Observations by rmccool

Noticed 200+ of these termite alates on the floor and crawling up inside of kitchen window last night in rainy, very warm weather. They appear to have come up through the floorboards. Each one is around 10mm long. I'm keen to know whether they're one of the NZ native termite species or the introduced Australian variety that MPI is looking for?

Growing in a former homestead orchard. This is the closest ID I could find based on the leaves and flowers. In the second photo which is a close up you can see the leaves look similar to Japanese Quince and JQ bushes grow nearby. However the flowers on this shrub look a lot more like white lilac flowers. They smell unpleasant though. ID would be most welcome please.

Lots going on here too and the light was fading fast but I'm focusing on the small black fungi growing on what I think is a fallen kahikatea, the surface of which has been torn apart by kaka, looking for grubs. At the bottom of the photo is one inverted specimen, showing the gills. I'm supposing these are all the same species of fungus but I may be wrong, since there appear to be some variations among this group.

Found growing on underside of same native log as my previous observation, hence the strange growth angle. I'm focusing on the white, gilled specimen in this observation, though there's obviously a lot more going on here... I wonder if the orange specimen is a more mature version of the white one, or is it a different species? Anyone know? Thanks. 🙂