Linda Reinhold

• BSc (Honours I), BA
• MPhil graduate at James Cook University

Photoluminescence (encompassing both fluorescence and phosphorescence) is the absorption and re-emission of light, usually converting photons from lower to higher wavelengths. Since this phenomenon occurs vividly in some, but not all, mammals, the question emerges of whether fur photoluminescence is optically meaningful for those species that posse...

The sporadic reporting of fluorescent mammal discoveries has led to the trait being considered atypical. However, this perception may be misleading considering that most mammal species have not been examined. Therefore, I made a targeted attempt to assess the scope of fur fluorescence within one bioregion, the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, A...

Museum specimens have been used as a convenient alternative to live or fresh animals in an increasing number of studies on fur photoluminescence. Although effects of chemical preservation on specimens have been noted, they have not been experimentally tested. I used a series of experiments to answer whether fixation and wet preservation, or tanning...

Bright pink-orange-red photoluminescent (fluorescent and/or phosphorescent) fur is being found in an increasing number and diversity of mammal species. With the molecules causing these colours of photoluminescent emission suspected to be mostly photosensitive porphyrins, degradation from light exposure is an unquantified contributor to false negati...

Eastern Tube-nosed Fruit Bats (Nyctimene robinsoni) have distinctive yellowish spots over the dorsal wing surfaces, ears and nostrils. The externally visible spots serve as camouflage when the bats are at rest during the day. When examined with ultraviolet to violet light, these wing spots photoluminesce bright yellow. The wing surfaces of seven ot...

Bright photoluminescence in the fur of mammals has recently raised considerable scientific interest. The fur of many mammal species, including Australian northern long-nosed (Perameles pallescens) and northern brown (Isoodon macrourus) bandicoots, photoluminesces strongly, displaying pink, yellow, blue and/or white colours. We used reversed-phase h...

Pink photoluminescence is activated in the feathers of owls (Strigiformes) and frogmouths (Podargiformes) when exposed to ultraviolet-violet light. This phenomenon has been reported from Western Australia and worldwide, but has not been investigated in tropical northeastern Australia. The gradual degradation of porphyrin luminophores is used to age...

While the photoluminescence of mammal fur is widespread, any potential function based on its optical properties remains speculative. Using paired photoluminescent and non-photoluminescent real-fur rat models in a field experiment, we aimed to test whether nocturnal vertebrates reacted differently to blueish-white photoluminescent fur than to non-ph...

Photoluminescence in the pelage of mammals, a topic that has gained considerable recent research interest, was first documented in the 1700s and reported sporadically in the literature over the last century. The first detailed species accounts were of rabbits and humans, published 111 years ago in 1911. Recent studies have largely overlooked this e...

Eight species of frog in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland were viewed in the field under ultraviolet torchlight. The skin of the frogs variously reflected, absorbed and fluoresced the light. These preliminary observations into the external fluorescence of Australian frogs are of a phenomenon that has been observed in amphibians across Europe...

Wild mammals at a nocturnal feeding station near Lake Eacham in the Wet Tropics were observed variously by the viewing platform lights, by regular torchlight and by 395 nm ultraviolet torchlight. The fluorescence of two species of native rodent, two species of marsupial (one species of possum and one species of glider) is described, as well as furt...

This is an account of 12 nights exploring the phenomenon of fluorescence in the rainforests of Tropical North Queensland. My UV torch lit up at least 14 species of fluorescent mushrooms, and three species of fluorescent marsupials.

Investigating responses to different thermal conditions is important for understanding species with temperature-dependent sex determination, including loggerhead sea turtles. We determined the pivotal temperature for loggerhead turtles from Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia, using constant temperatures in laboratory incubators. Eggs were transp...

My study adds the first data on debris ingestion in sea turtles from Western Australia. I aimed to quantify the incidence of plastic ingestion in opportunistic necropsies of stranded animals. The digestive tracts of 20 sea turtles that stranded at Ningaloo and Shark Bay on the Western Australian mainland coast were examined for presence of plastics...

Two large adult Pseudonja mengdeni were observed in a combat bout on a sandy track amongst coastal dunes in the vicinity of Louisa Bay on Dirk Hartog Island, Western Australia.

We present information on additional species of terrestrial herpetofauna from Koolan Island in the Buccaneer Archipelago in the Kimberley recorded by Ecologia Environment and on Dir k Hartog Island at Shark Bay by the Department of Environment and Conservation during a series of systematic biological surveys. In addition to this and in light of sig...

This guide describes how bats can be identified from the 'echolocation' calls used for navigation. Echolocation calls are high frequency sounds made by the bat to assist with navigation; these are usually beyond the range of human hearing (i.e. ultrasonic). In Australia, as with most other places in the world, only the small insect-eating bat speci...

We investigated the extent of geographic variation in the echolocation calls of five species of microchiropteran Vespadelus in eastern Australia. Bat calls were recorded with Anabat II detectors and computers, and analysed using Analook software. A single call parameter, characteristic frequency (the frequency at the end of the flattest part of the...

To investigate potential geographic variation in the echolocation calls of Gould's Wattled Bat Chalinolobus gouldii, descriptive call parameters were examined from five regions throughout Australia. Analysis of these parameters revealed a number of significant differences between the regions, especially in variables related to frequency. However, d...

This report is part of a series of regional bat call guides produced in response to recommendations made in NPWS (1998). The call descriptions are based on reference calls only. A reference call is a call recorded from a known species of bat (i.e. the individual was identified in-hand on morphology, or was flying out of a known-occupancy roost)....

This identification key makes use of calls recorded using the Anabat bat detection system (Titley Electronics Pty Ltd, Ballina, NSW), and displayed as frequency vs time graphs for the dominant harmonic. The key covers 29 species of bats as well as three taxa not formally described to species, but well recognised by bat biologists (Churchill1998; Du...

Taxonomy of south-east Asian Miniopterus has historically been complicated by morphological overlap and ill-defined geographic variation amongst the constituent taxa. The research presented here partially resolves the systematics of this genus in Australia and Papua New Guinea through the concordant application of multivariate morphometries, allozy...

Specimens of Miniopterus from northern Australia and New Guinea were analysed concordantly by morphometries, mitochondrial DNA sequencing and allozyme electrophoresis. Miniopterus from the Northern Territory are morphologically and phylogenetically distinct from all others examined, and warrant ranking as a full species, M. orianae. Most New Guinea...

After a long and conflicting history of Miniopterus taxonomy, there is still disagreement as to the number of species existing in Australasia. Most specimen identifications have been made on the basis of forearm and tibia lengths, which are inadequate to define taxonomic relationships within this genus. Specimens of Miniopterus from northern Austra...