Field Trip Newsletter No. 5

December 2009
 
Dear Butterfly Net
 
SABCA's third and final field season has begun and will end around June 2010. SABCA's field survey team, consisting of LepSoc members who voluntarily give up of their time to conduct the surveys, are trying to fill gaps around the country. However, in many cases the rainy weather has not been helpful. Here is some news on what has been happening around the country:

Gauteng

Provincial Leader's update, by Jeremy Dobson:
The local Gauteng butterflies seem to be late this season, certainly in comparison to the previous five years, where spring specials like Iolaus alienus and Ioulaus pallene were on the wing at the beginning of September and Aphnaeus hutchinsonnii and Lepidochrysops praeterita a week later. So far this season we've found new localities for Lepidochrysops praeterita, Telchinia burni, Aphnaeus hutchinsonnii, Platylesches dolomitica and Crudaria leroma.
 
The highlight of our season thus far was finding the Lotana Blue (Lepidochrysops lotana) in the Wolkberg. Mark Williams found a colony of this butterfly last season and we returned to the locality recently. We found L. lotana in fair numbers, along with a few Orachrysops regalis and numerous L. tantalus. Mark and Owen Garvie reported finding Dingana clara and an unusual Platylesches species in the same general area.

KwaZulu-Natal

Survey by Justin Bode:
Yolande and I recorded Ornipholidotos peucetia peniingtoni (Penningtons White Mimic) at Sobhengu on the False Bay Peninsula over the weekend of 27 November. A total of 61 species were recorded for the three days that we were there.


 

Limpopo

Day outing, by Justin Bode:
A number of members of LepSoc Gauteng joined Yolande and I at Highlands Wilderness, a sectional title game farm near Bela Bela over the weekend of 4 October. We recorded a total of 35 species on the Saturday. The photo of the group: (left to right) Justin Bode, Yolande Bode, Peter Webb, Mark Williams, Jenny Sharland, Peter Sharland, Laurie Webb and Jeremy Dobson.


 

 

 

 

Southern Cape

Provincial Leader's update, by Dave Edge:
In the southern Cape 31 new localities were visited by field workers Dave Edge, Rudolph Swart, Ray Jones and Graham Wyatt-Goodall, and 330 new records were obtained. A new record is a species not previously recorded in a quarter degree grid square. Only three grid squares out of 81 now remain that have no records (the red blocks in the grid map image). These records bring the southern Cape total to 1855, or 88% of the target, with 18 field months completed out of 22 planned. The grid map shows the original situation in 2007 and the current situation - red and blue blocks indicate grids which have not been surveyed enough times and these will be focussed on.
 
Significant new records were Lepidochrysops ketsi ketsi from near Kareedouw in the Langkloof; Chrysoritis zeuxo cottrelli from the Cockscomb mountain; Chrysoritis brooksi brooksi and Aloeides trimeni southeyae from the Bontebok National Park near Swellendam and Chrysoritis brooksi tearei from Witsand. In the Vermaakelikheid area there were records of Thestor claassensi and Trimenia malagrida maryae; and near Albertinia uncommon blues (for the W Cape) Zizula hylax and Actizera lucida were found. A couple of colonies of an Aloeides that may be thyra orientis were found between Gouritsmond and Rietvlei.

Western Cape

Provincial Leader's update, by Andrew Morton:
A visit to Cape Point Nature Reserve in October by Andrew Kerr and I yielded some good records. Chrysoritis pyroeis is by no means rare in the Western Cape and is in fact common in some places on the West Coast. Collectors have found it here and there on the south peninsula, but I have never heard of it ever being found in numbers anywhere on the Peninsula. That's why I was taken by surprise when we observed 30 or more specimens! They were fluttering about on some low sandy hills near the coast on the western side of the reserve. Lovely deep dark orange and blue. Darker than ones I have from the West Coast. Lepidochrysops oreas and Lepidochrysops robertsoni were also observed in large numbers on the same low hills.
 
Some exploration by Harald Selb and I resulted in some lovely finds near Loeriefontein. Colonies of Aloeides barklyi, Aloeides pallida pallida and an intermediate of Tylopedia sardonyx peringue and T sardonyx sardonyx were of interest. On the same trip we also came across some Tarcosera casina south east of Vanrynsdorp. This record is rather unusual as this is a butterfly not recorded very far from the coast. It is found at Darling, which is about 20kms from the coast...but Vanrynsdorp is more than 40kms from the coast! This is a good extension of it's range.

Survey by Jeff Crocombe:
Spring is the beginning of butterfly season here in the Western Cape. There are however a few species that fly a little earlier – especially if the weather warms up. With a hot weekend predicted recently, Andrew & I headed to Het Kruis in pursuit of a few specials. We also wanted to cover some empty pentads for SABCA. We were particularly in pursuit of a subspecies of the quite spectacular King Copper – Tylopedia sardonyx peringueyi. Other species observed included the Boland Brown Melampias huebneri, Warrior Silver-spotted Copper Argyraspodes argyraspis, Common Blue Leptotes pirithous, Painted Lady Vanessa cardui, the Donkey Daisy Copper Chrysoritis zonarius, and the Pan Copper Chrysoritis pan. For more on this trip, please click here.

LepSoc - New website

For more news on butterflies (and moths), please visit the new LepSoc website, which is full of interesting information: www.lepsoc.org.za. Also consider becoming a member of LepSoc - there are active branches in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
 
Thank you to the participating LepSoc members who are giving up much of their free time for the surveys, and to the Provincial Leaders for working hard on getting the surveys organised! Teams adhere to LepSoc's Code of Conduct as well as to various nature conservation and forestry permit conditions.
 
Much ground has yet to be covered within the atlas region and SABCA does not have enough people to survey all the gaps - LepSoc members cannot cover the entire country due to limited time and resources. Therefore, this is a reminder to encourage you all to submit photos of butterflies and their life stages to SABCA's Virtual Museum, including butterflies seen in private gardens where it will be difficult for LepSoc members to survey. Photos of all butterflies, even common species are wanted. Photos of butterflies from different areas around South Africa are needed to help us fill in the gaps.
 
Surveys would not be possible without the collaboration of various nature conservation and forestry institutions and organisations, as well as landowners. A big thank you to those listed below for supporting SABCA's field work through providing permits, licenses and permission.
 
CapeNature, Western Cape Province
Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment, Gauteng Province
Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation, Environment and Tourism, North-West Province
Dept. of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs, Eastern Cape Province
Dept. of Nature and Environmental Conservation, Northern Cape Province
Dept. of Tourism, Environmental and Economic Affairs, Free State Province
Dept. of Water affairs and Forestry (Mpumalanga, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape)
Eastern Cape Parks Board
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, KwaZulu-Natal Province
iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority (formerly the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park Authority) Komatiland Forestry
Limpopo Provincial Government, Limpopo Province
Mondi Business Paper and Mondi Shanduka
Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, Mpumalanga Province
MTO Forestry
North West Parks and Tourism Board
SAPPI Forests
South African National Parks
 
All the best for the festive season...
 
Silvia Mecenero
SABCA Project Coordinator
Email: