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 2006
A New Family of Flies by Kirstin Williams, Chief Curator of Arthropoda
In 2006, Dr David Barraclough, a former employee in the Natural Science department of the museum, together with Dr David McAlpine of the Australian Museum, described a new family of fliesโNatalimyzidaeโtogether with a new genus, Natalimyza. New species are often described in the field of entomology, but the description of a new family is extremely rare which makes this a really important event! The name Natalimyza refers to the Natal Museum and the former Natal Province where most of the specimens were collected. The first species in this new family and genus is Natalimyza milleri which is named after Dr Ray Miller who collected the specimen that is designated as the holotype. The holotype and 45 paratypes are housed in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum entomology collection. These flies are extremely small โ being between 2.5 and 4.5 mm long.
