Alan J Gardiner

Southern African Wildlife College, South Africa · Wildlife Area Management

In southern Africa, termite diversity is especially well documented, with over 50 genera known to occur in the region. More specifically in Kruger National park, there are 28 genera that have been documented (Coaton, 1962; Davies et al., 2013). In this study, we characterised termite diversity (genus richness and functional diversity) along a singl...

In acknowledgement that the largely (para)militarized approach to anti-poaching has its limitations, alternative approaches to conservation law enforcement are being sought. One alternative focuses on including people from local communities in anti-poaching, what we call inclusive anti-poaching. Using a case study of a community scout programme fro...

In acknowledgement that the largely (para)militarized approach to anti-poaching has its limitations, alternative approaches to conservation law enforcement are being sought. One alternative focuses on including people from local communities in anti-poaching, what we call inclusive anti-poaching. Using a case study of a community scout programme fro...

Erikssonia edgei Gardiner & Terblanche no longer occurs at its type locality on the Tilodi Game Farm in the Waterberg, despite the presence of its known host plant and seemingly favourable veld conditions. New localities for E. edgei have been discovered at the Bateleur Nature Reserve (BNR) 50 km south by Mark and Tildie Williams, and this provides...

Background/Question/Methods Termites (Isoptera) play an important role as ecosystem engineers in savannas by altering and maintaining soil moisture and nutrient concentrations. They use soil selectively to construct nests and mounds that vary in shape and size both within and between species. Mound building termites including Macrotermes generall...

The size-grain hypothesis (SGH) maintains that as terrestrial walking organisms decrease in size, their realised environmental rugosity,—the amount of habitat available for colonization— increases and becomes less planar. Therefore, it is hypothesised that the advantage of long limbs (i.e. increased efficiency of movement) may decrease in smaller o...

Terminology for the lycaenid ground plan and wing pattern is examined. A terminology that can be used in both taxonomic and developmental work is suggested.

The taxonomy of the genus Erikssonia Trimen, 1891 is reviewed. Three species are recognized in the genus: E. acraeina Trimen, 1891, E. cooksoni Druce, 1905, and one species which is newly described from South Africa, namely E. edgei sp. n. Erikssonia alaponoxa Henning & Henning, 2001 is synonymized with E. acraeina Trimen, 1891. Biological informat...

Seasonal outbreaks of mopane worms, caterpillars of the moth Imbrasia belina, provide an important source of income and food for rural people in the semi-arid woodlands of southern Africa. Outbreaks are erratic and periodically fail to produce caterpillars of harvestable size, which has generated interest in a new technology for domestic farming of...

Two species of athetine rove beetles are recorded from Inaccessible Island, in the Tristan da Cunha group of islands in the South Atlantic for the first time. One species, Halobrecta flavipes Thomson, represents a new introduction possibly from the Palearctic region, and the other species, Atheta (Xenota) pseudoinsulana Klimaszewski, new species, i...

Ficus modesta F. White and Ficus cyathistipula cyathistipula Warburg are recorded for the first time from Mozambique. The new records from Mount Namuli in Zambezia Province extend the known distribution of F. modesta 160 km east and that of F. cyathistipula 550 km southeast. Fig species richness for Mozambique is elevated to 35 species, which thus...