Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa - Volume 22, Issue 2, October 1959

This paper presents the results of two fairly short collecting trips made during the early part of 1958. The one trip was by way of Middelburg Cape, along the eastern edge of the Upper Central Karroo, through Grahamstown and southwards along the coastal forests to Knysna. The other trip included two ecologically different areas situated along the Zoutpansberg Mountains of the Northern Transvaal: one in a high rainfall mountain forest and the other in dry bushveld thorn scrub.

Although the genus Systoechus is well represented in Africa the vast majority of the species are recorded from Southern Africa. There appear to be only four species recorded from East Africa: exilipes Bezzi, from Kenya and Ethiopia, mixtus Wiedemann from Kenya, somali Oldroyd from Somalia and Kenya, and vulpinus Becker from Ethiopia (and also Aden and Arabia). However, Hesse (1938) has separated no less than seven distinct forms from series determined as mixtus Wied. by various authorities, and has also shown that it is extremely unlikely that palaearctic forms also occur in the ""Ethiopian"" region.

The Mooi River (Potchefstroom) is formed mainly by dolomite springs, one of which is on the farm Gerhardminnebron, 14 miles N.E. of Potchefstroom. The stones in the spring are covered with aquatic mosses while the central part of the spring, which has mainly a sandy bottom, has a growth of Nasturtium officinale R.Br. Watermites, mostly Thayasidae, were found chiefly amongst the roots of the water cress, and to a lesser extent in the moss.

The following notes on the early stages of Poecilmitis brooksi Riley 1 refer to material found in past years and deal rather briefly with only the principal features of the life-history of this butterfly. When visiting Tygerberg on 18th April, 1936, specimens of the imago were observed on a certain piece of open ground on which a vigorous colony of the butterfly then existed but which has since disappeared owing to intensive cultivation of the area. One female was seen to lay eggs on a common, prickly, yellow-flowered shrub, Aspalathus spinosa L. (Leguminosae), the eggs being deposited singly with intervals of a few minutes between the laying of each one.

Ten species are descriptionbed, Tenuipalpus ovalis being new to science. Keys to the genera and species parasitic on South African plants are given. Each descriptionption is provided with a list of the known host plants.

This taxonomic study comprises a general review of the distribution, classification and external morphology of the phytophagous Tetranychidae of South Africa. Sixteen species are descriptionbed of which Oligonychus proteae and Parapetrobia (n.gen.) capensis are new to science. Keys to the genera and species are given and a list of the known host plants follows the descriptionption of each species.

About two years ago Dr. P. Basilewsky, Chief of the Entomological Section in the Royal Museum of the Belgian Congo, Tervuren, Belgium, kindly sent me a large collection of Thysanoptera (in alcohol) from the Congo for identification. Recently he has also loaned me some of Priesner's types (mounted on slides) for comparison with the unidentified material. Some of this Congo material is dealt with below.

The following descriptionptions are published in order to provide nomenclatural status to two new species of Margarodidae from Kenya submitted to Dr. S. Hughes-Schrader of the Columbia University, New York, for cytological investigation. The holotype of each species has been deposited in the British Museum (Natural History), London; one paratype in the U.S. National Collection of Coccidae, Washington, D. C. The remainder are in the collection of the Department of Agriculture, Nairobi, Kenya.

Through the kindness of Dr. R. Paulian, le Directeur-Adjoint de l'Institut de Recherche Scientifique in Tananarive, Madagascar, I have been able to study a small collection of thrips taken by Dr. Paulian in September 1958 on Glorioso Island (Iles Glorieuses), a small coral island about 125 miles (210 km) west of Cap d'Ambre, Madagascar. The material consists of three species, belonging respectively, in the order in which they are discussed below, to the three families Aeolothripidae, Thripidae and Phlaeothripidae.

Depuis la publication par Zumpt (1950) d'une cl� des Laelaps d'Afrique, nos connaissances se sont consid�rablement accrues sur cette famille d'acariens. 16 esp�ces �taient alors connues; actuellement, gr�ce � des prospections poursuivies notamment en Afrique Centrale

In den Jahren 1956 und 1957 sammelte Herr Dr. Sch�ll Blattl�use in verschiedenen Teilen der S�dafrikanischen Union. Die Ergebnisse dieser Sammelt�tigkeit wurden in dieser Zeitschrift publiziert (M�ller & Sch�ll 1958). Unter dem eingetragenen Material befanden sich zwei bisher noch nicht bekannte Arten, deren Beschreibung hier gegeben wird.

The note by Dickson and Schofield (1958) on the migration of Belenois aurota (F.), as well as the comparative rarity of such an occurrence in Port Elizabeth, prompt me to record a migratory flight of this species recently observed there. On leaving my office in the western suburbs shortly after 12 noon on 31 January 1959, considerable numbers of white butterflies were to be seen on the wing and it became obvious immediately that the flight was purposeful and directional.

The new species descriptionbed in this paper all key out to Haemolaelaps mesopicos Radford in the key given by Zumpt and Till (1953) to the Ethiopian species of the genus Haemolaelaps. The redescriptionption of H. mesopicos is based on a series of mites collected in Natal. Dr. G. Owen Evans and Dr. J. G. Sheals of the British Museum have very kindly given me information regarding the type specimens, which has enabled me to assign the Natal series to Radford's species.

In the males of both of the two new species of Merothrips Hood 1912 descriptionbed below, gynaecoid and oedymerous specimens, hitherto unknown in the Suborder Terebrantia, have been recognized and descriptionbed. Prof. Dr. H. Priesner in Linz, Austria, kindly informed us by letter in September 1958 that no record of oedymerous males in this suborder was known to him in the literature.