Exhibition Reviews

Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Massachusetts by Sheila K. HoffmanLocal Cultures Assisting Revitalization: 10 Years Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, National Museum of Ethology (Minpaku), Osaka by Aya TanakaTianjin Museum of Finance, Tianjin by Bai XueVegetation and Universe: The Collection of Flower and Bird Paintings, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Hangzhou by Ni Na Camellia NgThree Kingdoms: Unveiling the Story, Tokyo National Museum and Kyushu National Museum, Japan, and China Millennium Monument, Nanshan Museum, Wuzhong Museum, and Chengdu Wuhou Shrine, People’s Republic of China by Mingyuan JiangTempest, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart by Ashleigh McLarinWonders from the South Australian Museum, South Australian Museum, Adelaide by Sandra KearneyBrett Graham, Tai Moana, Tai Tangata, Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth by Riria Hotere-BarnesThe “Inbetweenness” of the Korean Gallery at the Musée Guimet, Paris by Sumi Kim

Current condition of Bathypogon types (Diptera: Asilidae) described by Frank M. Hull and housed in the South Australian Museum of Natural History with notes on other Bathypogon types

The current condition of the types of Bathypogon, described by Frank M. Hull 1956–1959, are listed. By his own admission, a portion of the material borrowed from the South Australian Museum was destroyed by “pests”. Note is made that the holotype of Bathypogon microdonturus is missing and presumed destroyed. Additions are made to the published data based on data on the Type specimen labels. Photos of the hypandrium of some Bathypogon holotypes that reside in the SA Museum collection are provided.

Novapus bifidus Carne, 1957, a primary homonym and synonym of Novapus bifidus Lea, 1910 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae)

In his landmark revision of the Australian Dynastinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Phil Carne (1957) described Novapus bifidus Carne, 1957 from males and females collected at Cape York and Thursday Island. The type series is in the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia (ANIC); the Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom; the South Australian Museum, Adelaide, Australia (SAM); and the Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. He noted “In the collections of the South Australian Museum there are specimens designated as types of bifidus Lea. No description of this species has been published, and it is now described under the same specific name”. One of his paratypes is a female in SAM identified as “Lea’s unpublished ♀ type” and two other paratypes are males in SAM. Cassis & Weir (1992) noted that one of the SAM specimens has the registration number I4268, although they knew of only two paratypes (one male, one female) in that collection. The name has been attributed to Carne by most subsequent authors (Endrődi 1974, 1985; Carne & Allsopp 1987; Cassis & Weir 1992; Dechambre 2005; Atlas of Living Australia 2018.). Krajcik (2005, 2012) listed it in his scarab checklists but as “bifidus? Carne 1957”.

Synonymy in the genus Trichotrombidium (Acari: Microtrombidiidae)

In this paper, we give new metric data of the T. muscarum lectotype and paralectotypes deposited in the South Australian Museum (SAM). T. rafieiae Saboori, 2002 was synonymized with T. muscarum.

Seven new species of cestode parasites (Neodermata, Platyhelminthes) from Australian birds

Cestodes (Platyhelminthes) from Australian birds from the South Australian Museum collections were studied with a focus on common endemic terrestrial hosts. Despite the variable state of preservation of the examined worms, we could identify several new taxa, including Sobolevitaenia whittingtoni sp. nov. and Spiniglans beveridgei sp. nov. (Dilepididae) in Corvus mellori Mathews, 1912 (Corvidae); Notopentorchis musealis sp. nov. (Paruterinidae) in Hirundapus caudacutus (Latham, 1801) (Apodidae); Monopylidium australiense sp. nov. (Dilepididae) in Menura novaehollandiae Latham, 1801 (Menuridae); Dictymetra gerganae sp. nov. (Dilepididae) in Podargus strigoides (Latham, 1802) (Podargidae); Dictymetra longiuncinata sp. nov. in Esacus magnirostris (Vieillot, 1818) (Burhinidae) and Cracticotaenia adelaidae sp. nov. (Metadilepididae) in Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1801) (Artamidae) and Corcorax melanorhamphos (Vieillot, 1817) (Corcoracidae). Several other presumably new taxa that cannot be fully described are also reported. This diversity found in common hosts suggests the presence of a rich, and presently almost completely unknown, fauna of cestode parasites in Australian birds. As field collection permits allowing to explore this fauna are extremely difficult to obtain, this is a demonstration of the usefulness of museum collections to describe at least part of it.

Some Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) from the Great Australian Bight in the collection of the South Australian Museum

This report adds to knowledge of the shelf hydroid fauna of the Great Australian Bight. Hydroids were collected by the South Australian Museum and Department of Primary Industries of South Australia (PIRSA). Well known species are annotated, poorly known species are redescribed and four new species are described.

The Postcolonial Eye

The first chapter of Alison Ravenscroft’s The Postcolonial Eye: White Australian Desire and the Visual Field of Race begins with a description of a photograph, property of the South Australian Museum, series AA346. This photograph is one of thousands taken during the Board for Anthropological Research’s Harvard and Adelaide Universities’ 1938 expedition. In it, two Murri girls stare at us, one with a shaved head, the other wearing a card marked ‘N1474’. What we see in this photograph, the violence of colonial history, is striking, but equally (perhaps more) striking, Ravenscroft suggests, is what we fail to see. “Who were these girls and what happened to them after the camera closed its eye and the photographer turned away?” she asks (7). Although we can see signs of colonial subject formation—exemplified by the name ‘N1474’—no matter how closely we look, we cannot see the girls’ fate, nor the fate of the researcher behind the camera, the one “who looked upon an image from which he excluded himself but in which he was implicated nevertheless” (7). Furthermore, “How [are we] to bring such a scene into writing?” Ravenscroft asks, implicating herself (as well as us, as readers of cultural studies and co-viewers of this photograph) in the categorical violence perpetrated by the invisible photographer (7).

Australasian Nature Photography 10

The bioregion of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea possesses a unique natural heritage stretching back over 80 million years since the break-up of the great southern continent of Gondwana. The South Australian Museum and Australian Geographic focus on enhancing a general knowledge of this extraordinary legacy by encouraging photography of the region’s nature and wilderness, and promoting an annual competition to find the Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year. Australasian Nature Photography: ANZANG Tenth Collection presents the finest photographs submitted to the 2013 Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year competition. Each photograph is accompanied by technical information as well as anecdotes about how the picture was taken, which will stimulate yet further interest in the flora and fauna and their conservation in the region.

Australasian Nature Photography 09

The bioregion of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea possesses a unique natural heritage stretching back over 50 million years since the break-up of the great southern continent of Gondwanaland. The South Australian Museum focuses on enhancing a general knowledge of this extraordinary legacy by encouraging photography of the region’s nature and wilderness, and promoting an annual competition to find the Nature Photographer of the Year. Australasian Nature Photography: ANZANG Ninth Collection presents the finest photographs submitted to the competition. Each photograph is accompanied by technical information as well as anecdotes about how the picture was taken, which will stimulate yet further interest in the flora and fauna and their conservation in the region.