Queensland Museum

Cataxia on the edge: range contraction of endemic montane mygalomorph spiders in a biodiversity hotspot

Context Large shifts in species distributions are projected under future climate scenarios, yet long-term empirical evidence remains scarce, particularly for invertebrates. Aims We quantified changes in occupancy, abundance, and population structure over 22 years for four short-r...

A revision of the Australian leafcutter bees, previously placed in Megachile (Eutricharaea) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), with descriptions of seven new species

The species in the subgenus Eutricharaea Thompson, 1872 (genus Megachile) construct brood cells from pieces of leaves or petals cut from a diverse array of plants. Commonly bees in this group are called ’leafcutter bees’. The Australian species, as previously placed in Eutrichara...

Carnivorous marsupials as model systems: four decades of ecological insights from Chris Dickman’s dasyurid research

Australia’s dasyurid marsupials comprise an ecologically diverse radiation of predators whose variation in body size, habitat use, diet and life-history strategies has made them powerful model systems for ecological research. Over more than four decades, Chris Dickman used dasyur...

From icon to afterthought? Evidence for a potential regional decline in the frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii) in south-east Queensland

The frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingii) reaches its southern distributional limit in south-east Queensland (SEQ), where its status remains poorly documented. We integrated occurrence records, iNaturalist data, targeted field surveys, and habitat-loss analyses to assess its reg...

Conserving Australian lizards and snakes: an update on progress since 2017

The Action Plan for Australian Lizards and Snakes 2017 summarised results from the first comprehensive assessment of the Australian squamate fauna by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), updating a more precursory assessment in 1993. This review outlines the...