sallyslak's Favorites

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

See her swinging her bolas: https://youtu.be/DKMrKwTNV5k

Some more wonderful photos of this lady by photographers much better then moi. She is quite a celebrity!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/101951926508391/permalink/4394361263934081/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/101951926508391/permalink/4397220953648112/

First known wild observations and discovery of natural fluorescent in an old world mammal or any mammal outside of North and Central America, images of the Springhare taken in August 2019. Incredible to see it’s orange and pink glow firsthand, especially when it wasn’t expected! Accidental discovery whilst out photographing scorpions under UV light

Shot using a Nikon D850 Handheld with a Nitecore Chameleon C6 ( 365nm ) torch.

For anyone interested in February 2020 a Scientific journal was released by a American research group ( no relation to me ) about this UV trait and science behind it from research in museum & zoo specimens in the US.

There are a few more images, but you might be able to imagine photographing a rather skittish nocturnal creature on foot with a UV torch in one hand and a large DSLR in the other during a unexpected encounter whilst also trying to expose a camera correctly for UV light isn’t the easiest thing to do the split second.

Update:
I found several of these at Cedar Bog again this year. The last one might be Hexatoma brevicornis, so if you have expertise, please D.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420801
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420799
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/172420798
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/175243975

Note: I have photographed this Hexatomini at Cedar Bog in Champaign County, Ohio for at least 17 years. Always in the same area.
I've added two other observations; one from back in 2004.
Links to those observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/88273567
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/84762884
Here's an observation this year (2022) with better pics of wing venation. Same location.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124010854

Redthread Heath

Another lithophyte.

How these species get their seeds into these minute cracks amazes me more than how they manage to survive in cracks that are almost invisible all through summer.

Aspalathus - Gordon^s Bay

It's from the same location as this one (I didn't see flowers) http://www.ispot.org.za/node/260003 but I just had to post these fascinating leaves. I love the name stekeltee which I saw in another post. Does anyone know if it can be used for tea or is it called tea just because it is aspalathus?

Hesperantha flava

very poorly known species, with only 3 or 4 records, from Steinkopf to Matjiesfontein; fairly common, but very local, on thin shale rock sheets; plants to 5cm tall; fls only open half and hour before sunset and remain open all night; extremely sweetly scented; no evident threats, although a large wind farm is proposed for this property

We had just returned from the coast and stopped to watch a brown hyena high on the hillside. It made its way down to the 2 cars, inspected them and then decided that under a car was a good place for a nap. Quite a memorable encounter. The guides thought it might be a young animal.

This is the Outramps CREW 100,000 obs and we celebrated it with Tilla who is the Head of the Threatened Plants Programme and the CREW Programme. It represents our involvement with plant monitoring from 1992 to 2021. It has been a joyous ride. So thank you all for so many years of fun, laughs and learning. Keep going!

Scyrotis - Jumping Bean Moth

Little "jumping-bean" - about 5mm long by 3mm wide - jumping really high and far. Under Searsia lucida (although did not realise the significance of that at the time). Remember seeing these as children and knowing that they contained larvae but did not know the whole story till today - while looking for galls on Searsia for a different observation entirely. Have a look at the Biodiversity Explorer information: http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/lepidoptera/cecidosidae/scyrotis_athleta.htm

Am now going to keep a really keen lookout for "green" galls and monitor the full cycle if possible :D

A movement on the road caught my eye and on approaching was thinking of either something had caught a chameleon or it was injured and thrashing about in death throes. They were absolutely still after this flurry of movement, just eyes moving. One brief flurry again, followed by another long period of almost absolute motionless, another brief flurry and they parted. Never seen one as pitch black as the female, marking around the eyes standing out almost as clearly as under UV light. Both returned to more normal colours rapidly after parting, both removed by hand to the relative safety of near by shrubs. Total time actually witnessed 1 hour and 5 minutes, but I believe from others that they started mating some time before that.
Comments of selling price of a breeding pair shocking at R12 000 or there abouts!

Just for interest, added cycad seeds being sorted . Nobody seems to know who brought them in or where they came from, but many of the seeds have similar holes, similarly empty. None of our cycads have cones now, so thinking this beastie came in with the seeds.