Mt. Kaputar pink slug | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
Order: | Stylommatophora |
Infraorder: | Succineoidei |
Superfamily: | Athoracophoroidea |
Family: | Athoracophoridae |
Subfamily: | Aneitinae |
Genus: | Triboniophorus |
Species: | Triboniophorus sp. nov. 'Kaputar' |
Binomial name | |
Triboniophorus sp. nov. 'Kaputar' | |
Synonyms | |
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Triboniophorus sp. nov. 'Kaputar', also known as Triboniophorus aff. graeffei, or the Mount Kaputar pink slug, is a species of giant air-breathing land slug with a distinctive hot pink hue. These slugs are found on Mount Kaputar in Australia. Taxonomists have confirmed that these slugs are not conspecific with the better-known "red triangle slug", Triboniophorus graeffei .
The slugs have only been found at the top of Mount Kaputar, an inland mountain near Narrabri in northern New South Wales within Mount Kaputar National Park, at an altitude around 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) surrounded by snow gum trees. [2] They have been observed to stay within this area, [2] which is estimated to be 100 square kilometres (40 sq mi). [3] Most of the top of the mountain is designated wilderness. [2] Although the mountain is surrounded by dry plains, it receives rainfall and snow, and its temperature is 10 °C (18 °F) cooler than the plains. [2] Thus it forms an isolated ecozone, or sky island; such sky islands are known for unique indigenous fauna and flora.
Around 90% of the total population of the species are thought to have perished in the 2019 Australian bushfires; [4] the population has seen recovery in several sites. [5]
The slugs can be seen by the hundreds on cool, wet, misty mornings. [2] During the day, they hide in the plant litter at the base of the trees. [2] At night, they come out and climb the tree to eat algae and mosses growing on the tree trunk. [2] The slugs climb down the tree trunk in the early morning to hide and repeat the cycle. [2]
In the ecosystem, the slugs break down the plant litter into nutrient-rich soil to promote plant growth. [2] They also serve as food for birds and other animals. [2]
The slugs are fluorescent pink in color and up to about 20 centimetres (8 in) in length. [2] In an Australian Broadcasting Corporation interview, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service Ranger Michael Murphy described the color: "as bright pink as you can imagine, that's how pink they are". [2]
Triboniophorus sp. nov. 'Kaputar' is related but not identical to Triboniophorus graeffei , the red triangle slug. Taxonomists have confirmed the fluorescent pink species' distinction from the red triangle slug. [3] The slug has relatives in New Guinea, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and eastern Africa. [2] These land masses once connected with Australia as the Gondwanaland supercontinent. [2]
A volcanic eruption at Mount Kaputar 17 million years ago created a high-altitude area where these slugs and other invertebrates and plants have lived isolated for millions of years after the surrounding rainforests of eastern Australia vanished due to climate change. [3]
Eucalyptus is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of Eucalyptus are trees, often mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including Corymbia and Angophora, they are commonly known as eucalypts or "gum trees". Plants in the genus Eucalyptus have bark that is either smooth, fibrous, hard, or stringy and leaves that have oil glands. The sepals and petals are fused to form a "cap" or operculum over the stamens, hence the name from Greek eû ("well") and kaluptós ("covered"). The fruit is a woody capsule commonly referred to as a "gumnut".
The Mount Kaputar National Park is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, surrounding the proximities of Mount Kaputar, a volcano active between 17 and 21 million years ago. It is located 50 km (31 mi) east of Narrabri and 570 km (354 mi) northwest of Sydney. Millions of years of erosion have since carved the volcanic region into the lava terraces, volcanic plugs, and dykes of Nandewar Range. The central feature of the region is Mount Kaputar, the park's namesake, which rises to an altitude of 1,510 m (4,954 ft). The 360 degree view from the summit of the mountain encompasses one-tenth of New South Wales' area or 80,000 square kilometres (31,000 sq mi).
The Royal National Park is a protected national park that is located in Sutherland Shire local government area in the southern portion of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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Mount Kaputar, a mountain with an elevation of 1,489 metres (4,885 ft) above sea level, is located near Narrabri in northern New South Wales. It is part of the Nandewar Range and has been preserved within the Mount Kaputar National Park. The mountain is a prominent landmark for travellers on the Newell Highway as it rises abruptly from the plains. In the cold of winter the mountain may receive a light dusting of snow.
Angophora costata, commonly known as Sydney red gum, rusty gum or smooth-barked apple, is a species of tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. Reaching 30 m (100 ft) in height, the species has distinctive smooth bark that is pinkish or orange-brown when new and fades to grey with age. Its lance-shaped leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, with white or creamy white flowers appearing from October to December. The flower buds are usually arranged in groups of three, followed by ribbed, oval or bell-shaped fruit.
Prostanthera lasianthos, commonly known as the Victorian Christmas bush or coranderrk , is a large shrub or small tree of the mint family, Lamiaceae, which is native to Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania in Australia. It grows up to 10 m (35 ft) high but is usually much less and is found in wet sclerophyll forests, often beside creeks. Its flowers, which appear in profuse sprays, are about 2 cm long and white or pale lilac, with purple and orange blotches in the throat. They appear in late spring and summer, and specifically around Christmas time in Victoria. The fragrant, toothed leaves are 4 to 12 cm long and about 1.5 cm wide.
Syncarpia glomulifera, commonly known as the turpentine tree, or yanderra, is a tree of the family Myrtaceae native to New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, which can reach 60 metres in height. It generally grows on heavier soils. The cream flowers appear in spring and are fused into compound flowerheads.
Picea glehnii, the Sakhalin spruce or Glehn's spruce, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It was named after a Russian botanist, taxonomist, Sakhalin and Amur river regions explorer, geographer and hydrographer Peter von Glehn (1835—1876), the person who was the first to describe this conifer. In Japan people call this tree アカエゾマツ, which means “red spruce”.
Eidothea hardeniana, commonly named nightcap oak, is a species of tree, up to 40 m (130 ft) tall, of the plant family Proteaceae, which botanist Robert Kooyman recognised as a new species only recently in 2002. It is found only in the Nightcap Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. The species has an official listing as critically endangered on the Australian Commonwealth EPBC Act and as Endangered on the NSW Threatened Species Act. The name hardeniana honours the botanist Gwen Harden. Phylogenetics studies now suggest it represents a basal branch of the Proteoid clade of the Proteaceae.
Selenochlamys ysbryda, the ghost slug, is a species of predatory air-breathing land slug. It is a shell-less pulmonate gastropod mollusc in the family Oxychilidae, although when first described it was assumed to be in the Trigonochlamydidae.
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Telopea oreades, commonly known as the Gippsland-, mountain- or Victorian waratah, is a large shrub or small tree in the family Proteaceae. Native to southeastern Australia, it is found in wet sclerophyll forest and rainforest on rich acidic soils high in organic matter. No subspecies are recognised, though a northern isolated population hybridises extensively with the Braidwood waratah (T. mongaensis). Reaching a height of up to 19 metres, T. oreades grows with a single trunk and erect habit. It has dark green leaves with prominent veins that are 11–28 centimetres (4.3–11 in) long and 1.5–6 cm (0.6–2.4 in) wide. The red flower heads, known as inflorescences, appear in late spring. Each is composed of up to 60 individual flowers.
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