erinkidd's Favorites

Large barred frog found with many others of its kind nearby. All positioned along a creek path.
Roughly 4 inches from snout to vent, no discs or webbing on the toes, which are long and thin.
Extra long and powerful back legs, with stout and muscular front legs. Pointed face with relatively huge black eyes, showing horizontal pupils in the right lighting.
Bright yellow throat.
Greyish brown all over, with prominent dark brown banding around the lips, eyes, spine and legs.
Specimens demonstrated powerful jumping ability.

Adorable bandicoot seen foraging around pine forest campsites. Long thin pointed nose and small leaf shaped ears high on the skull, with beady eyes. Size roughly that of a rabbit, with a long thin tail and long back feet/toes. Short front legs and small front feet. Ticked brown colour with white underbelly and throat. Feet and nose are pink. Moved slowly in a lolloping gait like a rabbit until disturbed, and was extremely quick and skittish.
Call sounded like a small trumpet sneeze.

Clusters of large fungi found growing all over a fallen tree. Cap diameters up to 4 inches, smooth and often uneven, with concaved centres and curled edges. Caps are an assortment of brown, orange, yellow, purple and black.
Stipes are thick, purple at the original point and sharply turning into cream white crowded gills.
Nightfall revealed a strong greenish bioluminescence, with immature specimens and gills being the brightest points.
Glowing appears to continue long after being broken from the cluster.

Cute and striking little fish found solitary in a tide pool amongst other species.
Around three inches in length, with a high forehead and square shape. Very small pointed face with large eyes. Dorsal spines are jagged and short.
Very bold black and gold striping all over, with slightly whiter underbelly. Tail is transparent. Very quick and active.

Stunningly beautiful weevil found on blue flax lily grasses.
Around 1inch from snout to vent, with the classic weevil shape and features.
Bold black and iridescent cyan green patterning all over. Very high contrast and sparkly. Legs are slightly longer than that of other weevils, with the usual heart shaped feet.
Specimen is as placid as it is beautiful.

Extremely small cicada found expertly camouflaged on a paperbark tree. Specimen only 1inch in length from snout to vent, with wings around 1.5 inches each. Wings are transparent with black venation, held closed along the body.
Mottled patterning of black and pale grey all over with strips of sage green, along with large green binocular eyes.
Call was rapid and extremely high pitched.

Beautiful Christmas beetle found on small eucalyptus tree. Around 1inch in length from about to vent, with shovel-like lip on the snout. Elytra are light beige with dark spots, with the thorax, head abdomen and legs being bright iridescent green/gold.

Large ‘rhino beetle’ found crawling on the ground in Gosford. Around 2.5inches from snout to vent, with shiny black matte colour all over. Oval shaped body and long legs with large hooked feet. Prominent two pronged horn protruding from the top of the thorax, curving forward, with another two pronged horn protruding from the snout, upwards.

Not happy that this individual is S plangon nor mestus (usual suspects in my area). Much larger and broader and close to 15cm length. Different enough for me to take time to photograph.
Colourations/camouflage appeared"different", colour changes after first image, from very pale with transverse lines like crayfish carapace, to this (second image).
Generally a curious genus this individual was more skittish.
Any thoughts @ralfmagee @bobby23

Small juvenile phasmid found on young eucalyptus tree. Around four inches in length from snout to vent, and pale green all over with slight yellow accents. Pinkish phalanges found at the end of the abdomen. Short straight antennae and small budding wings.
Very active and prone to running/swaying.

Absolutely huge caterpillars found feasting on a young eucalyptus tree. Around 3-4 inches in length from snout to vent, as thick as my own finger.
Bright green with pale green/yellow striping along the sides, and covered in tiny raised tubercles all over.
Small conical pointed head with six tiny grasping claws underneath. Anal feet pads are extra large and have excellent grip on the branches. Specimen straightened into a rigid rod when disturbed, and thrashed when bothered further.

Squirrel found foraging on the ground in Central Park. Reddish brown undercoat with long grey overlay. Long bushy tail with white tipped guard hairs. Pale ring around the eyes, white belly and throat.

Gorjeous small snail found in rock pools. Shell was small round oval spiral, smooth with thin black pinstripes.
Snail itself flowed out and around the shell in large curly ruffles of pink with electric blue trim. Two tiny black spots (eyes?) can be seen amongst the ruffles towards the front of the shell. Specimen around 2inches in length.
Moved relatively quickly along the seafloor.

Beautiful metallic blue nudibranch found floating in the shallows by rockpools. Long slender body with small blunt head. Two large ‘forelegs’, two smaller ‘hindlegs’ and two ‘tailfins’, shaped like large many fingered hands, spread out from the body. Beautiful metallic blues ranging from silvery cornflower blue to deep primary blue. Long thin pointed tail.
Specimen was able to use limbs to deliberately cling to rock surfaces when the tide went out.
Specimen around 1.5 inches in length.

Very small cicada found on a she-oak spray. Specimen around 1inch in length from snout to vent. Large transparent wings folded along the sides of the body. Head, thorax and abdomen in patterns of assorted browns. Large brown eyes, abdomen in black/yellow bands.

Very cool caterpillar found with its siblings on a small tree. Large impressive four horned head in pale green, with light blue tips on each horn. Body is deep green with minimal black/yellow stripe, with singular yellow stripe running along both sides of the body from head to vent. Slight bluish tinting near these yellow stripes. Vent area is in a pronounced pointed square end. Whole body is textured with tiny tubercles, making the specimen appear almost ‘sugar coated’.
Each specimen between 1.5-2 inches in length.

Octopod found in rock pool. Decent size, about the size of a large orange when curled up.
Mottled purpley red tentacles with white suckers, surface of tentacles and body being a changing assortment of browns, yellows, reds, blacks, etc.
white eyes with horizontal pupils in neat straight lines.
Very personable and curious, examined my hands and accepted a gift of shredded chicken.

Large frog found in freshwater creek. Horizontal pupils, and no toe discs. Small pointed head with small eyes on a large body. Mottled dark brown colouration with symmetrical raised tubercles on the skin running along the back. Inside of the thigh shows bright reddish/orange colouration.
Call is short and spaced, sounding similar to someone non-verbally disagreeing with something.

Large frog found in standing water (pond).
Presumed male due to mating call, a single loud ‘TOK’ like two pieces of wood struck together.
Thick muscular forelegs for amplexus grasping, with no discs on the toes. Round body with sharply pointed snout and horizontal pupils.
Body coloured in assorted browns with a cream stomach, with dark brown striped running horizontally down the body from the eyes and snout. A single bright cream stripe running down the centre of the back from snout to cloaca.
Frog size a little bigger than a golf ball.
Very difficult to capture/photograph.

Gorjeous brushtail possum on a telegraph cable. Better photos not possible due to lighting and camera quality unfortunately.
Adult specimen, possibly female due to lack of obvious testicles. Large thick black bushy tail, pink nose and feet, black rimmed brown eyes. Soft grey topcoat with cream/yellow underbelly.
A second possum was heard nearby making a territorial hiss.

Young male echidna found in the hollow of a burnt out eucalyptus tree. Found covered in large ticks and in lethargic condition, was promptly taken to local wildlife carers where we were able to remove the ticks and ensure safe release back into its local habitat.
Belly fur was soft and bristly, like the underside of a dog.

Small black beetle approx 0.7 cm in length. Very round rigid body with prominent singular horns protruding from the top of the thorax and head. Spiked, hooked feet, frilled antennae and a penchant for rolling in a ball and playing dead.
Found feeding on a bushveld bolete fungi

Extremely bright orange/red bolete fungi. Light yellow porous gills and thick orange stem, growing around 1.5 inches from the soil. Cap diameter roughly 2inches, smooth and shiny. could easily be mistaken for a discarded orange. No obvious odour.

Small orange, black and red insects around 1cm in length. Elongated body/wings and long white tipped antennae. Wings are orange/black, thorax black, with the head being bright red. Found in a clustered group, possibly newly hatched.
Appeared non aggressive and somewhat shy.

Large ornately patterned moths in an array of browns, with large eye spots and thin antennae. Found clustered with others of the same species in their hundreds, adorning the walls of shallow caves.
Very sensitive to light, as they took flight the moment a torch was shone on them.

Large reddish sea urchin with hundreds of short, heavily clustered spines. Spines were able to be moved independently. Roughly the size of a decent orange. Found in a Rockpool, clinging to the rock surface.

Beautiful juvenile hibiscus harlequin bugs on their mother tree. Each ranging from around 1cm in length or smaller. Found clustered in small groups. Colours ranged from blue, teal, red, royal purple, magenta, green, orange, all iridescent and shiny.

*please excuse photo quality. Specimen was found accidentally without a proper camera.
Very small member of the peacock jumping spiders. Coloured in deep red with bright neon blue and cyan, with an elongated abdomen. Third legs (second from the back) are elongated, dark coloured with white tips for waving and signalling others of its kind.
Specimen moved with quick darting motions typical of a jumping spider.
The entirety of the spider would comfortably sit on the eraser end of a pencil.

Huge green and white patterned caterpillars with spiked tubercles covering the length of the body. Roughly 3 inches in length, with smaller brown/white juvenile caterpillars of the same species nearby. When touched, the green caterpillars inflated red horn-like protrusions from their head that emit an unpleasant odour.
All were found on an unidentified citrus tree.

A nice average sized cicada on a macadamia tree, singing in sync with several others of the same kind. Singing pattern was specific and repetitive, 5-6 short bursts punctuated by several seconds of uninterrupted screeching.