Insects/Arthropods of South Africa
- Page 1 - A Web Page by
Roy Beckemeyer
Last Updated 22 February 2005
Left: A fly (Diptera), probably a beefly (Family Bombyliidae).
Right: A multi-colored grasshopper that we saw all over ZwaZulu-Natal as
well as in Mpumalanga and Gauteng. Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae: Zonocerus
elegans, the Elegant Grasshopper.
Left:
A large orb weaver spider seen at Hluhluwe Game Preserve.
Right: A mating pair of Robber Flies, Diptera: Asilidae: Lamyra gulo, the
Wasp Robber Fly. We saw these flying and they are both visually and in
terms of flight behavior, very effective wasp mimics.
Left: Where there are large mammals, there is a lot of dung.
Africa has a lot of dung beetles to take care of all the cleanup. Here is
some fresh dung being processed by dung beetles.
Right: And some of the dung beetles are really huge. They would
fly past and you would be reminded of flying Tonka Trucks. Here is a dung
beetle flying past a Nyala antelope. The beetle is about mid height to the
right of the antlers.
Left: A close-up of the dung beetle in flight.
Right: The huge dung beetle rolling its ball of dung over the ground (photo
taken at Bonamanzi Game Preserve). Probably Coleoptera: Scarabeidae: Pachylomera
femoralis, the Flattened Giant Dung Beetle.
Left: A butterfly, Acraeinae: Acraea species.
Right below: Nyphalinae: Byblia sp. (probably anvatara).
Left: An orange-tip butterfly. Pieridae: Colotis sp. possibly danae.
Right: The Green-banded Swallowtail, Papilionidae: Princeps nireus lyaeus.
Left:
Nymphalinae: The Gold-banded Forester: Euphaedra neophoron neophoron.
Left:
A large orb weaver spider seen at Hluhluwe Game Preserve.
