Australia (Queensland) - 2006
Australia (Queensland): 7
weeks (7 July–August 27, 2005), funded by the
NSF Spider AToL project and by the Richard Lounsbery
Foundation. Lionel Monod (AMNH & CUNY) flew to
Cairns, Queensland, hired a 4x4 and drove more than
7,000 km through eastern Queensland. The aim of this
field trip was mainly to collect scorpions of the
genus Liocheles that inhabit tropical humid
ecosystems. The trip started in Wet Tropics
rainforests, north of Cairns. Atherton Tablelands,
Daintree National Park and the Cooktown area were
extensively investigated and some very remote
localities were attained after long and strenuous
hikes. Bad conditions of unsealed roads due to 3 weeks
of intense rain made the journey difficult and some
places could not be reached. Then Monod’s route
proceeded from the coastal moist ecosystems to the dry
savannahs of the inland outback, then to the
rainforests of the Bellenden Ker Range/Mission Beach
region. Little collecting was possible in this area
because the forests were still badly damaged after
Larry, a category 5 cyclone that hit the area on 20
March, 2006. Monod then drove southward along the
coast and surveyed patches of forests from Ingham to
Brisbane. This expedition yielded 296 specimens in 2
arachnid orders (Scorpiones, Amblypygi), 4 families, 4
genera, and approximately 20 species. Key discovery on
the expedition was a new pelophilous Liocheles,
the second known species of the genus to have
burrowing habits.