120 Years in 120 Objects
Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museumโs 120th year of orbiting the sun. Staff and guest curators have chosen one object or item per year of our existence to highlight to the public. Visit the website and our social media platforms regularly to see the latest object and keep an eye out for information about a physical exhibition later this year!
Todayโs Object is from 1971
โCome into my parlour, said the fly to the spiderโฆโ by John Midgley, Principal Curator of Natural Sciences
Most people know that spiders eat flies, but fewer know that flies also eat spiders. This specimen, from 1971, is a paratype of the spider fly Astomella minuta. Spider flies are terrible parents, laying thousands of eggs, most of which die early in life. The few larvae that survive do so by finding a spider and burrowing into its body, feeding on the internal organs until they are ready to pupate, and killing the spider in the process. Most adults live for a short time, just long enough to mate and lay eggs, but some live longer and are important pollinators in South African forest ecosystems.
Only 65 species of spider fly are known from Africa, about 15% of the species known globally. The KwaZulu-Natal Museum has a relatively large collection of 981 spider fly specimens representing 37 of the species from Africa, including 45 holotypes and paratypes. The collection is essential for studying the African fauna, helping us understand not only their classification but also their ecology and the role they play in the environment.
A paratype of Astomella minuta
