120 Years in 120 Objects
Join the KwaZulu-Natal Museum in celebrating the museum’s 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!
Today’s Object is from 1943
Can a Career of 50 Years be summarized in a single specimen? by John Midgley, Assistant Director, Natural Sciences
Perhaps not, but some specimens tell more of a story than others do. This unassuming robber fly, the holotype of Neolophonotus kolochaetes, might have more stories to tell than most. Collected in 1943, it took over 40 years before it was recognized as a distinct species.
Neolophonotus is one of the largest genera of robber flies in Africa, with over 250 species recorded. The species are notoriously difficult to tell apart. The genus was revised by Dr Jason Londt in the 1980s, a task so great it took four scientific articles to complete. It is somewhat of a tribute to Jason, who spent 27 years at the museum (and 50 in total) working on robber flies. During this time, he described 585 new robber fly species and 46 new genera, many of which are stored in the KZN Museum collections. He also collected over 21,000 robber fly specimens, all of which are in the collections. Perhaps this single specimen doesn’t tell the whole story, but it is a start.
The holotype male of Neolophonotus kolochaetes
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