CRG 741
Caterpillar: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62929480
CR 38
Moth: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20187432
Found on Ficus thonningii (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20280525) but did not feed before burrowing into soil.
Spade Flower (Hybanthus enneaspermus) Monteseel
Does not appear to be the redlist so indigenous status suspect. Is in Pooley:KZN p408. Could this be H. capenis but I do not have an description of that species?
Found moribund in my cottage and expired within an hour.
Guess who dung it https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123558907
See beetle https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123558915
See plant https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123558909
Guess who dung it https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123558907
The beetle was carrying the seed away. See video https://youtu.be/zRBRN-kgFTE
Pyramid Heath used to occur on western the Cape Flats, in wetlands on Cape Flats Sand Fynbos. As the city expanded its habitat was drained and filled in and built over. The date of extinction is unknown, but is nominally given as 1907. The full extent of its occurrence and its habitat preferences are unknown.
It does not appear to have survived in cultivation, and it now globally extinct.
Very little is known about this species. From Ericas of the Cape Peninsula (37):
Diagnostic for ID: four, cone-shaped flowers at ends of numerous side branches; the corolla is finely hairy under a lens.
Shrubs were erect, 0.5-1m tall, with fine 4-nate leaves.
Corolla was 7-10mm long, rose-coloured, with the stigma just protruding and the anthers hidden.
Flowering was April to May.
The booklet says it is a Peninsula endemic, but Flora of the Cape Peninsula said it was outside of the Peninsula on the western Cape Flats. It was recorded from Black River to Muizenberg, which is effectively the entire length of the southern suburbs - very similar to Erica verticillata in extent.
From the old collections this species had extremely floriferous plants (which makes it weird that it has not survived in cultivation!).
It was exterminated by housing, farming, exotics such as wattles and Kikuyu grass, and perhaps collecting (it was sold at the Adderley Street Flower Market for many years).
The last collection was in 1906 (but see Pillans below as 1907).
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Nothing is known about its pollinators, which were probably insects.
It is a member of the Teenage Heaths (section Ephebus) (or surf here), characterized by their "pubes" - or finely hairy corollas - with parts largely contained within the corolla and small sepals.
From inside a small fig - https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/39877322 - Ficus ingens
https://www.figweb.org/Fig_wasps/Pteromalidae/Otitesellinae/Otitesella/Otitesella_rotunda.htm
Small jelly fungus. Has a short, tiny stipe. Yellow and white seen here.
The Bluebuck (Blaubok, Blue Antelope, Blue Buck), Hippotragus leucophaeus occurred historically in the Ruens until it was hunted out at about 1800.
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It was the Fynbos congenor to the Roan and Sable: smaller than them, but with as long, but slender, horns. Fossils and bushman paintings suggest a wider distribution on the West Coast and into the Drakensberg foothills, with a high abundance during the last glacial.
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First mentioned in 1681, and described in 1776 by Peter Pallas from a specimen at Leiden collected at Swellendam. For a while it was synonomized with the Roan. Only four mounted specimens remain, in Leiden, Stockholm, Vienna and Paris Museums.
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Standing about 1200 mm tall, with horns about 565 mm long. The blue sheen that gave the animal its name is not apparent in skins: the coat was a "fine blue" in living specimens, but faded to "bluish grey, with a mixture of white" on death. The belly and flanks were pale. The forehead was darker than the face, which lacked dark markings typical of the Roan and Sable. Compared to its relatives the ears were short and blunt, but still significantly larger than other buck (and useful for ID of bushman paintings). It lacked a mane. The tail had a dark tuft.
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Based on its relatives it would have been a selective grazer. However, the premolars are longer than typical hinting at perhaps shrubs in the diet. Prevalence of juveniles among fossils has spawned speculation that breeding took place in the west in winter with a summer eastwards migration.
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Source: Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebuck
The note in Wiki: "20 January 1774, Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg recorded a sighting in Tigerhoek, Mpumalanga" is certainly erroneous and is probably the Tierhoek near Riviersonderend in the Western Cape.
Gall on host tree: Eastern Cottonwood
See host tree
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114239830
Large beetle, dead when I found it at Amboseli Bush Camp, near Amboseli National Park, Kimana.
Dead.In a produce scrap bag. Presumably imported with produce and not from local origin.
Coppery-tailed Coucal (Centropus cupreicaudus) near Imatila, Zambezi Region, Namibia.
The beetle was collected by B. Pettersson, September 1979. Deposited in the Biological Museum, Univerity of Lund, Sweden.
Unterschiede zu Androsace alpina:
Blätter von unverzweigten Haaren graugrün
Bildet halbkugelige Polster
Auf Kalk
Differences to Androsace alpina:
Leaves of unbranched hairs grey-green
Forms hemispherical cushions
On lime
This series shows Watshamiella alata watching Sycoscapter cornutus oviposit into a Ficus burkei syconium (fruiting body) for over seven minutes; after the Sycoscapter female departs, the Watshamiella female proceeds to oviposit into the same hole. Compton et al. (2009) described this behaviour for different species of Watshamiella in Uganda and Kenya on Ficus sycomorus and Ficus artocarpoides.
Compton, S.G., Van Noort, S., McLeish, M., Deeble, M. and Stone, V., 2009. Sneaky African fig wasps that oviposit through holes drilled by other species. African Natural History, 5, pp.9-15. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230580629
Hybrid of Vanellus armatus x Vanellus albiceps. Several of these have been noted in the Skukuza area over the years, and some look very different to others.
Crossbreed blacksmith x white-crowned lapwing (Vanellus armatus x albiceps)
This very strange looking lapwing is most likely one of the offspring of a hybrid pair of blacksmith x white-crowned lapwings, which live in the area near Skukuza in Kruger National Park.
See https://www.wildlifeden.com/projects/crossbreed-blacksmith-lapwing/ for photos of a very similar looking bird - maybe the same individual - at about the same location, identified as such by Trevor Hardacker.
In water that had accumulated in cavity in tree trunk. Dune forest.
same water as obs https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/121247375
In water that had accumulated in cavity in tree trunk. Dune forest.
Same water as obs https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/120963467