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Common insects of the Kruger National Park
Last month, we introduced insects to our blog. They are indeed a fascinating group and ought to receive more attention and love than they get….
Southern Africa is home to some 80 000 species of insects, many of them tiny and seemingly insignificant, but others large and conspicuous. At the risk of being fickle, I’ll concentrate on some of the more interesting insects in this blog in an attempt to sow the seeds that may hopefully grow a greater interest in entomology.
Mopani worms
Mopani worms aren’t worms at all, they’re caterpillars. Strictly speaking, they are the larval form of the emperor moth Imbrasia belina. Mopani worms, when fully grown and prior to metamorphosis, are fat, colourful and spikey and can be found predominantly on mopani trees (but also on other tree species such as the marula) where they spend their days sating their voracious appetites. Once metamorphosed, the adult emperor moth – no less impressive – emerges as a large brown moth with colourful eye-spots on its hind wings. The eye spots are surrounded by concentric rings resembling the rings of Saturn and thus give rise to their family name, Saturnidae. Mopani worms are harvested by locals in rural areas and eaten as a protein supplement. They’re an acquired taste and the famous line from the first Crocodile Dundee movie (“You can live off it but it tastes like sh*t”) can easily be applied.
Matabele ants
These ants are large, growing up to 17mm in length, and are normally seen crossing a road in a long column sometimes up to 1,5m in length. On closer inspection, you will see two size morphs, the smaller being around 10mm in length. Matabele ants are the main predator of termites and hunt by raiding termite nests en masse, carrying off their prey to be consumed by their colony. Ants are related to bees and wasps, so Matabele ants possess a powerful sting which they use to subdue their prey. Although not harmful to humans, the stings are incredibly painful! They are sometimes called hissing ants as when disturbed the column makes a hissing/rustling sound to warn the would-be agitator. They are named after the Matabele tribe of Zimbabwe who would attack and raid neighbouring villages in a similar fashion carrying off their bounty and prisoners.
Dung beetles
These chaps are perhaps the best known insect in the bush, recognised for pushing enormous dung balls with their hind legs. Southern Africa has approximately 780 species of dung beetle and not all of them are rollers. There are four groups of dung beetles according to the manner in which they deal with their dung, namely dwellers, tunnellers, rollers and thieves. Dung beetles will appear in a blog of their own in the future where these differences will be explained. Essentially though, dung beetles play an important ecological role by distributing and burying more than one ton of dung per hectare per year and in doing so, remove animal wastes (which contain parasite eggs), fertilise the soil and distribute seeds compacted into the dung balls.
Fungus-growing termites
The mammoth termite mounds you see scattered about the Kruger Park are the work of the fungus-growing termite, Macrotermes natalensis. Their mound is significant as not all termites build such structures. Many termite species are subterranean and are seldom seen. But these enormous mounds are the work of millions of individuals moving soil particle by particle to create their home many tons in weight. Some mounds are in excess of 2m in height and are so numerous in certain parts of the Kruger Park that their collective numbers are visible from as high as 10km in the sky. Simply take a look at the Kruger Park from Google Earth just east of the Phalaborwa Gate – all those white ‘pock-marks’ you see are termite mounds. As with the dung beetle, termites offer too much information to be consumed at one sitting so I’ll be covering them in their own blog in the future.
You simply can’t deny that insects are an absorbing bunch and the more you read about them the more you can’t help but be fascinated. Time and space limits me in this blog but there’s no stopping you from doing your own further reading.
Please feel free to drop me a line at dave@bushveldterrace.co.za for my recommendations on insect literature.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”4879″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”right”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Dave Turner
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