John Mark Midgley

• PhD
• Managing Director at Kwazulu-Natal Museum

The Afrotropical spider fly genus Africaterphis Schlinger, 1968 (Acroceridae, Philopotinae) is revised, including the description of Africaterphis stefanfoordisp. nov., bringing the total number of species in the genus to three.

The present corrigendum corrects figure numbers that were incorrect in Midgley et al. (2024).

The hover fly (Diptera: Syrphidae) genus Afroxanthandrus Kassebeer, 2000 is revised based on morphological and molecular characters. Two new species, Afroxanthandrus comorosensis sp. nov., and Afroxanthandrus conopeum sp. nov. are described, while Xanthandrus magnificus Thompson, 2019 is a new junior synonym of Afroxanthandrus congensis (Curran, 19...

The Afrotropical hoverflies belonging to the genus Mallota Meigen, 1822 (Diptera: Syrphidae) are revised. Ten species are recognized, of which four are new to science: Mallota glabra sp. nov., M. hircus sp. nov., M. wyatti sp. nov. and M. stipulata sp. nov. Merodon edentulus Macquart, 1855 is considered a junior synonym of Eristalis dasyops Wiedema...

The Kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa is entirely bordered by South Africa, with which it shares many geological and vegetation types, but the vast extent of alpine vegetation and high altitudes suggests that differences in insect diversity should be expected. Globally, the Diptera are one of the most diverse orders of insects, though biodivers...

The genus Atherimorpha White, 1915 is a Gondwanan relic, occurring in South America, Southern Africa and Australia. Females are rarely collected, and are not described for more than half of the known species. The female of Atherimorpha latipennis Stuckenberg, 1956 was collected for the first time in 2021 and is described here, along with a redescri...

The Genus Atherimorpha White 1915 is a Gondwanan relic, occurring in South America, Southern Africa and Australia. Females are rarely collected and in more than half of the known species are not described. The female of Atherimorpha latipennis Stuckenberg 1956 was collected for the first time in 2021 and is described here, along with a redescriptio...

To celebrate the 80 th birthday of Jason G.H. Londt, we present a collection of articles in his honour. This introduction includes a summary of Jason’s life and career, an overview of the articles in the Festschrift, lists of his scientific and popular publications and a list of species named in his honour. Jason’s contribution to Mecoptera and Asi...

A new species of Bittacus Latreille, 1805 is described based on two specimens from Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Bittacus londti sp. nov. is the second known Afrotropical Bittacus with a femoral bulla and brings the number of species known from Mozambique to four. A distribution map for these species is provided.

Amphoterus Bezzi, 1915 is a genus of rarely collected Afrotropical hover flies (Diptera, Syrphidae). We present the first description of the female of A. braunsi van Doesburg, 1956, redescribe the males of A. braunsi van Doesburg, 1956 and A. cribratus Bezzi, 1915, and describe a new species, A. londti sp. nov. We also provide the first colour phot...

A new species of tiger fly, Coenosia curiosa sp. nov., is described from the Kingdom of Lesotho. It is also the first record of the genus for Lesotho. An identification key is provided for the C. globuliseta-group, which now includes four species with aberrant males that have enlarged apically globular frontal setae, thus far known only from southe...

Many flies have specially evolved feeding mechanisms to imbibe liquids of specific viscosities. Observations of feeding on atypical liquids are notable because of their rarity. We report the first record of intrusive fluid feeding on vertebrate carrion by Philoliche rondani .

South African marine biogeography has received a great deal of attention in the past. However, offshore biogeographic breaks are based on abiotic variables or specialist opinion rather than data-driven approaches. Here we investigate biogeographic breaks based on the distribution of offshore marine benthic molluscs collected during the Natal Museum...

The African endemic hover fly Meromacroides meromacriformis (Bezzi, 1915) (Syrphidae, Eristalinae) was described more than a century ago and its monotypic status established in 1927, but subsequent collections and publications are rare. Only the male has been described and nothing is known about its biology. We re-describe the male, including geogr...

Sap beetles of the genus Omosita Erichson are stored-product pests that are also associated with carrion, potentially making them biosecurity risks and forensic tools. The discovery of a specimen of the Nearctic species Omosita nearctica Kirejtshuk in South Africa prompted an investigation a decade later to determine if this species had established...

Environmental fluctuations, such as changes in climate, agricultural management and anthropogenic land-use patterns can affect the diversity of organisms inhabiting an area. Losses of biodiversity alter ecosystems processes, eroding their capacity to deliver ecosystem services. Dung beetles are critical ecosystem service providers, making them an i...

Accurate age estimates of immature necrophagous insects associated with a human or animal body can provide evidence of how long the body has been dead. These estimates are based on species-specific details of the insects’ aging processes, and therefore require accurate species identification and developmental stage estimation. Many professionals wh...

Long-proboscid nemestrinid flies are keystone pollinators of dozens of Southern African plants and, consequently, their taxonomic status might have important consequences for insect and plant conservation. We focus on Prosoeca peringueyi, considered to be a single, morphologically variable species, upon which a guild of ~28 plants in the winter rai...

During 2015 and 2016 several baboon spider specimens (Araneae: Theraphosidae) were collected in central Angola during surveys undertaken for the Okavango Wilderness Project. These collections represent range and habitat extensions for Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897, Ceratogyrus Pocock, 1897 and Phoneyusa Karsch, 1884. The new species Ceratogyrusattonit...

Thanatophilus micans and T. mutilatus have significance for forensic entomology. Their larvae are therefore described and a key is provided for identifying the larvae of Afrotropical Silphidae based on morphological characters. It is shown that seven common species of Thanatophilus can be distinguished by a 360 bp mtDNA sequence from the cytochrome...

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009;...

This plot is not part of the published stance but derives from it. The plot shows the number of authors by geographic region (courtesy of Dr. Diego Astua).

The potential economic and energy security opportunities of a medium to large shale gas resource could be substantial for South Africa; as are both the potential social and environmental risks associated with a domestic gas industry in the Central Karoo. The development of shale gas using vertical and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or...

In biological monitoring, deploying an effective standardised quantitative sampling method, optimised by trap design and sampling effort, is an essential consideration. To exemplify this using dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) communities, three pitfall trap designs (un-baited (TN), baited at ground level (flat tra...

Despite being taxonomically and phylogenetically informative, the morphology of the immature stages of cicadas has received comparatively superficial attention. One reason for this is the difficulty of positively identifying immature stages, particularly as these stages are fossorial. We present a method for identifying cicada exuviae using DNA seq...

Some beetles are as useful as blow flies for estimating the minimum post mortem interval (PMImin) or time since death. Examples include Thanatophilus micans (Fabricius) and Thanatophilus mutilatus (Castelneau), two geographically and ecologically overlapping African beetles. Molecular means of identifying these species, descriptions of their natura...

Exuviae of the cicada Pycna semiclara were found next to freshly eclosed adults. The exuvium of Pycna semiclara is described and illustrated for the first time and a key is presented to distinguish the exuvium of this species from those of Platypleura stridula and Platypleura capensis, the only other species of cicadas from southern Africa for whic...

Exuviae of the cicada �Pycna semiclara �were found next to freshly eclosed adults. The exuvium of �Pycna semiclara �is described and illustrated for the first time and a key is presented to distinguish the exuvium of this species from those of �Platypleura stridula �and �Platypleura capensis�, which are the only other species of cicadas from southe...

Records of African beetles feeding on carrion are scattered and incomplete, but important to forensic entomology. Thirty-three specimens of Frankenbergerius forcipatus (Harold, 1881) were found on carrion near Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, providing new insight into the distribution (hills and mountains), habitat (fynbos and forest), bio...

Forensic entomology is a developing field of forensic science, so there are many avenues to investigate. These avenues include novel directions that have never been addressed, as well as more critical and rigorous research into areas which have already been explored. Most research in forensic entomology has focused on flies, and beetles (Coleoptera...

Medicocriminal forensic entomology focuses primarily on providing evidence of the amount of time that a corpse or carcass has been exposed to colonization by insects, which helps to estimate the post mortem interval (PMI). Specifically, the estimate is of a minimum post mortem interval (PMImin), because death may occur a variable amount of time bef...

Thanatophilus micans is capable of finding corpses at least as quickly as most fly species and, as the most widespread species of the Silphidae in Africa, offers a useful model for estimating post-mortem interval. Larvae were reared at ten constant temperatures from 15 degrees C to 35 degrees C and their length measured at 4, 8, or 12-h intervals d...

It is recommended that insect larvae collected for forensic purposes should be killed using the same method as was used to create existing models for rate of development. Certain killing methods have been shown to be preferable because they cause less distortion of the specimens, but these are not always practicable in a particular case, and so a m...

Chicory, Chicorium intybus L. (Compositae), is a major field crop in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Several pests feed on the leaves of the plant, resulting in reduced yield. The most important of these are the noctuid moths Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), Chrysodeixis acuta (Walker), and Trichoplusia orichalcea (F.). The use of attract-...

Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (Martius) Solms-Laubach (Pontederiaceae), forms thick mats that affect water resource utilisation, but little is known about its impacts on biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. The benthic invertebrate community and algal biomass were sampled under water hyacinth mats and in water hyacinth-free water over a 13-mo...

The forensic application of entomology is well known, but it is generally a field which concentrates on Diptera. Many Coleoptera also have forensic application, but are generally neglected by forensic entomology researchers. Necrophilic Coleoptera are diverse and therefore have application in estimating Post-Mortem Interval (PMI) by community compo...