Flowering wattle attracts unexpected insect attention
During the recent biodiversity surveys in the park in the first week of November, some members of scientific services were surprised to discover the African wattle trees (Peltophorum africanum) buzzing with unusual insect life. Guin Zambatis took a closer look at the flowers and noticed that they were full of distinctive flies with red heads.
The flies are known as Bromophila caffra, and belong to the family Platysomatidae and are commonly known as “Platysomatid flies”. “Platy” originates from Latin and means broad and “soma” refers to the body. Guin’s quick look in Scholtz and Holm’s ‘Insects of Southern Africa’ revealed that in southern Africa about 19 Platysomatidae genera occur which are made up of 80 species. The adults are attracted to flowers, decaying fruit, mammalian faeces, human wounds and decomposing snails.
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