December 2009
Dear Butterfly Net
This year has gone by so quickly and SABCA has made much progress...15 months remain before the end, so 2010 is going to be a very busy year!
Biodiversity Expo, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, 25-28 March 2010
SABCA will be taking part in the Biodiversity Expo. Please click here to see the invitation - please distribute this widely, especially to schools
350.org challenge, 24 October 2009
The SABCA challenge for the 350.org climate action campaign on 24 October was a great success. The challenge was to photograph 3 x 50 butterfly species (i.e. 150 species) in our atlas region (South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland). The final total of species photographed was 83 species. Please click here to see who participated, the final interactive 350.org species image as well as the list of species observed.
SABCA butterfly morning, Harold Porter Botanical Gardens, Bettys Bay, 31 October 2009
The SABCA morning at the Harold Porter Botanical Gardens included presentations by myself and LepSoc members (Andrew Morton, Len McLeod, Jeff Crocombe), followed by a walk in the gardens to survey the butterflies there. There weren't many butterflies around, but the three species we spotted were all new to the list for the gardens (Geranium Bronze, Bush Bronze and
Rainforest Brown). In all a good morning was had.
 |
 |
 |
Sunset Concert, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town, 27 November 2009
SABCA formed part of the Animal Demography Unit's exhibit at the sunset concert, with Johnny Clegg in the background. Thanks to Lepsoc members Jeff Crocombe and Alan & Jenny Heath for helping out.
The virtual museum has received just over 9 800 photographic records. Thank you to those of you who have made so many contributions. Please keep on submitting your photos! Remember our competition - for more info click here.
The new process for submitting photos to SABCA's virtual museum is in the testing phase. This new process will mean that photos will be submitted online through our website - we will no longer be accepting email submissions. We hope the new process will go live in the next month or two - I will inform you all when this happens. For now, please keep on submitting your photos by email.
We still have many gaps for the Northern Cape, North West and Free State provinces, as well as Lesotho and Swaziland! Please help us fill in these gaps:
|
(1) In the coverage map below, please target the quarter degree grid squares which are blank, i.e. those squares that do NOT have a blue dot (blue dot = virtual museum record) or an orange square (orange = non-virtual museum record, either from a collection or field survey). Only 55% of the quarter degree grid squares in the atlas region have data, leaving 45% as blank squares, our gaps. We need you to help us fill these gaps. (Please click here to find out what is a quarter degree grid square) |
|
(NB: this is a real time coverage map.) |
|
(2) In the species richness map below, please target the quarter degree grid squares which are NOT purple in colour. For these non-purple squares we do not have enough records of the different species that occur there, i.e. they are currently species-poor squares. We need your help to improve the species counts (richness) for these cells. So, when you are at a locality, please try get photos of as many of the different species that occur there, which may mean that you would have to spend some time looking around to survey the area properly. |
|
(NB: this is a real time species richness map.) |
SABCA would like to thank the following citizen scientists for their contributions during the past three months - some of the most recent submissions have not been processed yet and thus have not been considered here (see previous newsletters for previous contributions):
As determined by our ID expert panel, here follow a selection of interesting records or great photos received recently:
 Good record. RA Rowswell Eretis djaelaelae Marbled elf |
 Nice dry season form. J Hill Precis antilope Darker commodore |
 Good upperside shot - rare with Aloeides. CK Willis Aloeides swanepoeli Swanepoel's copper |
 Difficult to photograph. R Jones Spialia sataspes Boland sandman |
 Difficult to photograph. D Maphisa Kedestes mohozutza Fulvous ranger |
 Difficult to photograph.. MD & EJ Galpin Antanartia hippomene hippomene Southern short-tailed admiral |
 Nice photo. J & Y Dode Aloeides dentatis dentatis Roodepoort copper |
 Nice photo. IC & A Sharp Hypolycaena caeculus tsodiloensis Azure hairstreak |
 Nice photo. S van Noort Chrysoritis thysbe psyche Common opal |
 Nice photo. P Sharland Lampides boeticus Pea blue |
 Nice photo. A Hankey Iolaus trimeni Trimen's sapphire |
 Nice photo. P Webb Cigaritis namaqua Namaqua bar |
 Nice photo. JJ & E Serfontein Colotis danae annae Scarlet tip |
 Nice photo. CK Willis Metisella meninx Marsh sylph |
 Nice photo. CK Willis Eicochrysops messapus messapus Cupreous blue |
The total number of records from historical collections uploaded into the SABCA database now stands at 69 800 (this does not include virtual museum and field survey records). Our priority at the moment is to get all museum data uploaded before tackling the final processing of private collections. The latest batch of records uploaded come from the Transvaal (Swanepoel collection and the Satyrina) and South African Museums, as well as from the Skukuza Biological Reference Collection. All are thanked for contributing their data. We are also in the process of digitising literature records which will be included in the SABCA database.
The next few months, up until May 2010, will see us uploading tens of thousands more data records so that we can meet our target (more likely 300 000 instead of 450 000). The pressure is on to meet the May deadline! Thereafter we have a few months to finalise the distribution maps so that our authors can complete their species assessments by October 2010. Once the assessments are done, our editors will be hard at work to finalise the product (Red Data Book and Atlas) by March 2011.
Lungelo Ndaba, one of our data technicians who has been with us since March 2008, has reached the end of his contract with us. We'd like to thank Lungelo for all his hard work in digitising and geo-referencing thousands of records, and to wish him well with his future.
Laurenda van Breda, our full-time data technician, has returned from her trip to the African Butterfly Research Institute in Kenya, where she was based for two months to digitise the southern Africa specimens housed there - she probably managed to digitise about a third of the specimens. SABCA would like to thank ABRI for hosting her two-month stay in Kenya. Laurenda has this to say about her time in Kenya:
"I received the news to go to Kenya to work at the African Butterfly Research Institute (ABRI) and I literally jumped up and down from excitement. I had to digitize as many South African records from the ABRI collection as I could over a period of 2 months (23 Sep - 23 Nov). They mostly deal with non-South African butterflies but there is a small percentage there from donated collections.
I had a comfortable flight to Nairobi with aircon and friendly service. As I looked out the window approaching the airport, everything looked so dry and brown. None the less I was still excited to be experiencing a new place. I started getting worried once we got off the plane because it felt like a heat wave hit me and I discovered the airport had no aircon. People and their kids were sitting on the floors everywhere and I was thinking, aren’t here chairs or waiting areas? I found my taxi and immediately started learning my basic Swahili greetings and useful words. It was quite a culture shock to see how poor some parts of Nairobi were. And the poor starving animals, they literally collapse alongside the road from heat and hunger due to the drought. After about an hour of driving the treacherous roads we reached the Collins’ home and ABRI. I was immediately made to feel welcome and quickly settled in.
I was very excited to see ABRI as I had this idealized image in my mind that it would be something similar to the Butterfly World at Klapmuts near Stellenbosch. That image was quickly shattered when I was informed that it had to be closed down: There used to be an education centre, a flying house where up to a thousand butterflies would fly in about a 500 cubic meter space and a butterfly bus which brought between 50-100 underprivileged children in a day. Unfortunately the Kenyan Government did not see this centre as a priority to support, and after five years it was closed down.
However, ABRI still remains open to research and they publish about one book annually on some aspect of African Butterflies. It was impressive to see their set-up. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the amount of specimens being kept there. The ABRI collection consists of about a million pinned specimens, and possibly the same number of papers. It is the most complete holding of African butterflies in the world, and essential for any student of African Butterflies as a reference point. I was shocked to hear that the South African specimens only contributed to about 2% of the entire collection. Just a tiny drop in the ocean. That's when the enormity of the task at hand dawned on me, but I was ready to tackle it head on. I did not however expect the task to tackle me back with countless problems ranging from my laptop to power cuts. I couldn’t figure out why my laptop was working so slowly and shutting down but I later found out that apparently the hard drive was busy crashing. I was really lucky it didn’t crash while I was busy with the collection. As for the power cuts - if you thought our power cuts were annoying, think again. Every second day we were without electricity during the day and the generator also happened to be "out of order" at the time. The laptop had about 4hrs maximum battery power so the rest of the day I had to work manually (i.e. pen and paper) and enter it onto the laptop when the power went back on. I was worried about my progress but tried to make the best of the situation. In the end I managed to digitize a total of 13 300 specimens.
During my stay there I was introduced to Dr Torben Larsen and Hermann Staude. Dr Larsen was busy studying some specimens for his new book and Herman Staude and his son Pierre were on a moth collecting trip. It was very interesting to chat to them and to hear about their work and collecting experiences. The interesting thing about living at the Collins’ place was the wildlife on their huge property. I saw a family of vervet monkeys, squirrels, hyraxes, ibises, raptors and my absolute favourite, bush babies. All in all, I can say it was a wonderful new experience. I would like to thank SABCA for giving me such an amazing opportunity and the Collins’ for their hospitality and friendliness."
LepSoc - New website
LepSoc recently launched their new-look website: www.lepsoc.org.za. Take some time to visit this website, it's full of interesting information. Also consider becoming a member of LepSoc - there are active branches in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
SABCA Acknowledgements
SABCA would not be possible without the support of a large number of institutions and the participation of numerous citizen scientists. Please click here to view our acknowledgements.
SABCA data use terms
SABCA's website has a whole lot of information that you may want to use, e.g. maps, photos from the virtual museum, text. Please be aware that any use of information on the SABCA website must be acknowledged. Please click here to view our data use terms and our acknowledgement protocols.
Birds and climate change booklet
The Animal Demography Unit (ADU) has just recently launched the Birds and Environmental Change booklet, together with SANBI and supported by the Royal Danish Embassy. It's an excellent booklet with interesting and easy-to-read examples of birds and the impacts of climate change. Please click here to access a copy of the booklet (pdf, 1.7MB). Once SABCA is completed, the baseline data could be used towards looking at the impact of climate change on our butterflies - there are sure to be good examples.
Please remember to visit the SABCA website for previous newsletters and extra information:
http://butterflies.adu.org.za
Thank you all for your interest and participation! Wishing you all the best for the festive season.
Silvia Mecenero
SABCA Project Coordinator
Email:
Tel: 021 650 3426
[
Last updated: June 2008.
Page served: July 31, 2010, 10:18 +0200]
© Animal Demography Unit 2010
Department of Zoology -
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
Fax number: (021) 650-3434 (best) or 689-7578 or 650-3726
Enquiries: Phone: (021) 650-3426; Email: sabca [at] adu [dot] org [dot] za
