Field Trip Newsletter No. 6

June 2010
 
Dear Butterfly Net
 
SABCA's third field season has come to an end and the fourth is about to begin. 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. Drought and rain have affected some surveys. Here is some news on what has been happening around the country:

Free State

Update, by Jeremy Dobson:
We've undertaken a few visits to the Free State this season, including surveying 5 quarter-degree cells that previously contained no data. Mark Williams and Jeremy Dobson visited Visierkerf near Fouriesburg and Platberg above Harrismith, in order to search for the Bamboo Sylph (Metisella syrinx). Although the butterfly was not found, we did discover the Mbulu Copper (Aloeides mbuluensis) at Visierskerf and Swanepoel's Brown (Pseudonympha swanepoeli) at Harrismith, a new provincial record. Other noteworthy findings this season include finding new localities for the Free State Blue (Lepidochrysops letsea), Gowan's Copper (Aloeides gowani), Riley's Copper (Aloeides rileyi), Oreas Copper (Aloeides oreas), Mashona Copper (Aloeides dentatis maseruna) and Machacha Opal (Chrysoritis pelion).

Gauteng

Provincial Leader's update, by Jeremy Dobson:
A highlight of this year's survey, was finding a colony of Van Son's Blue (Lepidochrysops vansoni) near Loding, in January. The locality is actually in Mpumalanga, about 5km beyond the provincial border, but falls within the Gauteng grid-block survey area. We found other unusual Gauteng records, such as the Darker Commodore (Precis antilope), Osiris Smokey Blue (Euchrysops osiris) and Bushveld Sandman (Spialia colotes) at the same locality. Other noteworthy findings this season include finding two new localities for the Highveld Blue (Lepidochrysops praeterita) and new locality records for the Mashona Copper (Aloeides dentatis maseruna), Hutchinson's Highflyer (Aphnaues hutchinsonni), Hilltop Hopper (Platylesches dolomitica) and Pale-yellow Acraea (Acraea burni). In addition, Raimund Schutte found a strong colony of the Natal Spotted Blue (Azanus natalensis) in Kyalami.

KwaZulu-Natal


Please click here to read more on Steve Woodhall's survey in the Greytown area.
 
Please click here to read more on Steve Woodhall's latest survey in KZN.

Mpumalanga

Provincial Leader's update, by Dave McDermott:
Weather woes continued to plague SABCA efforts in the province but did not have any impact on our great enjoyment of doing the fieldwork as and when we could. There is no doubt that the SABCA exercise has been a most rewarding experience for us and not without humour. What really made all the effort worthwhile was the increases in species numbers achieved through second and even third visits to promising areas. For example, the Loding area NE of Pretoria has so far yielded a species total of 65; Serenity and Butterfly Farms in the hills south of Malelane have yielded 85 and 108 species respectively. The number of landowners who, following SABCA visits, have expressed real delight in knowing what butterfly species they have resident when they receive courtesy species lists from us has also been a most positive experience.

Southern Cape

Provincial Leader's update, by Dave Edge:
The drought is affecting butterfly emergence. In the southern Cape 20 new localities were visited in this period by field workers Dave Edge and Rudolph Swart, and 209 new records were obtained. A new record is a species not previously recorded in a quarter degree grid square. All 81 grid squares now have some records. Significant new records were a new subspecies of Aloeides pallida from Witelsbos; Tsitana dicksoni from the Tsitsikamma mountains near Clarkson; Lachnocnema durbani and Lepidochrysops patricia from Elandsvlakte in the Baviaanskloof; Dixeia charina charina form anactoriae from Nautilius Bay Nature Reserve; and Charaxes karkloof trimeni from De Vasselot Nature Reserve and a new locality in the Knysna Forest. These records bring the southern Cape total to 2064, or 98% of the target, with 22 field months completed out of 22 planned.

Western Cape

Provincial Leader's news, by Andrew Morton:
In March Harald Selb & I scaled a rugged mountain with no path in Ceres. It took us an hour, but would have taken any sane person at least 2-3 hours! It was a 40 degree day and we figured we needed to get up there fast so we didn't get heat stroke! Our respite was a 'cool' 30 degrees on top...As we sat in the shade recuperating on some cool rocks, scoffing salty snoek and guzzling litres of liquid, we caught a glimpse of our prize! We abandoned our refreshments and leapt off to the ridges nearby. There they were, Trimenia malagrida cedrusmontana gamboling about on the rocky ground, chasing each other up and down. They were the first malagridas I had seen and my heart beat like a drum!
 
We also drove to the top of the Perdeberg on a cool cloudy day and found one specimen of malagrida paarlensis. We found Thestor dicksoni warreni near Graafwater in large numbers and malagas in the West Coast National Park in large numbers. A trip to Greyton in January concluded just how badly burnt the mountains are there and only a couple of Aloides almeida were seen. The browns were plentiful again this autumn and we saw Mintha widows, Autumn widows and Hawequas widows in large numbers around the Cape.
 

LepSoc website

For more news on butterflies (and moths), please visit the 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.
 
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
 
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.
 
Best regards.
 
Silvia Mecenero
SABCA Project Coordinator
Email: