Asiloid Flies

Field-work in South Africa and Namibia Sep 2019

Before we turn into 2020, I am taking this moment to summarize my field trip to South Africa and Namibia with #TeamDiptera member Allan Cabrero in September 2019.

This trip included a visit to the amazing Diptera collection at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum (NMSA) and conduct field-work in coastal areas of eastern South Africa and the Namib Desert in Namibia at the Ameib Private Nature Reserve (web-site) and the Gobabeb Namib Research Institute (gobabeb.org).

I would like to thank Jason Londt and John Midgley from the NMSA for allowing us to collect under their Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife permits in KwaZulu-Natal and Tricia Pillay for access to the collection at the NMSA. In Namibia, I would like to thank the Namibian National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) for issuing collecting and export permits. Furthermore, the staff at the Gobabeb Namib Research Institute was very helpful as always and in particular, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Leena Kapulwa, and Eugene Marais assisted in many ways.

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Here are some of the habitats we visited:

1. Coastal forest at Umlalazi Nature Reserve (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) where Ommatius sp. (Asilidae) was collected.

2. Leeward side of vegetated coastal dunes at Umlalazi Nature Reserve where Euscelidia natalensis Dikow, 2003 (Asilidae) was collected.

3. Dry, open Acacia bushveld at Ameib Private Nature Reserve (Erongo, Namibia) where Anasillomos chrysopos Londt, 1983, Sisyrnodytes sp. (see photo below), Afroscleropogon sp., and Empodiodes namibiensis Londt, 2012 (see photo below) (all Asilidae) were collected.

4. Dry, open Acacia bushland at ≠Gaingu Conservancy with Grosse Spitzkoppe in the back (Erongo, Namibia) where Anasillomos chrysopos Londt, 1983 and Remotomyia brunales Londt, 1983 (see photo below) were collected. The ≠ symbol in the reserve name denotes a click sound in the Khoekhoegowab language.

5. Small dunes along dry Kuiseb riverbed in Namib-Naukluft National Park at Gobabeb Namib Research Institute (Erongo, Namibia) where Acnephalomyia sp. (Asilidae) and an undescribed genus of Mydidae were collected.

6. Hope Mine Wash in Namib-Naukluft National Park near Gobabeb were Anasillomos chrysopos Londt, 1983, Corymyia sp., and an unidentified genus of Willistonininae (all Asilidae) were collected. This is the 1st record of the genus Corymyia from Namibia – all four known species occur in western South Africa. The Willistonininae specimens are likewise extremely interesting as they do not fit into the currently known Afrotropical genera – more work needs to be done on these specimens!

7–8. Kahani Dunes in Namib-Naukluft National Park near Gobabeb were Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910, Sporadothrix sp., Torasilus sp., and an undescribed genus of Mydidae were collected. Photo 8 shows a dry leaf of Stipagrostis sabulicola (Poaceae), which was used as a perch by Sporadothrix sp. If you look closely, you can see two impressions from the rim of my collecting net on the sand – I caught one fly and walked on the dune for a few minutes before I circled back to this specific site. A 2nd fly was now sitting on the same perch and was collected.

9. An unnamed dune near Gobabeb with Allan catching flies. No asiloid flies were collected here, but a number of other Diptera including large flesh flies (Sarcophagidae, see photo below).

10. Dry, very wide Kuiseb riverbed near Swartbank in Namib-Naukluft National Park north of Gobabeb where an undescribed genus of Mydidae and a species of Therevidae were collected.

11. Dry, wide Kuiseb riverbed and small sand dunes at a field-site 20 km N of Gobabeb in the Namib-Naukluft National Park where an undescribed genus of Mydidae was collected (see photo below).

12. For the 4th time, I visited this site in the Namib Desert at the eastern-most edge of the Namib sand sea on the C14 north of Solitaire (Khomas, Namibia) in the Namib-Naukluft National Park and collected Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910, Anypodetus sp., and Afroholopgon sp. (all Asilidae). The Afroholopogon species is especially interesting and was collected for the 1st time here and likely is a new species.

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I was able to collect the following genera / species (I still need to identify some taxa to the species level):

Apioceridae: –
Asilidae: Acnephalomyia sp., Afroholopgon sp., Afroscleropogon sp., Anasillomos chrysopos Londt, 1983, Anypodetus sp., Corymyia sp., Empodiodes namibiensis Londt, 2012, Euscelidia natalensis Dikow, 2003, Ommatius sp., Remotomyia brunales Londt, 1983, Sisyrnodytes sp., Sporadothrix sp., Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910, and Torasilus sp.
Mydidae: undescribed genus.

I was also able to collect several species of bee flies (Bombyliidae), micro bee flies (Mythicomyiidae), hover flies (Syrphidae), shore flies (Ephydridae), quasimodo flies (Curtonotidae), house flies (Muscidae), flesh flies (Sarcophagidae), stiletto flies (Therevidae), and horse flies (Tabanidae).

Below are some of the photographs of flies in nature taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II and a f/2.8 60 mm macro-lens (= 120 mm focal length in 35 mm photography):

13. Crane-fly species Maekistocera filipes filipes (Fabricius, 1805) (Tipulidae) basking on a tree trunk in Umlalazi Nature Reserve (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63658122. (identification by Jon Gelhaus.)

14. Mating pair of Ephydridae (shore flies) at Tugela River mouth (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63672413.

15. Sisyrnodytes sp. (Asilidae) at Ameib Private Nature Reserve (Erongo, Namibia) feeding on a plant bug. See iNaturalist observation: 63672673.

16. Unfortunately, I didn't get a better photo of this small Stenopogoninae species (Asilidae). I only saw this female fly and collected another female. After studying the specimen in the lab for a considerable time, I was able to identify it as Empodiodes namibiensis Londt, 2012. I believe this record is the southernmost record of the primarily northern Namibian species (see Londt 2019 doi:10.3897/AfrInvertebr.60.33075 Fig. 16 (/article/33075/element/2/110/)).

17–18. Remotomyia brunales Londt, 1983 (Asilidae) at ≠Gaingu Conservancy and Grosse Spitzkoppe area. These flies were very fast and I wasn't able to get very close – photo 18 is a crop of 17 to show fly more clearly in the center of the photo. This is my 1st time collecting flies of this genus on which I published in one of my 1st articles with Jason Londt in 2000 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.11581).

19. Flesh-fly species Khowaba atrox Pape, 1991 (Sarcophagidae) resting upside down on Stipagrostis sabulica (Poaceae) on high dunes near Gobabeb. See iNaturalist observation: 63291181. (identification by Thomas Pape and Daniel Whitmore.)

20–21. Undescribed genus and species of Mydidae (Syllegomydinae) at field-site at Kuiseb riverbed 20 km N Gobabeb. Photo 20 shows an overview of where the fly is resting (in center of photo) and since I was able to get closer and closer without disturbing the fly, I was able to take a close-up as well. This photo also showcases that even if you get just a few centimeters above the ground, you can rest in much cooler environments. From crouching down to photograph this (and other insects) during exceptionally hot unseasonal weather, my knees got extremely hot on the sand ...

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Other impressions and encounters in South Africa and Namibia:

22–24. The KwaZulu-Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) is a great place to see wonderful exhibits including Diptera, meet up with old friends and colleagues, and study flies in the amazing collection, which is undoubtedly the most important collection of true flies in Africa. I first worked at the NMSA when I was an international student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal studying entomology and spent every free hour I had at the collection 20 years ago. This is where my taxonomic research on assassin flies really began under the tutoring of Jason Londt.

25. Jason Londt and I at Doreen Clark Nature Reserve just outside Pietermaritzburg (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, photo by Allan Cabrero).

26. Same as above with Allan Cabrero (photo by Jason Londt).

27. A free-living antlion larva (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) on coastal dunes at Umlalazi Nature Reserve (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63658711.

28–30. Beautiful subtropical, coastal forest and mangrove at Umlalazi Nature Reserve (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa).

31–32. Catching flies with giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus, 1758) and seeing ancient rock paintings at Ameib Private Nature Reserve (Erongo, Namibia).

33. A Common Namib Day Gecko (Rhoptropus afer Peters, 1869, Gekkonidae) hiding in shade under a rock in dry wash near Gobabeb (Erongo, Namibia). It was extremely hot at this field-site!

34. Solifuge Solpugiba lineata (C.L.Koch, 1842) (Arachnida: Solifugae: Solpugidae) at Kahani Dunes near Gobabeb (Erongo, Namibia). See iNaturalist observation: 63673759. (identification by Dewald du Plessis.)

35. One of the highlights of this trip was to see a Namaqua Chameleon (Chamaeleo namaquensis Smith, 1831) on the dunes at the eastern-most edge of the Namib sand sea on the C14 north of Solitaire (Khomas, Namibia).

36. Myself and beautiful Euphorbia sp. at Hope Mine Wash in central Namib Desert (photo by Allan Cabrero).

37–38. It's always great to be back at the Gobabeb Namib Research Intitute in the Namib Desert.

39. Before heading back home, it is advised to have German-style cheesecake (here with Rooibos tea and freshly squeezed juice mix) in Windhoek.

Posted by Torsten Dikow.

Update 1 2021-03-30: Observations on iNaturalist and some identifications were added.

Update 2 2021-07-18: Some identifications were added.

Update 3 2021-10-05: Some identifications were added.

Field work with #TeamDiptera in Namibia Nov 2018

I seem to always take a long time to finally post a summary of my field-work in photos. Here is a summary of a trip I undertook with #TeamDiptera members Charlotte Alberts, Allan Cabrero, and Brandon Claridge in November 2018 prior to the 9th International Congress of Diptera in Windhoek, Namibia.

This trip included two main field-sites: habitats around Rooisand Desert Lodge near the Gamsberg (rooisand.com) and the Gobabeb Research & Training Centre in the heart of the Namib Desert (gobabebtrc.org).

I would like to thank the Namibian National Commission on Research, Science and Technology (NCRST) and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) for issuing collecting and export permits. Furthermore, the staff at the Gobabeb Research & Training Centre was very helpful as always and in particular Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Leena Kapulwa, Gregory Golando, and Eugene Marais assisted in many ways.

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Here are some of the habitats we visited:

1. Rooisand Desert Lodge habitat where Anasillomos juergeni Dikow, 2015 (image below) and Leptogaster aganniphe Janssens, 1957 (both Asilidae) were collected.

2. View from partly vegetated sand dune at Rooisand Desert Lodge towards towering Gamsberg in the far distance, which is with 2,347 m the 3rd highest mountain in Namibia. On this sand dune Anasillomos juergeni (photo below), Anypodetus sp., and Microstylum sp. (all Asilidae) were collected.

3. For the 3rd time, I visited this site in the Namib Desert at the eastern-most edge of the Namib sand sea on the C14 north of Solitaire (Khomas, Namibia). #TeamDiptera at work (Brandon (white shirt) and Allan on the left and Charlotte on the right). We collected the following Asilidae on the dunes and interdune valleys: Anasillomos juergeni, Anypodetus sp. (different species from Rooisand), Neolophonotus sp., Astiptomyia bikos Londt, 2010, Microstylum sp., and Rhabdogaster sp. A stiletto fly in the genus Orthactia (Therevidae) was also flying on the dunes.

4. Hope Mine wash in Namib-Naukluft National Park near Gobabeb. It was very windy at this site when we visited in the afternoon and collecting wasn't quite as good as we hoped. However, we were able to collect Trichardis picta Hermann, 1906, Microphontes sp., and Neolophonotus sp. (all Asilidae).

The single female Microphontes specimen we collected represents an undescribed species. This was a great discovery on the one hand, but on the other hand the timing could not have been worse as a few days after we visited this site the revision of the genus Microphontes including the description of four new species was published (see 10.3897/afrinvertebr.59.30684).

5. With information from our Polish colleagues Krzysztof Szpila, Marcin Piwczynski, and Andrzej Grzywacz, who were also visiting Gobabeb, we found this site some 20 km north of the research station. The dry riverbed of the Kuiseb River is much wider here and made for excellent collecting. We collected Namibimydas psamminos Dikow, 2012 (image below), an undescribed genus of Mydidae (image below), Eremohaplomydas sp., and Krzysztof Szpila also collected a species of Afroleptomydas (all Mydidae). In terms of Asilidae, we collected Prytanomyia kochi (Lindner, 1973), Neolophonotus sp., Trichardis picta, and Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910.

6. Collecting in the various habitats near the Gobabeb station itself was very productive. We collected the following species: Anasillomos juergeni, Prytanomyia kochi, Stichopogon hermanni, Stichopogon punctum Loew, 1851, Laphyctis eremia Londt & Dikow, 2018, Astiptomyia bikos, and Torasilus solus Londt, 2005 (all Asilidae), an undescribed genus of Mydidae, Syllegomydas sp., and Eremohaplomydas sp. (all Mydidae), and a few Therevidae species. Krzysztof Szpila also collected a species of Rhipidocephala (Asilidae), which represents a new record for Gobabeb.

The most amazing specimen was collected by Charlotte – she collected a female of one of the largest Afrotropical Mydidae species in the genus Syllegomydas in the dry Kuiseb River bed, which represents the 6th specimen of this yet undescribed species. The Eremohaplomydas specimens also represent an undescribed species new to science. The Torasilus solus specimens are, so far, the only assassin flies known to fly on the high dunes (middle photo above).

7. On our drive back to Windhoek, we stopped at this roadside near the Gamsberg Pass in the Khomas Hochland (highland) with typical Acacia savannah. We collected Sisyrnodytes sp., Stichopogon punctum, Stichopogon caffer Hermann, 1907, Afroholopgon sp., and Rhabdogaster sp. (all Asilidae). To collect five species of assassin flies in this dry habitat was somewhat of a surprise, but shows how these flies are adapted to live in arid environments.

 

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Here are some of the photographs of flies in nature taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II and a f/2.8 60 mm macro-lens (= 120 mm focal length in 35 mm photography):

8. Anasillomos juergeni Dikow, 2015 (Asilidae) at Rooisand Desert Lodge. See iNaturalist observation: 64122992.

9. Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910 (Asilidae) on small sand dunes at Gobabeb Research & Training Centre. See iNaturalist observation: 64174876.

10. Trichardis picta Hermann, 1906 (Asilidae) mating (female on the right) in dry Kuiseb River bed at Gobabeb. See iNaturalist observation: 64175823.

11. Namibimydas psamminos Dikow, 2012 (Mydidae) at Kuiseb River bed 20 km north Gobabeb. See iNaturalist observation: 64176614.

12. Undescribed genus and species of Mydidae (Syllegomydinae) at Gobabeb.

13. Namibiotes argentata Barraclough, 2000 (Ulidiidae) on !nara (Acanthosicyos horridus, Curcubitaceae). This fly is so far only known to live on the !nara plant which is endemic to the Namib Sand sea within the Namib Desert. See iNaturalist observation: 64177007.

 

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Other impressions of Namibia:

14. Male Welwitschia mirabilis (Welwitschiaceae) – enigmatic plant of the Namib Desert – at Hope Mine wash.

15. A sight I have never seen on my four visits to the Namib – the desert can be green.

16. Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis Sundevall, 1847, Bovidae) grazing the Namib gravel plains.

17. Lesser flamingoes (Phoenicoparrus minor Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1798, Phoenicopteridae) near Walvis Bay.

18. A praying mantis (Chroicopteridae, ID via iNaturalist) at Hope Mine wash. See iNaturalist observation: 64175314.

19. Fruit of Phaeoptilum spinosum (Nyctaginaceae) at roadside near Gamsberg Pass. See iNaturalist observation: 64177671.

 

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TeamDiptera:

20. #TeamDiptera (Allan Cabrero, Charlotte Alberts, Brandon Claridge, Torsten Dikow from right to left) in front of huge !nara plant.

21. #TeamDiptera equipment.

Posted by Torsten Dikow.

Update 2021-04-13: Identifications or links to observations at iNaturalist were added.

Field work in South Africa and Namibia Sep 2017

Finally, several months delayed is a post about my recent field work in South Africa and Namibia that took place in September 2017.

My field work took me from Cape Town, South Africa to Windhoek, Namibia – a distance of some 1,500 km (930 miles) if you drive straight, which I didn't. I had planned to visit several habitats in the Western and Northern Cape of South Africa and Karas in Namibia to collect spring-active assassin flies (Asilidae), mydas flies (Mydidae), and other Asiloidea and pollinators such as Nemestrinidae (tangle-veined flies) for a project on the evolutionary relationships of Asiloidea and Nemestrinoidea based on morphological data. Because of a severe drought in this part of southern Africa, my collecting wasn't very successful with a few exceptional collecting localities though. Further north, I was planning to visit the Namib Desert again and in particular the Gobabeb Research & Training Centre (www.gobabebtrc.org). Once I arrived in the true desert, collecting was wonderful as the flies occurring here are not reliant on winter rainfall such as further south.

I would like to thank the government agencies in the Western Cape (CapeNature), Northern Cape (Permit Section), and Namibia (Ministry of Environment and Tourism) for issuing collecting permits. Furthermore, the staff at the Gobabeb Research & Training Centre was very helpful as always and in particular Ritha Kapitango, Leena Kapulwa, Angi Storbeck, and Theo Wassenaar assisted in many ways.

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Here are some of the habitats I visited:

1. Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa) where Acnephalomyia dorsalis (Macquart, 1838), Haroldia trivialis (Oldroyd, 1974), Hypenetes sp., Corymyia melas Londt, 1994, and Neolophonotus sp. (Asilidae), Neotabuda lanigera Lyneborg, 1980 (Therevidae, stiletto flies), Corsomyza sp., Megapalpus capensis Hesse, 1938, and Tomomyza sp. (Bombyliidae, bee flies) were collected. Haroldia trivialis (see image below) was collected in abundance perching on the sand of the coastal dune (foreground) as was Corymyia melas, but the other species were collected near the pan (in the distance).

2–3. Gifberg Pass (Western Cape, South Africa) where Neolophonotus sp., Rhipidocephala sp., and Damalis conspicua Curran, 1934 (Asilidae), Neotabuda sp. (Therevidae), and Apatomyza sp. (Bombyliidae) were collected. This fynbos habitat was amazing (even on a cloudy day) and the Rhipidocephala species (see images below) surprised me by perching mostly on little rocks and not on vegetation.

 

4. A special treat was driving through the /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (Karas, Namibia) along the "mighty" Gariep or Orange River, which is the largest river in western South Africa. In the adjacent sandy habitat, I was able to collect Stichopogon punctum Loew, 1851 (Asilidae) and Orthactia sp. (Therevidae).

5. A rocky hillside at Klein-Aus Vista (Karas, Namibia) where Neolophonotus sp. and Anasillomos chrysopos Londt, 1983 (Asilidae) were collected. This is the northern-most area where the winter rainfall should bring out spring flowers, but the last proper rain fell here in 2014.

6. For the 2nd time I visited this site in the Namib Desert at the eastern-most edge of the Namib sand sea on the C14 north of Solitaire (Khomas, Namibia) where Anypodetus sp., Microphontes gaiophanes Markee & Dikow, 2018, and Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910 (Asilidae) and Orthactia sp. (Therevidae) were collected. I have never seen Microphontes (see images below) before and the collected specimens represented an undescribed species for which I was able to record some peculiar flight behavior (see publication at 10.3897/AfrInvertebr.59.30684). The Anypodetus species likewise appears to be undescribed.

 7. The Gobabeb Research & Training Centre (Erongo, Namibia) is an amazing place to visit in the heart of the Namib Desert. This time, I was unable to collect any assassin flies on the high dunes (as shown here), which are situated west and south of the research station (visible in the distance to the right of the wooded dry Kuiseb riverbed). I was able to collect Xeramoeba sp. (Bombylliidae) on these high dunes though.

 

8. The edge of the high dunes adjacent to the wooded dry Kuiseb riverbed at Gobabeb proofed very interesting though where Sporadothrix sp. and Prytanomyia kochi (Lindner, 1973) (Asilidae, see images below) as well as Parectyphus namibiensis Hesse, 1972 and an undescribed genus and species of Mydidae (see image below) were collected.

9. Just as in my previous visit to Gobabeb, Orthactia gobabensis Lyneborg, 1988 (Therevidae), Trichardis picta Hermann, 1906 (see image below), and Stichopogon punctum Loew, 1851 (Asilidae) were collected in the dry Kuiseb riverbed.

 

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Here are some of the photographs of flies in nature taken with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 Mark II and a f/2.8 60 mm macro-lens (= 120 mm focal length in 35 mm photography):

10. A female stiletto fly of Caenophthalmus gracilis Lyneborg, 1976 (ID via iNaturalist Shaun Winterton, Therevidae: Therevinae) ovipositing at Cape Columbine Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63854583.

11. Acnephalomyia dorsalis (Macquart, 1838) (Asilidae) perching on sand at Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63854661.

12. Female Haroldia trivialis (Oldroyd, 1974) (Asilidae) perching on sand dune at Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63855130.

13. A male Neotabuda lanigera Lyneborg, 1980 stiletto fly (Id via iNaturalist Shaun Winterton, Therevidae) resting on sand at Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63854969.

14. Male Neolophonotus sp. (Asilidae) feeding on an aphid on a rock at Gifberg Pass (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63855347.

15–16. Rhipidocephala sp. (Asilidae) perching on rock and my collecting net at Gifberg Pass (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63855466.

 

17. Female Stichopogon punctum (Asilidae) feeding on a hemipteran at Gariep (Orange) River in /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (Karas, Namibia). See iNaturalist observation: 63855586.

18–19. Microphontes gaiophanes Markee & Dikow, 2018 (Asilidae) perching on sand dune (18, male) and dry twigs (19, female) at Namib-Naukluft National Park near Solitaire (Erongo, Namibia). See iNaturalist observations: 63855855 + 63855886.

20–21. Female Sporadothrix sp. (Asilidae) perching on sand dune (20) and ovipositing in sand (21) at Gobabeb in the Namib-Naukluft National Park (Erongo, Namibia). See iNaturalist observation: 63856014.

22. Female Trichardis picta (Asilidae) perching on sand in dry Kuiseb riverbed at Gobabeb in the Namib-Naukluft National Park (Erongo, Namibia).

23. Female Prytanomyia kochi (Asilidae) perching on dung on small sand dune at Gobabeb in the Namib-Naukluft National Park (Erongo, Namibia). See iNaturalist observation: 63856269.

24. Female mydas fly of an undescribed species and genus (Mydidae) resting on dry leave on small sand dune at Gobabeb in the Namib-Naukluft National Park (Erongo, Namibia). This species was one of the target taxa on my list to collect and so I was extremely happy to collect and photograph it in nature.
 

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Some impressions of southern Africa:

25. Whenever I can, I stop by botanical gardens and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch) in Cape Town is one of the world's most beautiful gardens.

26. I also visited the National Botanic Garden (www.nbri.org.na/sections/botanic-garden) in Windhoek.

The flower diversity in western South Africa always amazes me and here are just some impressions.

27. Baboon root (genus Babiana, Iridaceae) at Cape Columbine Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63856269.

28. Capebells (genus Wahlenbergia, Campanulaceae, ID via iNaturalist) at Gifbeg Pass (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63855308.

29. King Kalkoentjie (Gladiolus alatus, Iridaceae, ID via iNaturalist) at Gifbeg Pass (Western Cape, South Africa). See iNaturalist observation: 63855241.

Namibia is a place of huge distances between towns.

30. Getting ready for the drive through /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park along Gariep (Orange) River (Karas, Namibia).

31. Near Rosh Pinah (Karas, Namibia).

32. Near Aus (Karas, Namibia).

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Other wildlife:

33. Four-striped grass mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio (Sparman, 1784)) at Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa). ID by Molly McDonough.

34. Friendly tortoise at Rocherpan Nature Reserve (Western Cape, South Africa).

35. Chacma baboons (Papio ursinus Kerr, 1792) in /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (Karas, Namibia) watching what I am doing with my collecting net.

36. The ever so beautiful Kokerboom (Aloidendron dichotomum (Masson) Klopper & Gideon F.Sm.) just outside /Ai-/Ais Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (Karas, Namibia).

37. Tree Locust (Anacridium moestum (Serville, 1838), Orthoptera: Acrididae) hiding among dry vegetation at Klein-Aus Vista (Karas, Namibia). See iNaturalist observation: 63855760.

38. Hartmann's Mountain Zebra (Equus zebra hartmannae (Matschie, 1898)) at Namib-Naukluft National Park near Solitaire (Erongo, Namibia).

39. Blister beetle (Meloidae) on dune plant at Namib-Naukluft National Park near Solitaire (Erongo, Namibia).
 

40. Thread-winged lacewing Nemopterella sp. (Nemopteridae, ID via iNaturalist) at Namib-Naukluft National Park near Solitaire (Erongo, Namibia). This thread-winged lacewing was very pale and I assume it had recently emerged from the pupa and had not fully hardened/colored. See iNaturalist observation: 63855936.

41. Dune lark (Calendulauda erythrochlamys (Strickland, 1853)) on high dunes at Gobabeb, Namibia-Naukluft National Park (Erongo, Namibia) – Namibia's only true endemic bird species. See iNaturalist observation: 63856209.

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42. My companions – Olympus and collecting net.

43. Cheese cake (Quarkkuchen) is always good and the German heritage can still be found in Namibia.

Posted by Torsten Dikow.

Updates: 2018-03-08 - Molly McDonough kindly identified the grass mouse photograph.

2018-03-12: Several species identifications were added.

2021-04-13: IDs and links to iNaturalist observations added.

Field work in South Africa in Dec 2015

Finally, several months delayed is a post about my recent field-work in South Africa that took place in December 2015.

This field trip was funded by the Global Genome Initiative (GGI) with the purpose of increasing the holdings of flies (Diptera) available for genome or genomic sequencing in the NMNH Biorepository. For that purpose, I sent a liquid nitrogen dry shipper to South Africa and back via FedEx. During the field work I kept the dry shipper in the back of my field vehicle.

The field vehicle in Addo Elephant National Park near Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape (note: I did not collect in the national park).

The liquid nitrogen dry shipper secured in the back of the bakkie (a.k.a. pickup truck).

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I proposed this field work in order to visit a particularly diverse place in the Nama Karoo of South Africa called Willowmore. This small town and its surroundings in the south-eastern Nama Karoo (Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, 33°17'00''S 023°29'00''E) are particularly diverse for asiloid flies with 1 species of apiocerid flies, 62 assassin flies, and 11 mydas flies known to date. The article by Londt (1998, download PDF) nicely summarizes the Asilidae species that were collected by Dr. J. Brauns in and around Willowmore in the first quarter of the 20th century. Other collections also house specimens from J. Brauns and a single new genus and species to this list, Ammodaimon sp. (USNMENT00995300, see record), was discovered in the USNM collection. So, this area is a great place to collect asiloid flies (and other Diptera).

During this field trip I visited several different habitats from coastal dunes and riverine habitats to several kinds of Karoo veld and habitats as can be seen from the following habitat photographs.

1. Coastal dunes and dune vegetation at Riet River Mouth near Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, where Afroleptomydas sp. and Ectyphus pingius Gerstaecker, 1868 (Mydidae) and a Neolophonotus species (Asilidae) were collected.

2. Riverine habitat of the Groot Rivier at Meiringspoort, Western Cape, where Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910 (Asilidae) was collected perching on the rocks.

3. Nama Karoo north of Olifantskop Pass, Eastern Cape, where on a roadside Acnephalomyia, Neolophonotus, and Trichardis species (Asilidae) were collected.

4. Nama Karoo mountain side near Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, where a Neolophonotus and a Afroscleropogon species (Asilidae) were collected.

5. Nama Karoo at Aberdeen Nature Reserve outside of Aberdeen, Eastern Cape, where Apiocera braunsi Melander, 1907 (Apioceridae) and Anypodetus fascipennis Engel, 1924, Habropogon, Microstylum, Neolophonotus, Promachus, Smeryngolaphria, and Trichardis species (Asilidae) were collected.

6. Nama Karoo at Aberdeen Nature Reserve outside of Aberdeen, Eastern Cape. This is one of the pans at which I caught Apiocera braunsi Melander, 1907 running around the margins near the vegetation.

7. Nama Karoo on the De Zeekoe Guest Farm near Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, where an undescribed genus of Mydidae as well as Afroscleropogon, Daspletis setithoracicus (Ricardo, 1925), Leptogaster aganniphe Janssens, 1957, Microstylum, Nusa infumata (Loew, 1851), Synolcus acrobaptus (Wiedemann, 1828), Sisyrnodytes, Trichardis, and Trichoura tankwa Londt, 1994 (Asilidae) were collected.

8. Vegetated dune ridge in Goukamma Nature Reserve near Knysna, Western Cape, where an Afroleptomydas species (Mydidae) as well as Damalis, Pegesimallus, and Sisyrnodytes species (Asilidae) were collected.

9. Coastal forest in Goukamma Nature Reserve near Knysna, Western Cape, where Oligopogon penicillatus Loew, 1858 (Asilidae) was collected. In my phylogenetic work on Asilidae, I was unable to place this genus with morphological data (it is currently incertae sedis) and now we can utilize molecular data as I collected a few specimens in liquid nitrogen.

In the end, I didn't even make it to Willowmore as I found many other suitable collecting localities and time was limited on this 10-day trip.

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I was able to collect the following genera / species (I still need to identify several taxa to the species level):

Apioceridae: Apiocera braunsi Melander, 1907
Asilidae: Acnephalomyia sp., Afroscleropogon sp., Anypodetus fascipennis Engel, 1924, Damalis annulata Loew, 1858, Daspletis setithoracicus (Ricardo, 1925), Habropogon sp., Hyperechia nigripennis (Wiedemann, 1830), Leptogaster aganniphe Janssens, 1957, Microphontes ericfisheri Markee and Dikow, 2018, Microstylum sp. (3 species), Neolophonotus sp., Nusa infumata (Loew, 1851), Oligopogon penicillatus Loew, 1858, Pegesimallus sp., Promachus sp., Sisyrnodytes sp., Smeryngolaphria sp., Stichopogon hermanni Bezzi, 1910, Synolcus acrobaptus (Wiedemann, 1828), Trichardis sp., and Trichoura tankwa Londt, 1994.
Mydidae: Afroleptomydas sp., Ectyphus pinguis Gerstaecker, 1868, and an undescribed genus.

For the majority of these species, specimens were preserved both in ethyl-acetate and pinned for morphological work and proper identification as well as in liquid nitrogen for genome and genomic sequencing in the future. An example record of a pinned fly can be viewed on the USNM collection web-site (USNMENT01115072) and a liquid nitrogen-preserved fly on the Global Genome Biodiversity Network (GGBN) data portal (AA8IQ31).

I was also able to collect several species of bee flies (Bombyliidae), hover flies (Syrphidae), and stiletto flies (Therevidae) as well as a horse fly (Tabanidae) and a tachinid fly (Tachinidae) species.

Below are some photographs I was able to take of flies in the field.

 

1. Leptogaster aganniphe Janssens, 1957 (Asilidae: Leptogastrinae). See iNaturalist observation: 63361814.

2. Microstylum sp. (Asilidae: Stenopogoninae). See iNaturalist observation: 63361220.

3. Microstylum sp. (Asilidae: Stenopogoninae). See iNaturalist observation: 63361579.

4. Oligopogon penicillatus Loew, 1858 (Asilidae: incertae sedis). See iNaturalist observation: 63362338.

5. Synolcus acrobaptus (Wiedemann, 1828) (Asilidae: Asilinae). See iNaturalist observation: 63362567.

6. Anypodetus fascipennis Engel, 1924 (Asilidae: Laphriinae). See iNaturalist observation: 63361137.

7. Trichoura tankwa Londt, 1994 (Asilidae: Willistonininae). Se iNaturalist observation: 63361460.

8. Daspletis setithoracicus (Ricardo, 1925) (Asilidae: Stenopogoninae). See iNaturalist observation: 63361712.

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South Africa is a beautiful place to visit and the Nama Karoo especially. I was fortunate to be able to see Meerkats for the first time through Meerkat Adventures at the De Zeekoe Guest Farm near Oudtshoorn, Western Cape.

The last afternoon of my stay in South Africa I spent in the Addo Elephant National Park where I saw plenty of Loxodonta africana (Blumenbach, 1797) and other mammals.

Did you know that the Nama Karoo has an incredible diversity of tortoises? Here is just one of them, the Angulate Tortoise Chersina angulata (Schweigger, 1812).

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Posted by Torsten Dikow.

Thanks to the Eastern and Western Cape authorities for collecting permits. Thanks also to Dolf Grobler and J.D. Glinister for helping me with field work on the De Zeekoe Guest Farm property.

Updates: 2016-11-05 - the identification of a few species has been changed/updated.

2021-04-14: Several IDs and iNaturalist observations added.

Photographing asiloid flies

I have been thinking about a blog post to showcase the macro-photo equipment I use for photographing asiloid flies for a while. Here it is in images and short captions.

• Camera + lens: Micro 4/3 Olympus OM-D E-M5 (see dpreview.com for details), 60 mm f2.8 Macro (see Olympus web-site, 120 mm in 35 mm photography).
• Stand: base, stand, and StackShot from Visionary Digital Passport II system.
• Dome light: Falcon FLDM-i250-W.
• Settings camera + lens: manual focus, manual program, f/8, RAW image, low ISO (= 100), auto White Balance, depending on size of fly 1:2, 1:1.3, or 1:1 magnification.
• Settings StackShot: for dorsal and lateral view 15 steps, for head in anterior view 7 steps, automatic step mode.
• Software: Adobe Lightroom 5, HeliconFocus Pro 6. The workflow below is entirely RAW-based - RAW-in-DNG-out.

1. Simple specimen holders made of plastozote and cut DGK grey card (DGK Color Tools Digital Grey Kard), which are not glued together.

2. The macro-photography set-up with specimen labels ready to be photographed.

3. Labels just photographed.

4. Fly, here Apiocera braunsi Melander, 1907, ready to be photographed in dorsal view.

5. Fly positioned with evenly grey background.

6. Fly photographed.

7. Fly positioned for lateral view (1).

8. Fly positioned for lateral view (2).

9. One of the resulting images on the camera screen.

10. Lens set to photograph at 1:1.3 magnification (fly would not fit on screen when 1:1 would be selected).

11. Other side of lens where different distance settings can be pre-selected.

12. Camera writing one of the many images to the card.

13. StackShot triggering the camera to take image 10 of 15.

14. Fly positioned for photographing head in anterior view (1).

15. Fly positioned for photographing head in anterior view (2).

16. Look inside the currently switched off, but super bright Falcon dome light.

17. Images get imported into Adobe Lightroom 5 as native .orf RAW files. A secondary copy is made as a back-up to my RAID.

18. The original images get rotated, meta-data adjusted (e.g., the copyright holder changed), and renamed.

19. Keywords get allocated that indicate the magnification at which the images were taken. Important if one would want to re-do the scale bar.

20. Images get exported in native .orf RAW to HeliconFocus for stacking.

21. In HeliconFocus, Method C is used for stacking into a single Digital Negative .dng file.

22. HeliconFocus stacking in progress.

23. HeliconFocus stacking finished - left = one of the original images, right = final stacked image.

24. Scale line of 5 mm is applied to image (here 23% of the automatically inserted scale). I calculated the scale line following the guidelines provided by HeliconFocus. Basically taking an image with the macro-photography set-up of a microscopic slide with a scale.

25. Stacked image saved as Digital Negative (.dng) file and added to Lightroom catalog. White Balance is always correct as images are taken with the same Falcon Dome Light and grey background.

26. In Lightroom, image can be edited just as any other .dng file and I adjust the exposure here slightly.

27. The final 4 .dng images. A new keyword (scale=5mm) is assigned so that I remember that this scale is 5 mm long. From here, the images can be exported for different uses such as Twitter, Morphbank, or our institutional database KE EMu.

Here are the 4 final images of Apiocera braunsi:

Posted by Torsten Dikow

update 2016-03-16: The wrong grey card was listed above for the specimen holder. Instead of WhiBal G7 grey card it should read DGK Color Tools Digital Grey Kard, which is very sturdy and has an almost smooth surface.