variety of mirids, including an ant-mimetic
orthotyline, were collected from Acacia
spirobis. This Acacia species is widespread in
disturbed localities in New Caledonia. We
collected from it at nine different locations
during our trip.
Micellaneous mirids including a small
phyline were collected from Baeckia
ericoides (Myrtaceae), shown here.
We collected on many species of Gymnostoma and almost all were host to small green
orthotylines. We are eager to examine the collections back at the lab to see if each
Gymnostoma sp. is host to a unique mirid species.
Coridromius variegatus, an
orthotylinae plant bug, is seen
here feeding on Phyllanthus sp.
Rivière Bleue, Province Sud.
Phylines and orthotylines were collected from Grevillea gillvrayi, shown here. Having
already collected Miridae on Grevillea spp. in neighboring Australia, it was no surprise
that Grevillea spp. are also productive hosts in New Caledonia.
Casuarina collina serves as
host to variously colored
Phylinae amongst other plant
bugs.
Species of Casuarinaceae
serve as host to numerous
plant bug species in Australia.
Some of the great
creatures we saw on
our field trip…
Orb weaving spider
Mutton Bird, Province Nord
Phasmid (stick insect)
disguised
as a leaf
Mutton bird
We found many Halobates
washed up on the shore at
Tiakan Beach, Province Nord.
Halobates are predaceous
marine water striders that live
on the surface of the open
ocean.
They belong to the same
insect order, Heteroptera, as
the Orthotylinae and Phylinae
plant bugs that are the focus
of the PBI project.
Trip Results:
• ~5,000 plant bugs collected
• new species were discovered
• ~100 host plants collected
Chambered Nautilus shell