Namibian arthropods
Location: Namibia (see above)
November 15, 2011 12:44 pm
Can you please name these.All pictures were taken in April 2011 in Namibia.
The cricket was taken in the Etendeke Mountain camp close to Palmwag. The other 2 images were taken at Durstenbruck farm north of Windhoek.
Signature: Roger Pinkney
Dear Roger,
Your photos are beautiful, but this is a tall order. We identified this Golden Silk Spider in the genus Nephila quite quickly, however, we expect your other arthropods will take more time. We have always called spiders in the genus Nephila Golden Silk Spiders because their very strong webs are spun of golden silk. We have a single new world species, Nephila clavipes. We found Nephila senegalense pictured on the Spider Club of Southern Africa website, and armed with that name, we found this beautiful stamp on the Stamp Collectors Catalogue. We will attend to your other identification requests in the morning.
Dear Daniel, Many thanks for your 3 messages and all the details they contain. I’m not e-maiing from Namibia but from the U.K. but the delay in responding is because we don’t have the computer on daily. I’ve attached to this message 2 more photos not for identification as I believe they are of a Death’s Head Hawkmoth Caterpiller but I hoped you might like to see them or use them.
I wonder however if I may submit 2 further pictures for identification, again both taken in Namibia.
Kind regards, Roger.
Hi again Roger,
We will try our best to identify anything you send to us if time allows. Our readership enjoys reading about details surrounding particular sightings, and that is what your original email was lacking because you attached three completely different and unrelated (except for being from Namibia) creatures. In the future, please limit the attached photos to a single species per email and please use our standard form. If you can recall the time of year, time of day or any other relevant details, that would be wonderful. You may also add details regarding the three previous photos by attaching comments to the postings we have already made.