Eventually we reaehed the main ehamber, sat down and switehed off our torehes. The hidden seerets of 
the eave were slowly revealed. Clusters of shining dots magieally appeared like stars in the blaekness! 
The whole group sat quietly for a long while; either enjoying the speetaele, or trying to eount the 
number of dots! Onee the torehes were turned baek on, the “stars” disappeared and all that we eould see 
was a plain grey roekfaee again. A eloser look revealed a few unexeiting looking brown worms attaehed 
to the surfaee - the glow worm larvae - and their silvery threads of silk hanging down ready to ensnare 
prey. Who would have thought that they were responsible for that magieal light show! 
We retraeed our steps, heading for the sunlight and luneh at the quarry, then a leisurely stroll baek to the 
ears. 
Many thanks to Miehael Driessen for revealing the hidden seerets of the eave! 
Also for information gleaned from - Rail Trails of Tasmania, Family Bushwalks in Tasmania’s Huon 
Valley, and the Ida Bay Railway. 
There is also a fantastie video of glow worms in aetion (glowing, eatehing prey), on Youtube!! Have a 
look!! 
Birds observed 
Superb Lyre-bird, Menura novaehollandiae - two 
juveniles seen foraging and lyre birds heard 
ealling frequently during the walk. 
Sealy thrush, Zoothera dauma 
Grey fantail, Rhipidura fuliginosa 
Yellow-throated honeyeater, Lichenostomus 
flavicollus 
Snail report by Kevin Bonham 
Sundry observations 
Giant springtail (Collembola: Uehidanurinae) 
Argononemertes australiensis, a Nemertean 
proboseis worm, whieh ejeets its proboseis to 
trap small inseets 
Manila ochrophylloides', a golf ball shaped fungus 
Hygrocybe graminicolor, a glutinous green 
fungus 
As noted in the April 2006 bulletin Mystery Creek is one of Tasmania's most important snail loealities, 
so again I stayed on the surfaee. Again 18 speeies were found (again equaling my reeord for most 
speeies at one loeality at one day): 
Caryodes dufresnii 
Prolesophanta sp. "Marriotts" 
P. sp. "Franeistown" 
Tasmaphena sinclairi 
Paralaoma caputspinulae 
P. halli 
Laomavix collisi 
Discocharopa mimosa 
Pernagera kingstonensis 
Dentherona dispar 
Allocharopa legrandi 
A. sp. "Mystery Ck" 
Roblinella curacoae 
Geminoropa sp. "Hastings" 
G. sp. "Moonlight" 
Mulathena fordei 
Thryasona marchianae 
Cystopelta bicolor. 
Invertebrate report by Lynne Forster 
The number of invertebrates listed for this outing is low for three 
reasons. The first is beeause we spent a lot of time in a dark eave. 
Nevertheless by torehlight in the eave we were able to observe 
the Cave spider Hickmania troglodytes (Austroehilidae), a Cave 
harvestman Hickmanoxyomma cavaticum, the exoskeleton of the 
nymph of a eave erieket Micropathus kiernam, and of eourse 
those unforgettable glow-worms Arachnocampa tasmaniensis. 
In the wet selerophyll forest near the eave entranee, rotting wood 
harboured a flightless Coripera deplanata (Tenebrionidae) and a 
nemertean proboseis worm ealled Argononemertes australiensis. 
Of these, Laomavix collisi was the 24th speeies I've reeorded from the area and the only new reeord 
from this trip. I have only seen Geminoropa "Moonlight" alive onee before but this time I found 6 live 
speeimens (5 white and 1 orange!) under one small roek. Allocharopa "Mystery Creek" was diseovered 
in 2002, but I failed to find it again in 2006. It is loeally very eommon in a small area between the 
ereek and quarry. 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club BULLETIN 335 Jul 2009 p7 
