The spinifex pigeon, also known as the plumed-pigeon or gannaway pigeon, is one of four endemic Australian bird species within the genus Geophaps. It occurs within a broader group known as bronzewing pigeons. This species is listed under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List category of "least concern". It most frequently occurs in arid and semi-arid habitats containing hummock-forming grasses of the genera Triodia and Plectrachne.
The Wongai ningaui is a tiny carnivorous marsupial native to the arid open grasslands of inland Australia. Their diet is mainly small insects, and occasionally larger prey such as spiders, grasshoppers and cockroaches, which they forage for at the ground and in clumps of spinifex. They have long and untidy fur, grey or gingery brown with longer black hairs, small ears, a narrow muzzle, and possess a partially prehensile tail and feet that allow them to climb. The population occurs sparsely across a wide area and common in favourable habitat, especially in years of good rainfall. Ningaui ridei was first described in 1975, one of two species of a new genus discovered amongst the poorly known mammals of the western regions of Australia.
Triodia is a large genus of hummock grass endemic to Australia. The species of this genus are known by the common name spinifex, although they are not a part of the coastal genus Spinifex. Many soft-leaved Triodia species were formerly included in the genus Plectrachne. Triodia is known as tjanpi (grass) in central Australia, and have several traditional uses amongst the Aboriginal Australian peoples of the region.
Zygochloa is a genus of desert plants in the grass family known only from Australia. The only known species is Zygochloa paradoxa, commonly known as sandhill canegrass. It occurs in extremely arid areas such as the Simpson Desert.
The southern ningaui is a tiny marsupial carnivore belonging to the Dasyuridae family. Similar in appearance to Ningaui ridei, found throughout central Australia, this species occurs in spinifex on semi-arid sandplains across the southern coast of the continent. The fur is a tawny or greyish olive colour, light grey below, and distinguished by shades of cinnamon. The southern ningaui prefers smaller prey, including insects and spiders, but capable of killing and consuming larger animals such as cockroaches and skinks. Their narrow muzzle is used with quick and fierce bites about the head to despatch their meal. The species was first described in 1983, and placed within the genus Ningaui.
Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include the systematics of the plant families Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae and Violaceae, and the conservation ecology of grassy woodland ecosystems. He also works in biodiversity informatics, developing and teaching the development of interactive multi-access keys, and has been involved in the design of software for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Western pebble-mound mouse or Ngadji is a burrowing and mound building rodent in the family Muridae. They occur in the Pilbara, a remote region in the northwest of Australia.
Western Australia occupies nearly one third of the Australian continent. Due to the size and the isolation of the state, considerable emphasis has been made of these features; it is the second largest administrative territory in the world, after Yakutia in Russia, despite the fact that Australia is only the sixth largest country in the world by area, and no other regional administrative jurisdiction in the world occupies such a high percentage of a continental land mass. It is also the only first level administrative subdivision to occupy the entire continental coastline in one cardinal direction.
The striated grasswren is a small, cryptically coloured ground-dwelling species of wren-like bird in the family Maluridae, endemic to Australia. It occupies a large discontinuous range across arid and semi-arid areas of western, central and southern Australia where it is associated with spinifex (Triodia) grass.
The mallee emu-wren is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia.
Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial plants, most species live more than one season. Tussock grasses are often found as forage in pastures and ornamental grasses in gardens.
Spinifex grass is a name which has been applied to two genera of grasses:
Eucalyptus gamophylla, commonly known as warilu, blue-leaved mallee, twin-leaf mallee, twin-leaved mallee or blue mallee, is a species of mallee that is native to Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. It usually has smooth bark, mostly only juvenile leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flower buds in groups of three, whitish flowers and cylindrical to barrel-shaped fruit that is four-sided in cross-section.
Strophurus elderi, also known commonly as the jewelled gecko, is a terrestrial, nocturnal species of gecko, a lizard in the family Diplodactylidae. Previously classified within the genus Diplodactylus, S. elderi is one of 22 geckos belonging to the genus Strophurus. The species is endemic to the arid regions of central and north-western Australia.
Triodia scariosa, is more commonly known as porcupine grass or spinifex, and belongs to the endemic Australian grass genusTriodia. The species is perennial and evergreen and individuals grow in mounds, called hummocks, that reach up to ~1m in height. The leaves are ~30 cm long, 1mm in diameter, needlepointed and rigid, and its inflorescence is a narrow, loose panicle that forms a flowering stalk up to ~2m in height. The name is derived from Latin; Triodia refers to the three-toothed lobes of the lemma, and scariosa is in reference to the thin, dry glume. The species is common to Mallee (MVG14) and Hummock grassland (MVG20) communities, in arid and semi-arid regions of Australia.
Triodia basedowii, commonly known as lobed spinifex, is a species of tussock-forming grass-like plant found in Australia.
Ischaemum rugosum, also known as saramollagrass, is a flowering plant belonging to the grass family Poaceae in the genus Ischaemum, and is native to tropical and temperate regions of Asia, growing in marshes and other wet habitats. It is a vigorous annual, and is an invasive species in South America and Madagascar. It reaches heights of up to 1 m and is primarily recognized by the ridged surface of its sessile spikelet’s lower glume. Despite its historic importance as fodder in Asia, the grass has become a major weed in mid-latitude rice paddies throughout Asia and South America.
The Hemiergis millewae, commonly known as the Millewa skink or Triodia earless skink, is a species of hemiergis lizards that is endemic to Australia. It is a specialist species, highly dependent on Spinifex for food and shelter, and has only been observed in semi-arid Mallee woodlands of southern and eastern Australia. It is considered endangered throughout parts of its range.
Daviesia arthropoda is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Central Australia. It is a glabrous shrub with widely spreading branches, sharply-pointed, narrowly egg-shaped phyllodes with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers with faint red markings.
T. scintillans may refer to a. The specific epithet scintillans refers to something that sparkles.
