Wynberg Cave, Search for Pseudoscorpions

The object of the trip was to collect pseudoscorpions for Mark Harvey and Danilo Harms in Australia.  They arranged all the permits with SANParks, so Anthony Hitchcock and I went to look for the elusive beasts.  While there, we took the opportunity to see what else we could see.

The trip up the mountain was uneventful, but the scenery was spectacular.  The Peninsula was covered in mist below the level of Constantia Nek and clear above.  From the top of the Wynberg Cave Ridge, Consantiaberg, Muizenberg and the mountains behind Simonstown could be seen jutting out of the clouds. We entered Wynberg Cave via Exit and our search started just below the knotted rope.

Station 1: The first place we stopped to look for specimens was near Wynberg Exit between the rope and the bridge.  The station was about 15m below the surface, and well into the dark zone.  The passage was no more than 2m wide, with a high ceiling and a steep drop off on one side.

Station 1: Here, we observed the following:

• minute white spider (probably Hahniidae, see pictures below)
• woodlouse
• dark body harvestman  (probably Speliosiro argasiformis, but I did not know it then!)
• pseudocentipede (symphylan)
• orange harvestman (Picture here)

Station 2: Near drop off along same passage, we found

• small purple and brown collembola (Pictures Here)
• torpedo beetles (Picture here)

Station 3: Plutos Hall

On the sandy floor at the narrow end of Pluto's Hall, we found two frogs.  The Banded Stream Frog, and the Table Mountain Ghost Frog.  When disturbed, the Banded Stream Frog tried to escape by pressing itself into the sand against the cave wall.  The Ghost frog attempted to climb up the damp, near vertical cave wall.

The whole area was teeming with Cave Crickets, many of them quite small, so if thats what the frogs eat, there was lots food about.

Under the rocks at the bottom of the climb down from the Main Entrance, we found an orange centipede, about 20 mm long.  GE thinks it may be a new species.  We also photographed the following:

• Banded stream frog,
• Ghost frog.
• Centipede
• Transparent "Blue legged" spider.  

The "Blue legged" spider is about 1.5mm long, and extremely fast. In the photographs, the spider appears to be transparent, but from certain angles the spider also appears to have blue legs.  It is probably Hahniidae

Station 4: Muddy bottom of south series

The bottom of the South Series passage is covered in thick glutinous mud.  A clear streamlet cuts through the mud to a layer of white sand below.  In this stream we found what we think is an Isopod Protojanira The animal is between 1mm and 2mm long and is quite difficult to see.

Although we managed to photograph many species, some of which we have not yet had identified, we were not able to find the pseudoscorpion which was our original target.

• Where: Wynberg Cave, bugs
• Party: anh, pgs
• RIP:20110515-01 Wynberg Cave