Articles describing newly-discovered New Zealand species of mayfly, decoding how Frank Worsley navigated the lifeboat James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, explaining how a tiger beetle species from the South Island's West Coast differs from its close relatives, and examining how Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition charted its course during the sunless Antarctic winter.
Records of the Canterbury Museum Volume 32 2018
Records of the Canterbury Museum Volume 32 2018
Tue, 18 Dec 2018
Articles
Two new species of Deleatidium from the central North Island of New Zealand
Terry R Hitchings and Tim R Hitchings
ABSTRACT: Two new species of mayfly, Deleatidium (Deleatidium) crawfordi sp. nov. and Deleatidium (D.) rapidum sp. nov., are described from the North Island of New Zealand. The larval stages of both species are associated with their respective subimagines and adults. Notes on the ecology of both species are included. One species shows adaptation to relatively fast water flows. Neither species has been identified elsewhere in New Zealand. Diagnostic characters of both species are illustrated.
Neocicindela aureata sp. nov. and notes on some congeners (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Cicindelinae)
Peter M Johns
ABSTRACT: Neocicindela aureata sp. nov. is a distinctive tiger beetle from a perched, soggy fen-like habitat within a forested area of the Ngakawau Ecological District near Westport, South Island, New Zealand. Notes on its congeners N. tuberculata, N. spilleri and N. dunedensis are included.
Navigation of the James Caird on the Shackleton Expedition
Lars Bergman, George Huxtable, Bradley R Morris and Robin G Stuart
ABSTRACT: In 1916, Frank A Worsley famously navigated the 22½ foot (6.9 m) James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island on a mission to seek rescue for the other 22 men of the Shackleton Expedition. The 800 nautical mile (1,500 km) journey remains one of history’s most remarkable feats of seamanship in a small boat on treacherous seas. The contents of the original log book of the voyage, housed at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand, have been interpreted. Photographic images of the navigational log book are provided along with a transcription that allows all characters to be read. The numbers appearing in the log have been independently recomputed and the navigation principles and procedures used to obtain them explained in detail.
Navigation of the Shackleton Expedition on the Weddell Sea pack ice
Lars Bergman, Robin G Stuart
ABSTRACT: The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition under the leadership of Sir Ernest Shackleton departed South Georgia bound for the Antarctic on 5 December 1914. On 19 January 1915, their ship, Endurance, became caught in the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and drifted with it until being crushed, sinking on 21 November. While the Expedition remained in the grip of the ice, observations continued to be made for navigational purposes. Being out of sight of land for a long period meant that there was no easy way to rate the chronometers and their drift caused the estimated longitude to become increasingly uncertain. On 24 June a series of observations of lunar occultations of fixed stars was begun as an absolute way of determining Greenwich Mean Time. These, along with other observations, are recorded in the Expedition’s original logbooks that are housed at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand. The logs have been examined and the navigational methods used while on the sea ice are described in detail here. The calculations of a few key pages have been replicated and annotated to act as a glossary to facilitate reading the other entries.
Records of the Canterbury Museum Volume 32 2018
The full volume of Records of the Canterbury Museum 32.