When one looks at a spider, many describe the creature as creepy, scary, venomous or dangerous. On the other hand, many ancient cultures associated the spider with cunning, determination and creation. While scorpions and ticks also feature in a couple of ancient myths, they are not nearly as popular as spiders, with even the scientific name of the taxonomic class that includes all arachnids, Arachnida, named after a character from an ancient Greek myth (Arachne).
The Diptera, or True flies, are one of the most diverse groups of insects with over 160ย 000 species known to science (Evenhuis & Pape 2025). However, if you ask a person on the street how many flies there are they typically answer with โtoo manyโ and can usually name about five: house flies, blow flies, mosquitos, crane flies (usually wrongly assumed to be long-legged mosquitos) and horse flies.
The Tristan da Cunha Archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean comprises Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale Island, and Inaccessible Island. Gough Island, located about 350ย km from the other islands, is approximately 2,700ย km from Cape Town, South Africa, and 3,200ย km from South America, making it one of the worldโs most remote locations.
South Africans have always looked up to Lesotho, quite literally, as the entire landlocked country is on average 900 metres higher than South Africa (Midgley et al. 2023). The high altitude also means that Lesotho has more abundant alpine vegetation (in this case meaning vegetation above 2800 metres above sea level) and harbours a greater diversity of alpine-adapted species.
Travelling through Brazil you find yourself in the Cerrado, a vast tropical savannah just southeast of the Amazon rainforest. Stopping under one of the trees, you sit down for a quick rest and to take in the natural beauty around you. Your eye then caches the movement of a fly landing on the rough bark of the tree and, ever ready as you are, you reach for your camera and inch closer to try and take a good macro photo.