BUSHBUCK HILLS NEWSLETTER February 2020

This baby genet was found outside the farm management’s house on Christmas morning with bite marks to her head. It was only about 10cm long and had eyes that seemed to have only recently opened. Fortunately for it, farm management took her inside and were able to feed her milk from a bottle. Today she is about 20 or 25 cm long and beginning to be interested in moths and other insects – though she still enjoys bottled milk. Having a genet this close is an excellent opportunity to study an animal that is otherwise only seen as a passing glimpse during the evening or night.Frog’s true identity

The photo to the left was included in the last newsletter with some doubt as to the frog’s specific identity. Having published it to online museum the experts there decided that it was a ‘broad banded grass frog’. Whilst not displaying the usual characteristics of that species, the identification was reached primarily because of the very prominent lateral ridge running from eye to hind legs. River frog.Moving on from grass frogs, the river frog below (along with a few friends) has been calling from the white-house dam in recent

weeks. It’s interesting to note that they each seem to have a specific territory from which which theycall. This one was in the same place 3 nights in a row. Both the scientific and common name have been subject to much change but at the moment they are Poynton’s river frog and Amietia poyntoni

respectively.

Baby red toads have beenmaking an appearance in awide range of sizes. Theone to the left was one ofthe smaller ones – the sizemay be gauged by the linesvisible on the palm holdingit. Identity here also comesdown to its shape and thelateral ridge from which itsscientific name is derived.

Lesser spotted genet

Poynton's river frog (Amietiapoyntoni)Red toad (Schismaderma carens)

Broad banded grass frog(Ptychadena mossambica)

Bibron’s blind snake

Bibron’s blind snakes are quite commonly found under rocks especially when the soil is slightly moist. During the winter they aren’t seen so frequently, possibly having

sort deeper retreats in termite mounds or similar. They feed on termites and have no venom glands. Their only means of defence is a sharp spine at the end of their tail which is used to ‘stab’ anyone picking them up but apart from being slightly uncomfortable has has no lasting effect. Unfortunately whilst completely harmless itself, it does bear a passing resemblance to the stiletto snake. The latter is far from harmless being responsible for ‘melting’ the flesh off any digit that has been bitten – definitely worth checking the identification of this snake before picking it up.

Antlion versus Owlfly?

The blotched owlfly above was referred to as an antlion in a previous edition of this newsletter. However, whilst they are in the same order ‘neuroptera’ they are actually in separate families (myrmeleontidae and scalaphidae respectively). The difference between the families is easily seen in the photographs above. The true antlions have very short antennae with clubbed ends. The owlflies on the other hand, have much longer antennae that look rather like hockey sticks. The larvae of both families employ similar ‘sit and wait’ hunting strategies but the larva of the owlflies are more dorsoventrally flattened, making them appear much larger than their antlion counterparts. The white-tip grassland antlion is easily distinguished from other antlion species by its long abdomen which extends well beyond its wings – even when the latter are folded along its body.

Bibron's blind-snake(Afrotyphlops bibronii)

A. bibronii spine

Blotched owlfly (Tmesibasis lacerata)

A. bibronii inserting itself into and through a watch strap

M. tinctus with wings foldedWhite-tip grassland antlion (Macronemurus tinctus)

Pea spider.

“Hairy field spiders” of which the green pea spider is a member, build atypical orb-web but prefer to sit in a

retreat to the side of it, feeling for the presence of prey items via a single silk thread that vibrates as the prey moves. This one had captured a large member of coleoptera when first seen. The spider hadrun out to secure the beetle before systematically dismantling and eating the web. It’s really very impressive to see how quickly this can be done. Through judicious use of silk threads it was then able to pull the beetle into the foliage before, presumably, eating it. Wasps of various makes and models.

Admittedly wasps aren’t on most peoples lists of favourite animals but they do have a certain fascination to them. The paper wasp to the left seemed to have all the hallmarks of a very devoted parent. The wasp was seen sitting/standing on its nest twenty four hours a day rushing up to and shooing away any other insect that had the temerity to get close or worse still land on the papery cells that presumably held her grubs. Of course one has to be careful with presumptions – the velvet wasp in the next photo was seen standingon a clay nest for two days. However in this instance it’s believed that she was waiting for another species of wasp to lay eggs in the structure, or possibly to detect movement inside it, before paratisizing those with her own eggs.Whilst both these species sting the next one does not. The fearsomelooking device at her rear isactually an ovipositor rather thana sting. She uses it to parasitisethe grubs of other wasps

including muddaubers. It needs to beso long because itmay have to penetratesome distance beforeit reaches its intendedvictim…The antenae of theseinsects are muchlonger than those ofthe true wasps.Mud dauber-mimicking ichneumon

Osprynchotus sp.

Green pea spider (Araneus apricus) Caption

Close up

Velvet ant Mutillidae

Paper wasp (Belonogaster dubia)

Cape geckoOf the geckos seen on the farm perhapsthe cape gecko is one of the most attractively patterned ones. Known for shedding their tail in an attempt to evade predators, it may be seen that thisone has done just that but has since regrown a new one. The new one is usually a little thicker than the original and possibly a different colour and witha definite appearance of having been joined to the body by a ‘not so good’ panel beater.

Black cuckoo shrike.There have been quite a few black cuckoo shrikes calling in the last month (a shrill piping call, easily confused with that of an insect). On an initial glance they can be mistaken for either a drongo,or a black fly catcher. However most of the ones seen on the farm have a yellowy orange gape, although lacking the yellowshoulder patches that someblack cuckoo shrikes in otherareas have. The females aremuch less frequently seenthan their male counterpartsand are not particularly easyto photograph. The ones tothe right give some idea ofthe colouration of the female bird and if you scrunch your eyes up tightly enough you can just see the lined chest that does actually look a little like that of a cuckoo?

Why did the tortoise cross the road?This question is slightly morepoignant than usual withreference to the leopardtortoise to the right and marshterrapin to the left. In eachcase the individual had beenrun over by a vehicle. As canbe seen, the leopard tortoisewas a very young animal (bothby size and shell colouration)and the terrapin probably not

much older. It can be quite difficult to spot these animals againstthe backdrop of similarly coloured farm soil but can we all try to keep oureyes open and avoid this from happening?Leaf hoppers.

These are tiny little insects many of which wereattracted to the lights one evening. They feedprimarily on plants, sucking their juices andunfortunately also distributing diseases. Becauseof this they are widely regarded as pests in theagriculture sector. The ‘saw tooth’ of the tibiathat can be seen in the rightmost photo ischaracteristic of the family.

Cape gecko (Pachydactylus capensis)

Marsh terrapin Leopard tortoise

Green leafhopper (Cicadellidae)

Common “boring” brown veined white.Yes it’s that time of the year again when we’re inundated with sometimes massive swarms of brown veined whites flying in a North Easterly direction – and all of them are a boring white colour. But are they ? The photo to the left was taken during late evening when the black background was able to show off the actual colours of the butterfly rather well. Instead of being a boring monotonous white with a bit of brown it turns out that at least some of them have rather a lot of yellowon both wings and body along with green eyes. Like many other species it pays to have a detailed look, and possibly close up, before forming an opinion.

Newly pupated hawk moth. Another member oflepidoptera spotted at night but this time a member ofthe Sphingidae, or hawk moth family and only justpupated. Its wings were still wet and not yet fullyexpanded when first seen. A decision was made to leaveit and come back later to see check on its progress. Alasby that time it had already flown. Hawk moths are wellknown for their long proboscis which they use tosample the nectar from flowers with deep corollasparticularly, though not exclusively, at night. Earlier inthe day another hawk moth probably Convolvulus(Agrius convolvuli) was seen feeding from the long tubes of Thorn apple (Datura stramonium)

Assorted insectsUnfortunately it’s not possible to identify every moth that’s seen. Theone below left was a bit of a challenge but having two people come up with the same name gives some confidence that it might be a “blotched pearl” - thanks to Renier Smit for helping with this. The same applies to the rather attractivebeetle below which may be part of the melyridae family bearing a string resemblance to Melyris bicolor.

Blotched pearl(hesquierellana hirtusalis)

White-barred gypsy(Palasea albimacula)

Trimen's knob(Acantholipes circumdata)

Hawk moth

Brown veined white (Belenois aurota aurota)

Melyridae – Melyris bicolor ?

With all the rain we’ve been having over the last few months the soil is close to being saturated. When it rains now the water tends to form large puddles that take some time to disappear. It makes a rather nice change from the ‘normal’ super dry conditions that we’re all used to :)

I’m not sure that we’re really approaching autumn just yet, but there are certainly many ‘Autumn painted petals’ flowering. Whilst rather small they are very attractive and are commonly used in gardens. They certainly brighten up the grassy areas of the farm.

Having failed to identify the pink flower below a quickcheck was made on previous photographs of the sameflower, unfortunately they were also marked as‘unknown’ - consistent if nothing else. Presumably it’s atype of ‘everlasting’ or ice flower… ?

The slender grey blisterbeetle is a member of theMeloidae family, the sameone that includes the CMRbeetles. Members of thisfamily are known for theirability to secrete cantharidinwhich may cause skin toblister. Of course if you don’tpick them up and annoy themthen this is unlikely tohappen! They are also knownfor having a strangely shapedpronotum that makes it lookas thought they have astretched neck.

Slender grey blister beetle(Lydomorphus bisignatus)

Unidentified

A wet section of road

Autumn painted petals (Lapeirousia sandersonii)

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Rainfall in mm.

2020 2019 Delta

December ’19 275 131 +146

January 150 179 -29

February... 110 11 +101