Animals

  • A scientist wearing gloves examining some feathers with a pair of foreceps and a test tube

    9 Aug 2013

    DNA confirms elusive Night Parrot found

    Work at the Western Australian Museum’s recently acquired DNA laboratory has proved conclusively the Night Parrot – often referred to as the Holy Grail of ornithology – is not extinct.

    Queensland bird enthusiast John Young, who has been searching for the Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis) for nearly 15 years, sent five feathers from a roost site he found within the Lake Eyre Basin to the Museum’s Molecular Systematics Unit for testing, convinced the birds he had been watching were indeed the elusive parrot.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

  • Scientist sitting at a desk near a microscope

    3 Jul 2013

    WA spider scientist wins international award

    The Western Australian Museum’s Head of Terrestrial Zoology, Dr Mark Harvey, has been recognised for his outstanding service to the international arachnological community with the prestigious Pierre Bonnet Award, presented at the International Society of Arachnology’s (ISA) general meeting in Taiwan last week.

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    News
    Niki Comparti

  • Shaggy spined bee female

    10 Apr 2013

    The Shaggy Spined Bee

    This bee belongs in the genus Leioproctus but has yet to be scientifically named and described. It has been given the common name "Shaggy Spined Bee".

    WA Museum research associate Dr Terry Houston has developed a factsheet on this unique bee [PDF 299kb], and a full text version of this document can be found below.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Jewel Beetles from the Museum's insect collection

    3 Jan 2013

    A behind-the-scenes look at our insect collection

    The WA Museum Entomology dry collection includes pinned specimens and microscope slides of mainly Western Australian insect species. There are over 500000 pinned specimens and approximately 1000 microscope slides. Also included in the collection are approximately 800 holotypes (a single specimen expressly designated as the name-bearing “type” by the original author of the species).

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Broad Banded Skink - Eremiascincus richardsonii (Gray, 1845)

    26 Oct 2012

    Skinks of the Perth Region

    To celebrate the release of the brand new iPhone App, Skinks of the Perth Region, we have created this photo gallery which contains a sample of some of the skinks featured in this app.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Attenborough’s goblin spider

    4 Aug 2012

    New species named for Sir David Attenborough

    • New species of spider named in honour of Sir David Attenborough
    • Presentation made to Sir David Attenborough at the WA Museum
    • Prethopalpus attenboroughi is only found on one island in Queensland

    Chief Executive Officer of the WA Museum Alec Coles today announced a new species of spider will be named after eminent naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

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    News
    Western Australian Museum

  • Close-up view of an assassin spider on a branch

    2 Aug 2012

    New discoveries in the world around us

    Discover which new species of creepy crawlies have been found lurking around the State’s South Coast in the next In the Wild West lecture at the Western Australian Museum – Albany on 16 and 17 August.

    ‘New discoveries in the world around us’, presented by WA Museum Head of Terrestrial Zoology Dr Mark Harvey will reveal some of the new species of spiders, reptiles, frogs, scorpions and insects recently found in WA.

    Dr Harvey said the cool climate of the Great Southern region provides a perfect ecosystem for the persistence of many ancient lineages of species.

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    News
    Western Australian Museum

  • A close-up photo of a pseudoscorpion specimen

    9 Jul 2012

    New discovery honours Darwin descendant

    A new species of pseudoscorpion found in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region has been named Synsphyronus christopherdarwini in honour of the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin.

    Western Australian Museum Head of Terrestrial Zoology, Dr Mark Harvey led the arachnid-focused team that discovered the new species.

    “The pseudoscorpion was found during a Bush Blitz expedition to Bush Heritage Australia’s Charles Darwin Reserve, 355km north-east of Perth, which documented plant and animal species” Dr Harvey said.

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    News
    Western Australian Museum

  • Carnaby's Black Cockatoo

    29 Apr 2011

    Cockatoo Care - Carnaby's Cockatoo

    This gallery shows selection of photography of the magnificent Carnaby's Black Cockatoo photographed by Tony Kirkby in the South-West of Western Australia.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

    28 Apr 2011

    Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Gallery

    This gallery shows selection of photography of the magnificent Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo photographed by Tony Kirkby in the South-West of Western Australia.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

  • Baudin's Cockatoo

    12 Apr 2011

    Cockatoo Care - Baudin's Cockatoo

    This gallery shows selection of photography of the magnificent Baudin's Cockatoo photographed by Tony Kirkby in the South-West of Western Australia.

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    Photo Galleries
    Western Australian Museum

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