A rare and unusual grasshopper has been found on a crown reserve known locally as the Murrumbateman Village Grassy Woodland that is being managed for environmental protection by Murrumbateman Landcare Group.

Keyacris scurra is the scientific name for Key’s Matchstick Grasshopper – a species listed as endangered under the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016.  Professor Michael Kearney (Uni of Melbourne) visited Murrumbateman last weekend and found groups of the rare grasshopper on the reserve.

Key’s matchstick grasshopper is a small insect with a distinctly elongated body shape and no wings. They are mostly brown in colour but may also be green. Length for males is up to 15mm and females up to 25mm. The grasshopper has an annual lifespan hatching in mid-summer, mature by autumn to mate in early spring before laying eggs in the ground and dying off in late spring.

Natural grasslands and grassy woodlands are the preferred habitat. Most of these ecosystems have been lost since European settlement in Australia and these fragmented and scattered habitats have contributed to the decline of this species.

The Murrumbateman reserve is a critically endangered ecological community a remnant of Box Gum Grassy Woodland containing native grasses where the grasshoppers live and shelter and favourite native food sources - the Common Everlasting Daisy Chrysocephalum apiculatum and Sheep’s burr Acaena ovina. 

Further information can be found at these links:

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/rediscovering-a-lost-species

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/threatenedspecies/determinations/CAMKeysMatchstickGrasshoppe rESPD.pdf

Thanks to Anneliese Caston for contributing this blog.

If you want to see plant growth after the NSW-Victorian fires, check out the link below. The plant photos are extensive and worth a look.

https://southernforestlife.net/happenings/2022/5/9/forest-vegetation-another-year

Just some of the post-fire plant photos included in this fascinating article.

Alison Pouliot is an ecologist, writer and photographer who specialises in fungi. She led a touch, sight and smell fungi learning experience at a Biodiversity Conservation Trust and YAN funded workshop near Murrumbateman on 15 May.

Alison displayed a comprehensive range of fungi which was collected from this region especially for the workshop. (All fresh fungi was disposed of at the end of the workshop because Alison told us that as the fungi deteriorated a bacterial smell is generated thus reducing its role as a smelling experience for future workshops).

There are twelve criteria to assess when attempting to classify fungi as there are a lot of dangerous look alikes to edible fungi. Alison's latest book 'Wild Mushrooming' clearly outlines the common edible species and their dangerous doppelgangers. 

Fungi creates vital underground networks and their presence reflects the health of a site.  So next time you walk through an undisturbed site look out for those small brown, white or yellow or not so small colourful fungi.