Levels and probable origin of predatory scarring on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in east Australian waters

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia J. Naessig ◽  
Janet M. Lanyon

To investigate the incidence of non-lethal predation in Southern Hemisphere whales, more than 3400 fluke-identification photographs from resight histories of 1436 east Australian humpback whales were examined for evidence of predatory markings. Photographs were obtained from 1984 to 1996 at various locations along the east coast of Australia, from northern Queensland to southern New South Wales. Photographs were classified in terms of the level and type of scarring. The possible predator and whether the markings appeared fresh were also noted. In all, 17% of identified east Australian humpbacks possessed some form of predatory scarring, 57% of which was minor and 43% major. Almost all predatory scarring was consistent with that inflicted by killer whales. Only three whales demonstrated an increase in the level of predatory scarring after their first sightings. Two incidents of fresh scarring were recorded, and one fatal killer whale attack on a humpback whale calf was directly observed. The overall level of predatory scarring found in this study is comparable to those found in studies for Northern Hemisphere humpback whales. The low incidence of adult whales showing their first sign of predatory scarring after their initial sighting, and the small number possessing recent scarring, support the idea that east Australian humpback whales experience most predatory attacks early in life.

1976 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
MM Bryden

A description of a young pygmy killer whale calf stranded just south of the Queensland-New South Wales border is given, including external morphology data and detailed osteological observations. This is the first record of a stranding or sighting of the genus Feresa in Australian waters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Victor Chiruta ◽  
Robert Renshaw

In the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, the prosecution in criminal proceedings is seeking deterrence punishment for offenders manufacturing 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) from the precursor helional via the ‘Two Dogs’ method (TDM). The reason given by the prosecution is a presumption that the TDM does not use any unrestricted chemicals in the synthesis of MDA. A comprehensive literature search was conducted. The relevant law was searched to fact-check the assertion of the prosecution. It was found that the prosecution was incorrect. Intermediate precursors of the TDM are restricted in NSW. However, the starting precursor helional remains unscheduled in NSW, yet helional is scheduled in some other Australian States. The prosecution’s position may play a significant factor in the sentencing proceedings of offenders. Therefore, as a matter of urgency, the prosecution must review and update its position and its submissions, keeping with the factual position in relation to the legal provisions of precursors used in the TDM.


1980 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 475 ◽  
Author(s):  
PS Ward

The Rhytidoponera impressa group is revised on the basis of worker ant morphology, supplemented by information from ecological and genetic studies. Five species are recognized, all of which occur in mesic habitats along the east coast of Australia: chalybaea Emery (New South Wales, southern Queensland), confusa, sp. nov. (Victoria, New South Wales, southern Queensland) enigmatica sp. nov. (Sydney region, N.S.W.),impressa Mayr (Queensland) and purpurea Emery (north Queensland, New Guinea). R. purpurea is the most distinct morphologically. Of the remaining species, chalybaea and confusa are exceedingly similar and in some localities can be unequivocably distinguished only on the basis of electrophoretic (allozyme) differences. Biogeographical relationships of the impressa group are discussed in relation to past climatic and vegetational changes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Dowling ◽  
Anthony Morgan

The criminal mobility of outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) members presents a significant challenge to Australian governments and police. Examining patterns of mobility can help to better understand the opportunity structures that underpin offending by OMCGs and to drive national collaborative responses to these gangs. This study examines the prevalence and patterns of criminal mobility in a sample of almost 4,000 OMCG members in more than 400 chapters. Around one in 10 members showed evidence of criminal mobility over the long term, while more than one-third of chapters comprised criminally mobile members. Criminally mobile gang members were heavily concentrated in a small number of chapters. Patterns of criminal mobility primarily involve movements into east coast jurisdictions. New South Wales and Queensland emerged as the most common destinations for criminally mobile OMCG members.


1970 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-67
Author(s):  
Virginia Macleod

Warriewood is on Sydney's northern beaches, between Mona Vale and North Narrabeen, in the Pittwater local government area.This was once a 'wet' part of the coast. Lagoons and swamps were typical of the northern beaches and east coast of New South Wales. Narrabeen Creek flows through the middle of Warriewood, and Mullet Creek marks its southern boundary. Early nineteenth-century maps mark most of the land between the south-east corner of Pittwater across to Mona Vale Beach and south, including Warriewood Valley, as swamp. The local Guringai Aboriginal people would have found these swamps rich in food supplies – fish, birds, plants and naturally fresh water.


2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shirley D. Saunders

Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane's legacy to colonial science derives from his initiative in establishing a privately owned observatory in the southern hemisphere, the Parramatta Observatory, during his term as Governor of the Colony of New South Wales from 1822 to 1825. In this paper a discussion is given of the origin and setting up of Brisbane's Parramatta Observatory, including the recruitment and employment of Carl Rümker and James Dunlop. An account is given of the choice of the work undertaken at Parramatta Observatory when it was privately owned by Brisbane such as the rediscovery of Encke's Comet in 1822, the publication of a catalogue of 7,385 southern stars in 1835 and measurements of earthly phenomena such as the weather, the temperature of the interior of the Earth and the figure of the Earth. An investigation is made of the ensuing struggles as the Parramatta Observatory moved from a private, gentlemanly endeavour to a more accountable public-sector institution in a distant colony of Britain. The main events concerning the public Parramatta Observatory are chronicled from 1826 to 1830 during the years when Rümker worked at the Observatory. A discussion is given of the period 1831 to 1848 at the Parramatta Observatory during Dunlop's term of public office, concluding with an account of the decay and demolition of the observatory.


1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 331 ◽  
Author(s):  
AG Miskiewicz ◽  
BD Bruce ◽  
P Dixon

The distribution of tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) larvae is described on the basis of the results of four plankton surveys undertaken in northern and central New South Wales (NSW) coastal waters. These comprised a single survey during May 1989 along the northern NSW coast and multiple surveys in January, March and May 1983 between Sydney and Brisbane. Pomatomus saltatrix larvae occurred throughout the survey period, with the highest abundances on the northern NSW coast. Most larvae were caught in mid and outer continental shelf waters at water temperatures of ≥22�C. The only known spawning locality for P. saltatrix is in the vicinity of Fraser Island in southern Queensland from August to October. The occurrence of larvae along the NSW coast from January to May indicates that the spawning season of P. saltatrix is more extensive than previously reported and that spawning occurs along the east coast of Australia in localities other than Fraser Island. Further surveys of larvae in southern Queensland and northern NSW waters, especially from August to December, are required to determine if P. saltatrix has one extended or two discrete spawning seasons along the eastern coast of Australia.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2048 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
LARS HENDRICH ◽  
CHRIS H. S. WATTS

The present paper treats with the enigmatic Australian predaceous water beetle genus Carabhydrus Watts, 1978 (Dytiscidae, Hydroporinae, Hydroporini) which—except C. stephanieae Watts, Hancock & Leys, 2007—is distributed in forest streams and rivers along the Great Dividing Range of the East Coast and the mountain ranges of SE Australia and Tasmania. The largest species of the genus, Carabhydrus innae sp.n. from southern Victoria and New South Wales, and the smallest, C. storeyi sp.n. from north-eastern Queensland, C. janmillerae sp.n. from south-eastern and C. turaki sp.n. from north-eastern New South Wales are described as new. All species, except C. mubboonus Larson & Storey, 1994, C. niger Watts, 1978 and C. andreas Zwick, 1981, are very rarely collected and mainly known from a few specimens from their type localities. The adults of most species can be found under pebbles and stones and among roots at the edge of running waters, only C. stephanieae has been described from ground water. A key to the ten described species of Carabhydrus is presented, and their distribution and habitats are briefly illustrated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (7) ◽  
pp. 1023-1030
Author(s):  
Phil R. Bell ◽  
Russell D. C. Bicknell ◽  
Elizabeth T. Smith

AbstractFossil crayfish are typically rare, worldwide. In Australia, the strictly Southern Hemisphere clade Parastacidae, while ubiquitous in modern freshwater systems, is known only from sparse fossil occurrences from the Aptian–Albian of Victoria. We expand this record to the Cenomanian of northern New South Wales, where opalized bio-gastroliths (temporary calcium storage bodies found in the foregut of pre-moult crayfish) form a significant proportion of the fauna of the Griman Creek Formation. Crayfish bio-gastroliths are exceedingly rare in the fossil record but here form a remarkable supplementary record for crayfish, whose body and trace fossils are otherwise unknown from the Griman Creek Formation. The new specimens indicate that parastacid crayfish were widespread in eastern Australia by middle Cretaceous time, occupying a variety of freshwater ecosystems from the Australian–Antarctic rift valley in the south, to the near-coastal floodplains surrounding the epeiric Eromanga Sea further to the north.


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