The Australasian darter or Australian darter (''Anhinga novaehollandiae'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the darter family,
Anhingidae. It is found in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
, and
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
. It weighs around 2.6 kg and spans in length.
Taxonomy
John Gould
John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...
described the Australasian darter as ''Plotus novaehollandiae'' in 1847. Closely related to
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
(''Anhinga anhinga''),
African (''Anhinga rufa''), and
Oriental
The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world.
In English, it is largely a meto ...
(''Anhinga melanogaster'') darters, the Australasian darter has been classed as a subspecies of the African or African plus Oriental darters. All four have also been classed as a single species. Examination of the leg bones indicates the three Old World species are more closely related to each other with the American species more divergent. Genetic analysis showed it differed from ''A. rufa'' to a degree equivalent to that between other separate species, and shifted consensus to treating the Australasian darter as a separate species.
Fossils of the Australasian darter have been recovered from several Pleistocene strata in Australia.
As well as Australasian darter, common names given to the species include darter, diver, needle-beak shag, shag, and snake-bird.
The Noongar people of southwestern Australia call it ''mimal''. Gould also called it the New Holland darter or New Holland devil-bird.
Description
The Australasian darter is a slim bird measuring long with a snakelike slender neck. The male has black plumage with a white streak down the side of its head and neck, while the female has white underparts.
Distribution and habitat
Typical
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
is
freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
or
brackish
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
more than 0.5 m deep with fallen trees or logs and vegetated banks; less commonly, darters are found in inland saltwater environments. The Australasian darter is found in the lowlands of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
,
New Britain
New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
, the
Moluccas
The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
and the
Lesser Sunda Islands
The Lesser Sunda Islands (, , ), now known as Nusa Tenggara Islands (, or "Southeast Islands"), are an archipelago in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of the Lesser Sunda Islands are located within the Wallacea region, except for the Bali pro ...
. It is found across Australia, though not in the
Great Sandy or
Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.
History
In 1875, British-born Australian explore ...
s or
Nullarbor Plain
The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...
.
[ It is an uncommon vagrant to ]Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
.
Feeding
The Australasian darter forages in water, often with only its head and neck exposed. Its feathers soak up water in spaces between them, allowing the bird to reduce its natural buoyancy and swim underwater. It eats a wide variety of fish such as Australian smelt (''Retropinna semoni
The Australian smelt (''Retropinna semoni'') is a small, pelagic silvery freshwater fish found in large numbers in waters of the south eastern Australian mainland.
Distribution
The fish is endemic to Australia and widely distributed through the ...
''), bony bream (''Nematalosa erebi
Bony bream ''Nematalosa erebi'' are a widespread and common, small to medium-sized Australian freshwater fish often found in large shoals throughout much of northern and central Australia, and the Murray-Darling basin.
Description
A deep bodied, ...
''), queensland mouth breeder (''Glossamia aprion
''Glossamia aprion'' is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish from the family Apogonidae, the cardinalfishes, from northern Australia and New Guinea. In Australia, it is commonly known as the mouth almighty.
Description
''G. aprion'' has a cr ...
''), surf bream (''Acanthopagrus australis
''Acanthopagrus australis'', the yellowfin bream, also known as sea bream, surf bream, silver bream or eastern black bream, is a species of marine and freshwater fish of the porgy family, Sparidae. It is a deep-bodied fish, occasionally confused ...
''), spangled perch (''Leiopotherapon unicolor
''Leiopotherapon unicolor'', the spangled grunter or spangled perch is a species of ray-finned fish, a grunter from the family Terapontidae. It is endemic to Australia.
Description
''Leiopotherapon unicolor'' has a slender, oval shaped body whic ...
''), flathead gudgeon (''Philypnodon grandiceps
The flathead gudgeon (''Philypnodon grandiceps'') is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
Gerard Krefft described the flathead gudgeon in 1864 as ''Eleotris grandiceps'', recording it from the Upper H ...
''), and introduced species such as redfin perch (''Perca fluviatilis
The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man's rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the ...
''), goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') and carp (''Cyprinus carpio''). The New Guinea snake-necked turtle
The New Guinea snake-necked turtle (''Chelodina novaeguineae'') is a species of turtle in the family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by ma ...
(''Chelodina novaeguineae'') is a prey item, as are many invertebrates including freshwater shrimp, worms and cephalopods, and insects such as flies, moths, water scavenger beetles (hydrophilidae
Hydrophilidae, also known colloquially as water scavenger beetles, is a family of beetles. Aquatic hydrophilids are notable for their long maxillary palps, which are longer than their antennae. Several of the former subfamilies of Hydrophilidae ...
), water beetles (dytiscidae
The Dytiscidae, from the Ancient Greek word δυτικός (''dystikos''), meaning "able to dive", are the predaceous diving beetles, a family of water beetles. They occur in virtually any freshwater habitat around the world, but a few species l ...
), water boatmen (corixidae
Corixidae is a family of aquatic insects in the order Hemiptera. They are found worldwide in virtually any freshwater habitat and a few species live in saline water. There are about 500 known species worldwide, in 55 genera, including the genus ...
), giant water bugs ('' Diplonychus rusticus''), and backswimmers (notonectidae
Notonectidae is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of aquatic insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly called backswimmers because they swim "upside down" (inverted). They are all predators and typically range from in length. They ...
).
Australian Darter Fishing.jpg, Female bringing fish to shore
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) male with northern saratoga (Scleropages jardinii) Kakadu 2.jpg, Male eating fish
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) male with northern saratoga (Scleropages jardinii) Kakadu 5.jpg, Eating a northern saratoga
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) male with northern saratoga (Scleropages jardinii) Kakadu 9.jpg, Eating a ''Scleropages jardinii''
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) male with northern saratoga (Scleropages jardinii) Kakadu 10.jpg, Yellow Water, Kakadu NP, Northern Territory
Breeding
The Australasian darter breeds throughout its range on or near bodies of fresh or inland salt water. Breeding process will takes place once a year, or twice on rare occasions of two floods in the one year. Breeding takes place in spring (August to October) in southern Australia, during the wet season (January to March/April) in northern Australia, in April in the Trans-Fly region of southern New Guinea, August and September in the Lower Fly and July and November around Port Moresby. The nest is a large, wide dish-shaped structure made of sticks and lined with reeds, leaves and rushes, often located in the branches of a partly submerged tree or tree overhanging water. Darters often build their nests in cormorant colonies, where the nests can be distinguished by their larger size and lack of guano.
Three to five elongated oval eggs are laid, measuring 56 by 34 mm. They are pale blue but covered in a layer of chalky lime, and become progressively scratched and stained over the incubation period.
Gallery
File:Anhinga novaehollandiae - Sorrento.jpg, Immature male
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) young male Daintree.jpg, Young male
Image:Australian Darter.jpg, Male preening
Australasian Darter - Nepean Weir.jpg, Male drying its wings
Australasian darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) female spreading wings Kakadu.jpg, Female drying its wings
Image:Aus Darter flight bowra mar 08.jpg, Female in flight
File:Australasian-Darter-female.jpg, Female
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q781956
Australasian darter
The Australasian darter or Australian darter (''Anhinga novaehollandiae'') is a species of bird in the darter family, Anhingidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It weighs around 2.6 kg and spans in length.
Taxo ...
Birds of Australia
Birds of Oceania
Australasian darter
The Australasian darter or Australian darter (''Anhinga novaehollandiae'') is a species of bird in the darter family, Anhingidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It weighs around 2.6 kg and spans in length.
Taxo ...
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxa named by John Gould