Twenty-four 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST December, 1952 
onirii platycarpum) and native ap- | 
r ico t (Pi 1 1 os po ru m phillyraeoides ) 
occurring west of Port Augusta up 
to the South shores of Lake Tor- 
rens, through the flats between the 
Gawler Ranges right down to 
Ceduna. The blue butterfly Ogyris 
meridionalis (whose larvae feed on 
the mistletoe on the myalls and 
arc conducted up and down by 
ants from the mistletoe to the 
ground) is the commonest insect. 
Also present are the cricket Enda- 
c.usta australis and where the 
formation abuts on the Gawlenan 
the beetle Pen the a picta and the 
mutillid wasp Ephutomorpha rugi- 
c oil is. 
North of Peterborough is a 
similar formation dominated by 
Myoporum platycarpum and a 
dryer aspect of this group, is a 
shrub steppe of Atriplex vesicarum 
and Kochia sedifolia , the largest 
development of this latter being 
the Nullarbor Plain. None of the 
plants appear to be very rich in 
insects, saltbushes and blue bushes 
being particularly disappointing. 
Clay Soil Formations. Where few 
stones are present these support 
very few insects, but where stones 
become more plentiful, insects also 
increase in numbers. As mentioned 
before, black oak can occur on 
this formation as can mulga 
(parts of the Flinders Ranges, 
North Tent Hill) each with their 
attendant insects. In other parts of 
the Flinders Ranges communities 
of Cassia eremophila, Bullock 
Bush (Heterodendron oleifolium ), 
native pine, etc. occur. The forma- 
tion of gums and native pines in- 
side and just outside of Wilpena 
Pound is a northern extension of 
a higher rainfall formation than 
those which we are discussing. 
Both in these and the loam forma- 
tions the bug Leptocorisa mitellus 
and the butterfly Precis villida are 
fairly common. 
Stony and Sheet-rock Formations. 
These are best treated together as 
they are usually present together, 
the sheet rock needless to say being 
the more sterile. Beneath the stones 
are to be found quite an assemb- 
lage of ants, Cubicorrhynchus 
beetles, etc. The Ankamookan is 
developed on and between certain 
quartzite plateaux particularly 
along the western shores of Lake 
Torrens and on isolated areas near 
Lake McFarlane, and varies from 
a ’most bare stony gibber plains 
to Atriplex vesicarum steppe (par- 
ticularly on top of the hills). (Fig. 
o- 
A he Gawlerian is developed on 
the granite domes of the Gawler 
Ranges comprising stunted mallees, 
Triodia sp., steel bush (Acacia 
tarculensis) etc. The porcupine 
grass here is very rich in insects 
(and lizards), which can easily be 
obtained by burning the clumps 
of this grass. Insects present include 
the cockroaches Zonioploca alula - 
cea, Anarnesia punctata and 
Platyzosteria zebra. 
In some stony formations in the 
Flinders Ranges (e.g. near the 
Leigh Greek reservoir at Aroona 
Springs) porcupine grass (Triodia 
sp.) is also very common, but does 
not yield much of interest. 
The Wilpenan , an association of 
stunted mallees, Dodonaea spp., 
Casuarina distyla, Xanthorrhoea 
quadrangulata and Triodia sp. 
developed on the Mountains of the 
Wilpena Pound and perhaps in 
part on the Eastern face of Mt. 
Remarkable, and other formations 
of similar nature on Elders Range 
and the ‘highest hills near Quorn, 
are partly semiarid and partly 
derived from wetter elements, sup- 
porting in the main a few Collem- 
