Cape Town – The Variegated legless skink has been taxonomically ‘demoted’. Once a valid described species, its position on the tree of life is now less prominent since its designation as a taxonomic ‘synonomy’. Skinks (family Scincidae) are the most diverse group of...
Cape Town – Despite being a tumultuous year due to the Covid pandemic, 2020 has seen the Foundational Biodiversity Information Programme (FBIP) reach an important milestone. The FBIP has breached the 1 million mark for species occurrence records submitted by...
A new flat mite species has been described for South Africa. It is the fifth South African species to be included in the genus grouping Obuloides which now comprises eight species. Mites are small arthropods belonging to the class Arachnida and the subclass Acari...
By Dane McDonald and Zimkita Mavumengwana Cape Town – We must not let where we come from dictate who we should be but rather strive by all means to be who we truly want to be, says Dr Lavhelesani Simba. Lavhelesani recently attained her PhD at Stellenbosch University...
By Dr David Marnevick South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, boasting important mammal species globally. To assist with species conservation, we are continuing with our project to provide a multi-scale inventory of South Africa’s mammals using cutting edge...
During dry times, birds in the Karoo descend to water and drinking troughs sometimes in their hundreds. But now competition between sheep and birds for access to this essential ingredient to life has another competitor: mining and industry, the most controversial of...
