Leopard Tiger Beetle (Lophyra)

Family Carabidae Cicindelinae

Small beetles of about 1cm in body length and fly away when you come near.

 They blend in so well with the sand on the beach that they are difficult to spot unless they move.

Spider eating spider

This is very common amongst spiders and a whole lot of predatory insects and bugs. In this case a Jumping Spider eating a Lynx Spider.

Yellow-banded Acraea (Hyalites cabira)

Family Nymphalidae Heliconiinae

These are medium size and the colours of the underwing are quite distinguishable.

 Are only found in the eastern regions of SA.

Armoured Darkling Beetle (Anomalipus sculpturatus)

Family Tenebrionidae

 

 A large beetle with very distinctive markings.

Brown-lipped Agate Snail (Metachatina kraussi)

Family Achatinidae

This is still a young on, about 3cm in shell length hence the black body.
Extract from Dai Herbet’s “Land snails and slugs of eastern South Africa”

Shell large and heavy, with a thickened outer lip and a columella that is straight but merges smoothly with the base of the outer lip; entire outer surface covered with dense, minutely crinkly axial threads, which form fine granules on the early whorls and below the suture. Ground colour generally off-white, with flames of brown visible on the spire (often extending over the entire shell in dwarf examples); in fresh shells the aperture margins are dark brown to purplish-brown. 

Periostracum thin and brown, flaking off after death and in old individuals. Maximum length about 160 mm, although the species may become adult (or at least thicken its lip) at only 73-90 mm.

A characteristic member of the KwaZulu-Natal coastal biota, commonest in Zululand. Distribution extending north to beyond Maputo in Mozambique, inland to Ithala, the Lebombo Mountains, Kranskop, Glencoe and the Vryheid region, and tapering off in the south to reach Ifafa on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast. It mainly inhabits dune and coastal lowland forest, thick valley bushveld and savanna woodland.

Metachatina kraussi is the largest and heaviest South African snail. Indeed, its shell is thick enough for it to have been used by the Iron Age inhabitants of KwaZulu-Natal in bead manufacture, small pieces of shell being ground into discs, which were then bored and threaded onto string.
The lack of a definite cut-off point to the base of its inner lip is diagnostic of Metachatina, but in juveniles the columella is truncate as in other achatinid genera; they also possess a slight umbilicus and a colour pattern of brown streaks that ends abruptly along a line at the periphery of the last whorl. An adult may produce 20-30 eggs per clutch, each varying in diameter from 8.3-11.8 mm.

The lack of a definite cut-off point to the base of its inner lip is diagnostic of Metachatina, but in juveniles the columella is truncate as in other achatinid genera; they also possess a slight umbilicus and a colour pattern of brown streaks that ends abruptly along a line at the periphery of the last whorl. An adult may produce 20-30 eggs per clutch, each varying in diameter from 8.3-11.8 mm.

Leopard Tiger Beetle (Habrodera capensis)

Family Carabidae

While walking on the beach I saw this Tiger Beetle but did not have my camera with me so Gaelyn very kindly took these photographs.

These Tiger Beetles are just over 1cm in body length and as with all of the species, are fast runners.

 They have very prominent eyes and fly very well over short distances.


They eat other insects.

Info: Field Guide to South African Insects

White Monkey Moth (Phiala incana)

Family Eupterotidae

Medium sized, about 4.5cm

Spurwinged Goose

A large species with a body length of about 100cm in the males.


They are found in most dams, floodplains and larger ponds throughout SA except for the arid regions of the north-western Cape.

When not breeding, they can be found in large flocks of up to 2000 birds.

They forage in grasslands and cultivated field during the early morning and evening eating grass shoots and seeds, lucerne, aquatic plants and fruit.

Clutches of eggs number between 6-12 which they lay in a grass-lined hollow in the ground.

Info: Robert’s Birds of Southern Africa

Large-spotted Genet

This poor genet has lost its foot. It had found a very cozy niche up in the rafters of this building.

Recognised by the black-tipped tail which distinguishes them from the Small-spotted Genet.

Under stress, they will emit a musky odour from an anal gland.

They are capable of catching birds flying overhead by jumping into air to catch them.

Their food consists mainly of rats, mice, locusts, beetles, birds and wild fruits.

They are only seen at night when they come out to hunt so seeing this one during the day and being able to get pics of it was a real treat.

Autumn Leaf Vagrant (Eronia teda)

Family Pieridae Pierinae

 Large butterflies with a wingspan of up to 5.5cm.

 They are found along the eastern and northern borders of SA in savanna woodland.

 Can be seen all year.

Info: Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa (Steve Woodhall)