ISSN 0496-8026

TANE

NATURAL HISTORY IN AUCKLAND

Volume 29 1983

T A N E Volume 29, 1983 Published by the Auckland University Field Club with the financial assistance of the Auckland University Students' Association, the Departments of Botany, Geology and Zoology, and the Leigh Marine Laboratory of the University of Auckland.

E D I T O R I A L C O M M I T T E E

E D I T O R J . McCallum S E C R E T A R Y / T R E A S U R E R C. S. Gunn

S O U R C E O F A R T I C L E S

Priority is given to articles resulting from Auckland University Field Club scientific camps. However, contributions are welcomed from other students and former members of the Club, particularly those contributing for the first time. Articles should preferably present original research in the natural sciences and archaeology. Al l intending authors should consult the Editor as soon as possible and follow the instructions to authors (inside the rear cover).

R E N N I S O N P R I Z E This prize to the value of $25, made available by Geoffrey Rennison, former Student Chairman of the Auckland University Field Club, is awarded to the author(s) of the undergraduate paper (excluding degree pre-requisites) which is considered the most meritorious of those submitted for publication. The announcement of the award winning papers) is made at the Annual General Meeting of the Club. No application is necessary.

H A Y W A R D K A W E R U A PRIZE

This prize of a book voucher to the value of $40 is offered by Bruce and Glenys Hayward to promote original research at the Field Club scientific station at Kawerua. It is to be awarded annually to the author(s) of the most meritorious student paper based on field work around Kawerua and published in Tane. Conditions of the award can be found under the Announcement on p. viii of Tane 24 (1978).

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Student subscribers (per volume) $6. 00 Other subscribers $9. 00 School Libraries $6. 00 Other Libraries and Institutions $ 11. 00

(surface postage free within New Zealand) Cheques should be made payable to " T A N E . A . U . F. C. Journal". Copies of previous volumes are still available, as are xerox copies of out-of-print volumes. Pricelists are available from the Secretary/Treasurer.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S The Editor wishes to thank those members of the University staff who refereed papers in this volume. The financial assistance of the Auckland University Students' Association, and the Departments of Botany, Geology and Zoology, and the Leigh Marine Laboratory, are gratefully acknowledged. The Editorial Committee wish to thank the Department of Botany for the use of a room as the Tane Office. Special thanks are extended to Barbara Hendry for typesetting.

C O R R E S P O N D E N C E

All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, T A N E , c/o Botany Department, University of Auckland, Private Bag, A U C K L A N D .

T A N E THE JOURNAL OF THE

AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY

FIELD CLUB

Volume 29 11 3

ISSN 0496-8026

Tane Volume 29 is a special issue. It coincides with the Centenary Celebrations of the University of Auckland to which it is meant to contribute. While 100 years of history are being recalled in 1983, Tane reminds us of the natural history of the Auckland region and also of the changes that have occurred.

In this volume some of the authors are established scientists, and this is contrary to the long-standing philosophy about the source of articles for Tane (inside front cover). Colour illustrations have also been used for the first time. Despite these luxuries in this issue, successive volumes will give priority to student articles. University staff who have assisted the editor in planning and preparation of this volume are J . Ogden (Botany), B. A . Foster (Zoology), J . L. Craig (Zoology) and F. I. Dromgoole (Botany).

PRINTED BY WOOLMORE PRINTING LTD.

C O N T E N T S

Foreword. Charles Fleming 1

Prehistoric pa sites of metropolitan Auckland. Bruce W. Hayward 3

Shorebirds of the Miranda coastline. Rod Hay 15

Beetles (Coleoptera) of Auckland. J . Charles Watt 31

Reading a seashore. J . E . Morton & J . R. Walsby 51

Changes to the marine biota of the Auckland harbour. F . I. Dromgoole & B. A . Foster 79

Zonation of sublittoral rocky bottom marine life and its changes from the Outer to Inner Hauraki Gulf, north-eastern New Zealand. Roger V. Grace 97

Forest and scrubland zones of the Waitakere Range, Auckland. A . E . Esler 109

A guide to algae in oxidation ponds in the Auckland district. Vivienne Cassie n 9

Some common fungi of Auckland city. Marie Taylor 133

The scientific reserves of Auckland University. I. General introduction to their history, vegetation, climate and soils. G. M . Thomas & J . Ogden " 143

The scientific reserves of Auckland University. II. Quantitative vegetation studies. John Ogden 163

Butterflies of Auckland. D. R. Cowley & J . M . Cowley 181

Annotated keys to the tree ferns and some of their common epiphytes in the Auckland region. J . E . Braggins 193

Common lichens of Auckland city. Bruce W. Hayward & Glenys C. Hayward 201

Rodents of the greater Auckland region. John L . Craig 215

A review of Field Club research on the northern offshore islands. John McCallum 223

Field Club notes 1982. 247

F O R E W O R D

I joined the Field Club as a "fresher" in March 1934. The annual Noises Islands trip and my first visit to the Swanson cottage set the pattern of many day and weekend trips to islands in the Hauraki Gulf, and to tramping huts in the Waitakeres. Field trips were a valuable extension of class work, but I also pursued my pre-existing interests in collecting molluscs and storm-killed petrels on the beaches; this field work had no recognisable connection with class work in zoology. More important was getting to know fellow students in different year classes, like Laurie Millener and members of the academic staff, especially Miss Joyce Wakelin (now Mrs. G. Bell), Miss (now Dr) Lucy Moore, and the late Mr T. L . Lancaster (later Associate Professor of Botany), L . H . Briggs and occasionally Professor J . A . Bartrum.

After-degree camps were even more exciting, taking us to places like Mayor Island and Whangaparapara on Great Barrier Island. Such camps had been officially discouraged ever since a student had died of exposure on the slopes of Ruapehu a few years earlier. However, in the year that I was secretary of Field Club, we went to Mayor Island for a week, catching the Taneatua Express to Tauranga (overnight) for a launch trip after breakfast. The following year, we chartered a scow to take Field Club to Whangaparapara, viewing the last phase of kauri milling, seeing a gum climber at work, and tramping to Port Fitzroy for a night out before returning. I remember the sleeping bags radiating out from the drying camp fire.

During term, we commonly visited outstanding gardens - Captain Keatley's (who discovered an ornamental Leptospermum) and Professor A. P. W. Thomas's where he bred new daffodils. Field Club also ran winter lectures with either student or visiting speakers, giving us practice in public speaking.

I was always quite confident Field Club would last, and develop. I saw its field station at Kawerua during the Club's 60th jubilee last year. Its highly successful periodical Tane (unique as a regular scientific publication within the University) which students themselves write for and manage, produces good science and educates at the same time. It is a thoroughly worthwhile enterprise. In the Centennial Year of the University of Auckland, Tane carries special articles on identifying selected organisms and communities of the Auckland region, and comments on the changes of a century.

Despite the sprawl of urban Auckland, with all that has been done to the natural environment, the city still has the best part of the Waitakere Ranges preserved in near-natural state, improving yearly through regeneration of its forests. The port has altered the marine scene and subtle effects of pollution and waste disposal extend north of Takapuna, where as a boy I collected molluscs no longer surviving. But Auckland

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suburbia has more tuis than Wellington and no other city can boast several picturesque shag colonies thriving in the estuaries and basins. Residual pockets of bush on the Manukau lowlands harbour the most diverse minute snail communities known anywhere in the world. It behoves us all to work to safeguard our natural environments by increasing representative reserves, recording both native and introduced elements. Some are documented in Tane 1983.

Tane 1983 uses colour illustrations for the first time, a courageous innovation by the editors that can hardly continue, as increased costs would be counter-productive to the objectives of Tane. For this year, however, Tane contributes colour to the University's celebrations and pays homage to the natural history of the district that the University serves.

Charles Fleming, K B E , D. Sc, FRS, FRSNZ, FZS (Hon. ), F G S (Hon. ).

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I N S T R U C T I O N S T O A U T H O R S (please read carefully)

T Y P E S C R I P T — Manuscripts (including tables) should be typed double-spaced on one side only of medium bonded A4 paper, with a left hand margin of at least 3cm. The original copy is required. Al l matter to be printed in italic type (e. g. generic and specific names, not headings) should be underlined. At the first mention of a species, the scientific name should follow the common name in parentheses, e. g. pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa). Papers should be set out following the format of this volume of T A N E . A summary should be supplied with any article longer than two printed T A N E pages (about 900 words) and should provide a concise and clear summary of the basic results or conclusions of the article. The title should be kept as short and non-technical as possible. Al l measurements must be in SI units and dates should be given as 16 December, 1977. For abbreviations and points of grammar, inexperienced authors should consult the "New Zealand Government Printing Office Style Book" Government Printer, Wellington (copies available from the Editor).

T A B L E S — Wherever possible, Tables should be designed to fit upright on the page. They should be numbered consecutively in arabic numerals, and must be referred to in the text. Tables should be typed on separate sheets of paper, with an indication of their position in the left hand margin of the text proper. Units of measurement should be placed in parentheses at the head of the column, not in the body of the Table. Captions should be kept to a minimum, and abbreviations used wherever possible.

F I G U R E S — Illustrations should be numbered in consecutive arabic numerals regardless of whether they are half-tones (photographs) or line drawings (maps, graphs etc. ). A l l figures must be referred to in the text, and should be cited as, e. g. Fig. 1 (with initial capital in the text). Citation of figures from previous publications should have an initial lower case letter. The author's name, an abbreviated title of the paper and the figure number should be pencilled Lightly on the back of each figure. Line drawings should be executed in black ink on high quality white or tracing paper, approximately twice (but no more than three times) the size of a T A N E page (printing area 17. 5 x 11. 5cm). Al l lettering must be neat and clearly legible after reduction to final size. Half-tone illustrations must be of the highest quality, with good contrast. It is preferable that more than one photo make up a page in T A N E . Components of a composite picture should be firmly mounted on white card, and lettered as required e. g. A , B, C etc. Captions for all figures should be typed together at the end of the paper.

S P E C I E S LISTS — Authors should consult the Editor on layout of species lists before typing. Abbreviations should be used to indicate abundance and distribution.

R E F E R E N C E S — In the text, citations are to be by author's name and year, e. g. "(Brown 1970)" or ".... as stated by Brown (1970)". The list of references at the end of the paper is to be arranged in alphabetical order of the authors' surnames. Unpublished work of personal communications are to be acknowledged as such in the text, and not included in the list of references. Map references are to be cited in full in the text, not in the list of references, e. g. N18/345612 (NZMS 1 Sheet N18 Waipoua, 2nd Edition, June 1967). Titles of books are to be given in inverted commas; followed by the Edition, name and location of the Publisher and number of pages. Titles of periodicals should be given in full and underlined, followed by volume (and part) numbers, underlined, and page numbers, not underlined. For arrangement and punctuation of references, see examples in this issue.

O F F P R I N T S — Thirty offprints are supplied free to authors. Additional reprints may be ordered in advance and brought at cost price at the time of publication. R E F E R E E I N G — Authors are requested to have their manuscripts refereed before submitting them to the Editor. The Editor will submit contributions from non-student authors to a confidential referee of the Editor's choice; the Editor also reserves the right to have student's manuscripts refereed. Manuscripts must be in a finished form and completely ready for publication when submitted to the Edtor. The deadline for contributions is 30 April of the year of intended publication. The Editor reserves the right to decline late manuscripts. Manuscripts which do not comply with the above instructions or require extensive alterations as the result of refereeing will be returned to the authors) for correction.