Large caps around 30mm dia

a mature version of this ...
https://inaturalist.nz/observations/74581124

We have multiple species in this section of Coprinellus and none of them the real C. micaceus.

Interesting -- yes I cropped out the stand of juvenile ones thinking they were a different species. I'll see if I can reverse that.

Thanks lloyd_esler

@nhudson that ID can’t be right this moth was much to small to be that species (I can’t remember exactly but it was definitely no more then 1.5 cms across)

Interesting. Most things identified as this are something else and the species (actually
a group of similar species) is not recorded from NZ. This looks closer to the real thing, but not my group.

Might be kahikatea. Too far south for kauri

Thank you for the comment. What would be the taxonomic criteria I could check to further ascertain the identity of this weevil?

The characters which most readily distinguish these two are:

The pterygia of the rostrum where the antennae are inserted (narrow and linear in A. granulata; wide and scoop-shaped in O. singularis)
The setation of the elytra (erect setae arising from the interstriae in A. granulata, decumbent setae arising from glabrous granules in O. singularis).
The orientation of the rostrum in lateral view (ventrally directed, with the ventral margin forming a right angle in lateral view in A. granulata; anteriorly directed, with the ventral margin being broadly curved in lateral view in O. singularis)

This observation of O. singularis shows the alternative states of these characters rather well.

Great many thanks! In the 70's I had to take the bus to the Biosystematics Institute in Ottawa with vials in my backpack to hope for such a feedback. I'm new to submitting observations in iNaturalist. How do I correct the identification?

If you click on the downward chevron on your identification, a menu will appear with the option "Withdraw".

Alternatively (particularly if through further research you can independently verify it) you can click the "agree" button on my identification. This will make the observation "Research Grade", and therefore eligible for exporting to other databases like GBIF.

I think that iNaturalist has done a great job of democratising this sort of knowledge and facilitating these types of conversations. It's great that you're participating!

Under pine trees, emerging through pine needles.

Thanks! I don't see anywhere whether these are native to NZ ...can you tell me?

https://www.gbif.org/species/2182100

often GBIF or CoL will give an indication of range, but in this case only GBIF gives any clue and shows records (some are iNat ones) on a world map. Given that the map is zoomed to NZ, I think it's fair to say it is only found here!

Thanks Mark. I saw that, and wondered if I was interpreting that map correctly.

This genus is native to, and only found in, New Zealand

Endemic! Wonderful, thanks!

@kiwifergus I am reviewing all my Gahnia Grove obs, improving some by cropping/adding images, and wonder if you are able to add an ID to this one now, with my addition of the first image (just a crop), and all your added experience since 2018?

No... Unfortunately I haven't delved deeply into opiliones yet...

Well thanks anyway Mark

Just to be sure, I am 100% certain of my previous ID of this.

Thank you sclerobunus. And I did not doubt it, just thought it would be nice to see an RG label on it, since there are not many observations of this species. :)

@ggiribet ?

And to clarify my own level of expertise...I was virtually certain this was a spider:)

maybe but it looks a bit odd, especially the one on the right. Mycena interrupta is generally on bare wood and arises from a minute bulb you can see in immature specimens. We would need to see the gills and some sense of scale but there's a chance this is something else, maybe Leucoagaricus.

Second photo plant on ground and probably fallen from bough above.

One way to tell is to rip the leaf in half. Possible for pampas but not for toetoe

Dramatically increasing in distribution and numbers on Russell peninsula.

Can’t tell from that image and most unlikely to be that NZ Veronica (Hebe). I can see Dicranopters and Clidemia and then some shrub in background.

Cool find! How accurate is the location? I had a look and couldn't find the tree.

P. colensoi is sometimes included in P. tenuifolium. P. ten. varies a lot, regionally, some with much smaller leaves than in other regions, and where P. colensoi occurs, the more 'typical' P. tenuifolium with its undulate leaves doesn't usually occur. In other words, it seems that P. colensoi is just one of the regional forms of P. ten.

Man it's going to be a serious problem 😱😱😱 It was thriving in the understory and looked like it is capable of completely dominating it like tree privet does.

I agree, Dave. Even in more temperate climate of Whanganui, S. smithii is a locally abundant weed - with S. paniculatum not too far behind. S. floribundum self-establishes only rarely here and I'm still waiting for someone to prove to me that S. australe self-establishes anywhere.

Narrow, dark green pinnules.

And hairs on rachis.

Thx :) yea I didn't think it was the crimson one, I was surprised to see it wild!

I'll post some pics I have of M. hypericifolia, from a cultivated plant in a local park. Done: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/74566465 . As you say, it has red flowers so might not be what you have. Did you (or can you) collect herbarium specimens? It would be good to get flowers to, though, but a collection of foliage, fruit and a bit of bark would be fine - then perhaps a flowering piece as a separate voucher, whenever.

Thx :) Nah I was travelling and very restricted for room and weight, I only got one sample for Ines - that super cool wild Spanish moss.

Yea it's definitely not hypericifolia the foliage is totally different.

Man it would be hard to get samples of the flowers wouldn't it? They would just fall to bits??

Comparing your plant with my just-posted pics of M. hypericifolia, I think the foliage is very similar. If flowers fall apart when you press material, just spread them between 2 paper tissues and press then anyway. They can then be sent to a herbarium with the main pressed piece(s), perhaps in an envelope so they don't get separated or lost in transit.

NAME
Stenoptilia zophodactyla (Duponchel, 1840)

PARENT
Stenoptilia

DISTRIBUTION
[E=Endemic]
New Zealand

HABITAT
Terrestrial
Herbivore

ASSOCIATED SPECIES
Unknown

APPENDIX: NOMENCLATURE & SYNONYMY
ORIGINAL COMBINATION
SYNONYMY
ORIGINAL COMBINATION
Pterophorus canalis Walker, 1864 ZooBank

REFERENCES
Dugdale, J.S. 1988: Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand, (14) DOI [See p. 134]

NAME
Stenoptilia orites (Meyrick, 1885)

PARENT
Stenoptilia

DISTRIBUTION
[E=Endemic]
New Zealand E

HABITAT
Terrestrial
Herbivore

ASSOCIATED SPECIES
Unknown

APPENDIX: NOMENCLATURE & SYNONYMY
ORIGINAL COMBINATION
Mimaeseoptilus orites Meyrick, 1885 ZooBank
SUBSEQUENT COMBINATION
Stenoptilia orites (Meyrick, 1905)

REFERENCES
Dugdale, J.S. 1988: Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand, (14) DOI [See p. 134; HT male (BMNH) for Mimaeseoptilus orites Meyrick, 1885]

Meyrick, E. 1885: Description of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera, part V. VI. Pyralidina (families Pyralidae, Pterophoridae, Hydrocampidae, and additions to Crambidae.) (Abstract). New Zealand journal of science (Dunedin), 2(7): 346-348. BHL [Original reference for Mimaeseoptilus orites Meyrick, 1885]

HT male (BMNH) for Mimaeseoptilus orites Meyrick, 1885.

What a stunner!

Extraordinarily lovely and very local moth.

The wing patterns are actually rather similar, and I was working on the assumption that it was correctly identified as a crambid, though the antennae did worry me!

caterpillars on Empodisma - a common monocot of southern NZ moss bogs where this diurnal moth lives; lowland to alpine Stewart Island to southern NZ in evocative places such as Seaward Moss, Longwood Range and Ajax Swamp in Catlins. Gorgeous species and locally abundant.

@reinderw i IDed the other as arrayan but can you check both plz? it doenst look quite right in this pic??

Not enough detail, but it looks right...

NAME
Stenoptilia orites (Meyrick, 1885)

PARENT
Stenoptilia

BIOSTATUS
Endemic, present in the wild

DISTRIBUTION
South Island

HABITAT
Terrestrial
Herbivore

ASSOCIATED SPECIES
Brachyglottis bellidioides
Brachyglottis southlandica

LINKS
NZOR
Plant-SyNZ
World Checklist

IDENTIFICATION GUIDE

Check it out @reinderw u landscape artists have got competition 😆

I love that kind of thing!

Uliodon?

Don’t think so but unsure. My son (9) thinks it’s a vagrant

Actually, looking it up you are right. Uliodon it is. :-)

Uliodon it is. Found it online.