Species not assigned to a family

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Common Shutwing, *Cordulephya pygmaea*, male. © Chris Burwell.

Species not assigned to a family

Summary

Several genera of Australian dragonflies are currently not assigned to a particular family. These include 3 genera in south-east Queensland that do not form a cohesive recognisable group.
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Banded Coral Shrimp, *Stenopus hispidus*. © Queensland Museum, Marissa McNamara.

Cleaner Shrimps & allies

Summary

This interesting group of small benthic decapod crustaceans belongs to the Infraorder Stenopodidea. It includes only six species in two families in Australian waters, with the Banded Coral Shrimp always the most common and conspicuous.
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Co’s Nudibranch, *Goniobranchus coi*. © Queensland Museum, Gary Cranitch.

Nudibranchs

Summary

Nudibranchs (naked-gilled sea-slugs) include some of the most colourful and flamboyant of sea creatures. There are around 3000 valid species in this Molluscan group. Many have bright and elaborate colour patterns as spectacular as those seen in some butterflies.
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Brown Tiger Prawn

Summary

The Brown Tiger Prawn is a large, banded prawn growing to 235 mm in length. It occurs on mud or sandy mud, and is found in northern Australia from Shark Bay, WA, to central NSW.
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Granulated Barnacle, *Tetraclitella purpurascens*. © Queensland Museum, Jeff Wright.

Barnacles

Summary

Barnacles belong to a group of highly specialised crustaceans called the Cirripedia. Barnacles mostly feed on suspended particles in the water by opening the top plates of the shell and protruding their feathery legs (cirri) which trap microorganisms from the water flowing past. Seventy-three barnacle species have so far been found in south-eastern Queensland.
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Faxon’s Shrimp, *Solenocera faxoni*. © Queensland Museum, Neville Coleman.

Prawns & Shrimps

Summary

Prawns and shrimps are an incredibly diverse group, with around 4000 species known from around the world, and about 900 in Australia. While they are primarily marine, they can be found in a variety of environments, ranging from intertidal pools to deep-sea hydrothermal vents; however they also are common in estuaries and fresh water.
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Garden Slater

Summary

The Garden Slater belongs to a group of Crustacea called the Isopoda. Isopods sometimes resemble amphipods, but their bodies tend to be low and flattened rather than high and narrow. They are common in suburban gardens.
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Ring-tailed Gecko, Cyrtodactylus tuberculatus. © Queensland Museum, Bruce Cowell.

Cooktown Ring-tailed Gecko

Summary

The Cooktown Ring-tailed Gecko is found from Cape Melville to Mt Leswell and also on Stanley Island in the Flinders group, north-eastern Queensland. It is primarily an arthropod feeder but will also take small vertebrates (geckos and frogs).
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Red Mud Lobster, *Neaxius glyptocercus*. © Queensland Museum, Bruce Cowell.

Mud & Coral 'Lobsters'

Summary

These are typically clawed, burrow-dwelling animals that seem to be half-shrimp and half-lobster. They belong to the Infraorders Axiidea and Gebiidea, which include 12 families with over 100 species in Australian waters. These crustaceans occur in a wide variety of habitats, from the intertidal zone to the deep sea (2,500 metres or more).
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Red Swampdragon, *Agrionoptera insignis*, male. © Chris Burwell.

Perchers, skimmers, gliders and flutterers

Summary

The Libellulidae range in size from very small to large and have eyes that touch on the top of the head. In males, the hindwing has a rounded base, and A2 of the abdomen has no auricles. Colour varies widely among different species. Males and females of the same species are sometimes very different in appearance. Most species breed in standing waters.
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Purple-mouthed Kookaburra Whelk

Summary

The Purple-mouthed Kookaburra Whelk is so named because of its striking profile resemblance to a perched kookaburra and the purple tinge around the aperture. In reality it is actually a species of triton - Family Cymatiidae. The species is distributed across the Indo-West Pacific.
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Blue-spotted Hawker, *Adversaeschna brevistyla*, male. © Chris Burwell.

Darners, emperors, hawkers, duskhawkers and evening darners

Summary

The Aeshnidae are large to very large, robust and strong-flying dragonflies, with eyes touching at the top of the head. Many species have pale stripes and spots on the thorax and abdomen. Others, especially crepuscular species, are mostly dull-coloured.
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Lamington Spiny Crayfish, *Euastacus sulcatus*. © Queensland Museum, Neville Coleman.

Common Freshwater & Terrestrial Crustaceans of Queensland

Summary

Queensland has a diverse range of freshwater and terrestrial environments, from outback deserts to tropical rainforests. Although crustaceans are primarily a marine group, there are many species of freshwater crayfish and crabs. Desert specialists, such as the remarkable Shield Shrimp, have eggs that can survive many years in the parched desert clay before hatching in their thousands when the rains finally come.
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Banded Helmet

Summary

The Banded Helmet is one of the more common species of the Helmet snail family (Cassidae) and is most often seen washed up as dead shells or shell pieces. It is found in subtropical and tropical Australia.
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Smooth Tusk Shell

Summary

The Smooth Tusk Shell is one of the larger species of scaphopod. Like other tusk shells, it lives embedded in sand and the living animal is rarely seen. It is found Australia-wide.
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Female *Cyrtophora moluccensis* hanging upside-down in its tent-web. © Queensland Museum, Jeff Wright.

Common Garden Spiders

Summary

Spiders are ubiquitous in gardens, houses and urban environments throughout Queensland, and a wide variety of species can easily be found, especially in the eastern tropics and subtropics. The species accounts below highlight some of the more frequently encountered species in Queensland backyards.
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Family Petaluridae, Coastal Petaltail, *Petalura litorea*. © Chris Burwell.

Dragonflies of south-east Queensland

Summary

A total of 77 species of dragonflies have been recorded from south-east Queensland. Of these, 73 species are divided among seven different families. The other four species are currently not assigned to a particular family. South-east Queensland (SEQ) is treated as the area from Noosa Shire south to the Gold Coast and Scenic Rim and west to the Lockyer and Somerset regional councils.
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Pygmy Wisp, *Agriocnemis pygmaea*, male. © Chris Burwell.

Bluetails, riverdamsels, wisps and billabongflies

Summary

The Coenagrionidae range in size from very small to large. In most species, the males are more colourful than the females, their head, thorax and tip of the abdomen often bright blue, red, yellow or orange. These damselflies rest with their wings clasped together. Many species breed in standing waters, but some (e.g. riverdamsels) breed in flowing waters.
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Red-mouthed Banded Whelk

Summary

The Red-mouthed Banded Whelk is a small species of predatory snail that may be found under large rocks and dead coral slabs from intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats to 15 m depth. It occurs in subtropical and tropical Australia.
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Zebra Volute

Summary

The Zebra Volute lives in shallow, usually subtidal sand banks where it seeks out other snails and clams for food. The striped colour pattern on the shell (length to 50mm) gives the species its common name, but there are several other species of Australian volute which likewise have striped shells. It is found from Queensland to New South Wales only.
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223 results. Displaying results 1 - 40.