Dr. Christiane Weirauch Dr. Randall T Schuh Dr. Gerry Cassis

South African Field trip October 2003

The first PBI funded field trip from the 13th of October to the 21st of November included PI Randall (Toby) Schuh, Co-PI Gerry Cassis & Post-Doc Christiane Weirauch.

South Africa

The shaded area shows where plant bugs were collected on this trip.

The field team visited the South African Museum in Cape Town (shown here) after having studied the collections of the Plant Protection Research institute in Pretoria.

The Compton Herbarium at the Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town provided host plant identifications for all material collected in South Africa.

Gerry & Christiane discuss logistics of upcoming fieldwork at the Little Scotia Guesthouse in Cape Town.

Gerry in the field collecting in typical fynbos vegetation on the eastern margin of False Bay near Cape Town.

Toby in the field collecting on Pelargonium cucullatum, a rich host group in the Western Cape.

Gerry & Christiane discussing their catch during a lunch break.

Gerry & Christiane organizing collected material in the field.

The Quartz Fields, southwest of Kamieskroon in north central Namaqualand, an area of endemism in the local flora.

A granitic outcrop southeast of Kamieskroon. Such environments provided excellent collecting opportunities because of their extensive plant diversity.

Although the vegetation in Namaqualand may appear dry and inhospitable the PBI team members documented substantial bug diversity at this and other similar environments.

Vegetational variation encountered on slopes and “koppies” (seen in the background of this photo) revealed the diversity of the Namaqualand bug fauna.

Sandvelt vegetation, dominated by papilionoid legumes, near Clanwilliam. Such environments were a rich source of the endemic plant bug genus Pseudosthenarus.

A montane valley in the Little Karoo near Calitzdorp provided a graphic example of the geologic strata in the Cape Fold Mountains.

Widdringtonia, a native genus of Cupressaceae from the fold mountains of the Western Cape, host of the plant bug genus Widdringtonio and other endemic Heteroptera.

A white flowered member of the Mesembryanthemaceae, host of the endemic phyline plant bug genus Eminoculus.

A rain-shadowed area on the southern margins of the Little Karoo, that harbored an unexpected diversity of plant bug species.

An area rich in plant bug species found feeding on asteraceous ground cover (foreground), Acacia karoo (center) and the loranthaceous parasite, the last serving as host for an undescribed Hypseloecus species.

Detailed view of Oncosiphon piliferum shown in the previous slide.

A detailed view of the flowers of Aspalathus excelsa. Host of the plant bug genus Pseudosthenarus sp. From the south coast near Hermanus.

Dune vegetation in the de Hoop Nature Reserve on the south coast.

The extensive flowering in this area provided a rich source of plant bug species.

Please see collecting demonstration videos under METHODS.

Pelargonium cucullatum is a host of a new species of phyline plant bug with coloration closely matching that of the flowers

Trip Results:Trip Results:

• ~10,000 plant bugs collected~10,000 plant bugs collected

• At least 100 new species discoveredAt least 100 new species discovered

• ~260 host plants documented~260 host plants documented