The Hoverfly (Pelloloma nigrifacies) by Werner Barkemeyer
On 19 January 1963 Dr. Brian and Dr. Pamela Stuckenberg made a trip to the eastern slopes of the Naudesnek Pass where they collected insects for the Natal Museum at Pietermaritzburg. Among the many interesting little creatures that they found at altitudes of 2350-2525 m, were three specimens of hoverfly which they had never seen before.
A hoverfly is about the size of an ordinary housefly. It has a black face and a flat and mostly yellow back. The eyes of two of the specimens were separated but in the third specimen the eyes touched above the antennae. The Stuckenberg’s concluded that they had caught one male and two females of an insect that was unknown to science. The specimens were duly sent to Dr. Richard J. Vockeroth in Ottawa, Canada. Vockeroth is one of the leading hoverfly specialists in the world. The specimens had some very peculiar characteristics that precluded them from being placed in existing hoverfly genera. Having studied the flies from Naudesnek very carefully Vockeroth, concluded that these insects were indeed a new species. A new genus was accordingly established for the hoverflies from Naudesnek.
In 1973 Stuckenberg described each detail of the species in a scientific journal where it was formally named as Pelloloma nigrifacies. The male and a female specimen can be found in the collections of the Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg. The second female is in the Canadian National Collection of Insects in Ottawa.
Up to now Pelloloma nigrifacies has only been found at Naudesnek and nowhere else in the world. It is a rare species but is still living in the area. Not much is known about its life cycle however, it is most probable that the larvae feed on little insects such as greenflies. The diet of the adult hoverfly is pollen and nectar provided by a variety of plant species flowering in the area. Therefore, the adults can be found during the summer season only when they may be of some importance as a pollinator. In 2000, the German entomologist Christian F. Kassebeer published an article with the description of two more Pelloloma species from Ruwenzori and from Mount Kenya. All the three Pelloloma species form a group of hoverflies which only occur in Africa and which seem to be restricted to areas at high altitude. For more information on hoverflies, see www.biodiversityexplorer.org/insects/diptera/syrphidae/
The Bamboo Sylph (Metisella syrinx)
The Bamboo Sylph (Metisella syrinx) is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is a rare and highly localised species which is only known from the Eastern Cape, through southern Lesotho to the extreme south of KwaZulu-Natal. The wingspan is 32–34 mm for males and 32–37 for females. Adults are on wing from January to February. There is one generation per year. The larvae feed on Thamnocalamus tessellatus. Drakensberg bamboo, Berg bamboo or Drakensberg-bamboes.
Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Struik Publishers, 2005.
This butterfly is very rare but being of the Hesperiidae family, a skipper or skipper butterfly is a butterfly of the same family shown below. They are named after their quick, darting flight habits. There are more than 3500 recognized species of skippers and they occur worldwide, but with the greatest diversity in the Neotropical regions of Central and South America.