Black-bellied Korhaan

Black-bellied  Korhaan/bustard (Lissotis melanogaster) Gruiformes - Family: Otitidae

It is a well known bird in Africa occurring from Senegal to Ethiopia and extends down to South Africa where it is found in the north eastern parts.

The males do a wonderful and elaborate courtship display in summer, standing on a raised mound of sand, calling and then flying upwards, spreading its wings and floating down again.

The incubating of the babies is done solely by the female and her eggs are laid on the bare ground under a bush or tree.

It generally prefers tall, dense woodland and grassy savanna as well as cultivated pastures, fields, fallow lands and woodland, such as cluster-leaf (Terminalia), Baikaea plurijaga (Zambezi teak), bushwillows (Combretum), Mopane (Colospermum mopane) and miombo (Brachystegia).

Its diet is little known in southern Africa, but elsewhere it is omnivorous, mainly feeding on small invertebrates, such as locusts, grasshoppers and beetles, as well as vegetable matter, such as fruit, seeds and leaves.



They are fairly large standing about 50cm (18”) in height and the female lacks the black breast and markings so is altogether drab looking.

DevilsThorn (Dicerocaryum senecioides)

DevilsThorn (Dicerocaryum senecioides) family Pedaliaceae

If the leaves are rubbed with water between your hands, they form a soapy lather or fresh plant matter crushed in water was formerly used as a soap substitute.

Traditionally they were used as a lubricant during childbirth.

The pod, about 5cm (1/2”) in length with its two spikes are a great way of identifying this plant although when dry, these can penetrate hooves and feet.

Some plants are useful to know about and this is one of them........

Golden Lynx Spider (Oxyopes jacksoni)

Lynx spiders do not make webs but use their silk as a safety line when jumping.

Females suspend their egg sacs from a leaf or branch and guards them till they hatch.

The species Oxyopidae are easily recognized by the spines sticking out of their legs.



This is a very small spider, maybe 4mm and it was not till I had the pictures on the computer that I noticed it was clutching a bug in the last picture.

Dragonflies

We have a very large variety of dragon flies here:


Common Thorn Tail
Red-veined Dropwing

Epaulet Skimmer

Piedspot

Broad Bordered Acraea (Acraea anemosa)

The Broad Bordered Acraea (Acraea anemosa) is a delightful and most colorful butterfly of the Nymphalidae family.

It is widespread in the hot northern areas and its habitat is grassland areas.

Both sexes are similar but different morphs are found in these areas.

It is a large butterfly and can be found the year round.

Ilala Palm (Hyphaene natalensis)

Ilala Palm (Hyphaene natalensis) family Arecaceae

A palm which can grow up to 15m in height and is found at low altitudes in open sandy country. They have a strange bulge halfway up the trunk.

Flowers: sexes separate on different trees.

(Here we go with the pictures coming out sideways again!! WIll they ever fix this problem??? Come on Blogger - get it sorted out!!!!!!!!!!!!!) PLEASE!!!!!!

 The fruits have a thin layer of sweet tasting, ginger-flavoured, spongy pulp and can take up to two years to mature. Elephants and baboons eat the fruit and act as agents for their seed dispersal. When young, it produces a little milk similar to that of coconuts and is relished by the indigenous people.


These palms are widely exploited as a source of wine and many are killed as a result. Local people tap the tree near the growing tip but afterwards the sap hardens as it dries to form a crust over the wound and this must be cut back afterwards before a further supply can be obtained. After three or four weeks of tapping and cutting back the growing-tip will have been entirely removed and the stem inevitably dies.

The wine itself is sweet and only slightly intoxicating and though about 60-70 litres may be obtained from the average tree, this relative innocuous liquor can be distilled to form a highly potent spirit, about two litres are obtained from every 20 litres of wine.

 The hard white kernels of the seeds, closely resembling the commercial “vegetable ivory” of South America, are too small to be of economic importance though they are often used to make trinkets, ornaments or curios.

This is a difficult palm to cultivate: the seeds do not germinate easily and the palms are very slow growing. The massive tap-roots make it almost impossible to transplant the trees once they are established and for these reasons they are rarely seen in gardens.

Prong-tailed Weevil (Bronchus furvus)

Family Curculionidae

These large weevils are very distinctive with their black tubercles.

 They are flightless, ground-dwelling and found throughout SA.

 They have a very long and thick snout about equal in length to their bodies.

In the picture of its underside, you can see where it gets its name from and it shows a nice version of its feet.

They forage on a variety of vegetation.

Giant Legless Skink (Acontias plumbeus) family Scincidae

 

This is the largest of the legless skinks we have.

 Due to all the rain we have had, so many of the areas are clogged with rain and these creatures which live underground and are seldom seen, are now coming out to the surface.

 This Gaint Legless Skink is about 16-18 inches (45cm) in length and extremely thick around the middle. They mostly eat things like mealworms, crickets and even frogs.

 Being a skink, it is completely harmless to anyone. They bear live young and can have up to 14 at a time.

Thanks Johan Marias for the identification.

Cuckoo bee - Coelioxys

Cuckoo Bees ( Coelioxys sp) family Megachilidae

 A female Coelioxys will seek these out and apparently uses its sharp abdomen to pierce the cells of other Megachile species where an egg is then laid in the cell. The egg of the Coelioxys hatches before that of the Megachile and the newly-hatched larva crushes the Megachile egg with its large jaws. The Coelioxys larva can then feed on the contents of the cell. Pupation occurs within a cocoon spun within the host cell where the larva overwinters as a prepupa. The genus Anthophora excavates nest burrows in sandy soil or rotting wood, where they may also become the hosts of Coelioxys larvae.

 As is the case with other cuckoo bees, each species of Coelioxys is a cuckoo (cleptoparasite) only of certain host species. In summer, Coelioxys can be seen on flowers feeding with its long tongue.

Female Coelioxys should be treated with care as they may sting; males are said to emit an unpleasant odour when handled.

Females have a 6 segment, elongated abdomen and the males a 7 segment spiny one.

Cassiopea - Upside-down Jellyfish

They are commonly found in tropical waters and inhibit sandy floors and beds of sea grass.

Their stings, although mild, appear in the form of a red rash-like skin irritation and are notorious for being extremely itchy.