Introduction
Lurking in the cracks and crevices of Kalk Bay Mountain are small pockets of 'micro forests' with carpets of composting leafs on the floor. Some of the alcoves also hide the entrances to caves. Today's trip targeted a few of these caves.
Johalvin Cave and Styx Dungeon
Both of these caves are true forest floor extensions so we would expect to find similar species in the surface leaf litter, and in the cave. Due to time constraints, we only examined the cave environments.
To gain entry to Johalvin, one has to crawl through a boulder choke. The most common, visible, animals in this area were the snails on the walls and ceiling and the bristletails on the walls. The bristletails had extremely long antennae, which they kept folded back next to their bodies.
Commemoration Hall and Egyptian Cave
While these are not true 'Forest Floor' caves, both systems have their entrances surrounded by leaf litter and compost.
Comm Hall
Johalvin
Bristle tails
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/BristletailMeinertellidaeJohalvinCave2011121802
Rain frog
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/FrogBrevicepsMontanusRainFrogJohalvinCave2011121807
Blue snail
https://picasaweb.google.com/102360591899376678782/SnailEndodontidaeTrachycystisTollini20090208004Snail
Flat-backed millipedes
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146710
Woodlouse
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146709
Spider
http://za.ispot.org.uk/node/146708?nav=users_observations
Egyptian Cave
Styx Dungeon
Thursday 22 December 2011
Tuesday 13 December 2011
Peripatopsis alba & Paralamyctes
During a recent search for missing cavers, I covered a lot of cave passage in a very short time. While at the very bottom of Bat's Cave on Table Mountain, I found a Peripatopsis alba walking across damp sand at the edge of a 20 cm deep pool of water.(add date or at least month)
In the pool, a shrimp (awaiting ID) was eating the remains of another shrimp. There was another shrimp swimming around, and it appeared the two live shrimps were fighting over the remains of the third.
On the way out of Wynberg Cave, I found a Paralamyctes centipede. It was orange in colour and about 30mm long.
In the pool, a shrimp (awaiting ID) was eating the remains of another shrimp. There was another shrimp swimming around, and it appeared the two live shrimps were fighting over the remains of the third.
On the way out of Wynberg Cave, I found a Paralamyctes centipede. It was orange in colour and about 30mm long.
Saturday 5 November 2011
Wynberg Cave, in search of harvestmen
HARVESTMEN IN WYNBERG
Team: Gonzalo Giribet, Benjamin de Bivort, Anthony Hitchcock, Peter Swart
Observation tag: 20111105
Acknowledgement: All of the photographs taken on this trip were taken by Gonzalo Giribet.
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| Speliosiro argasiformis |
Gonzalo Giribet and Benjamin de Bivort were visiting from Harvard University, with the intention of sampling various harvestmen (Opiliones) from around South Africa. They asked Anthony and I to accompany them to Wynberg Cave to see if we could find a specific harvestman, Speliosiro argasiformis. This small creature had not been recorded for many years and Gonzalo was anxious to see if it was still around in order to add another data point to the geo-genetic studies he has been doing.
Just arriving at the cave entrance seemed to raise Gonzalo's spirits, as he had read so much about the cave and its invertebrate inhabitants for so long. The question remained whether we would find his Speliosiro.
After entering the cave via what is traditionally known as the exit, Anthony made his way along the passage just below the hanging rope, to the place where we had found some harvestmen and some collembola on our previous bug hunting trip.
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| Healthy Speliosiro community. |
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| Orange harvestman |
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| White harvestman |
Before moving to the next cave, we went looking for the tiny isopods we had found on our previous trips. These are less than 2mm long and are possibly Protojanieria.
After all the excitement of Wynberg Cave, we made our way across to Vivarium. The only animals of interest there were the
Speleogriphus lepidops.
INUKSHUK
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| Peripatopsis alba |
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| Pseudo scorpion |
This proved to be an excellent choice to finish off the day as Gonzalo found an 8mm long pseudo scorpion and a Peripatopsis alba. Both of these animals were approximately 4m below the surface, and very close to the twightlight zone of the cave.
These are only a few of the animals we found. There were at least 3 other species of harvestmen that we found in the forest litter at Wynberg Cave exit and near the entrance to Inukshuk Cave.
Sunday 23 October 2011
Boomslang Cave, Bats
There were no bats in the Bat Chamber at the Exit end of the cave, nor in the side chamber behind the roost.
pgs
Sunday 15 May 2011
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:
Station 2: Near drop off along same passage, we found
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:
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.
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:
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
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