Dr Midgley was interviewed by BBC World Newsdesk today about spider species that was discovered! Here is the link. Have a listen! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p070tmnb #tarantula #spiders #CeratogyrusAttonitifer #kznmuseum

(Photo: The newly discovered Ceratogyrus Attonitifer spider. Credit: Dr Ian Engelbrecht)

The KZN Museum education staff recently attended a Subject Advisor meeting held in Pinetown and presented about the Museum's educational programmes as it aligns to the school curriculum. Chief Education Cfficer Dumisani Jali, accompanied by Sakhile Maphumulo (Senior Education Officer) attended, among others, a History Educator Orientation workshop at the Hammarsdale Circuit which was supported by about 20 history educators. They presented on the concept called “A Day at the Museum”, which was warmly received by the teachers present. A teacher, who attended the pilot project in 2018, gave a very positive testimony of how she and her learners were assisted through the programme. The subject advisor quickly pointed out that the school’s history results improved due to the programme, which was most encouraging. All schools were encouraged to visit the KwaZulu Natal Museum to get assistance. The concept of the day at the Museum allows for a school to make a booking to visit the Museum, which would allow learners to spend the day at the Museum. Their day will be spent learning about grade specific content through the medium of lectures, tour of the galleries, watching relevant videos on the topics in question. For further information on the Museum's educational programmes please email Dumisani Jali This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call him on 033-3410533.

A new species of tarantula with a peculiar horn-like structure sticking out of its back was recently identified the team of Drs John Midgley and Ian Engelbrecht. This was collected as part of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project. Dr Midgley, who is an entomologist here at the KwaZulu Natal Museum, was in central Angola a few years ago to document local invertebrate species. It was there that Dr Midgley first encountered the tarantula, and, along with co-author Dr Engelbrecht, an invertebrate conservation scientist at the South African Biodiversity Institute, described the new species in a recently published paper in the journal African Invertebrates. The new spider (Ceratogyrus attonitifer sp.n.) belongs to a group known as horned baboon spiders, the horn-like structure is not present in all of these species. You can read more about this exciting new discovery on: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-02/pp-nts021219.php  and on the African Invertebrates Website: https://africaninvertebrates.pensoft.net/. 

2019 was formally designated as International Year of the Fly at the 9th International Congress of Dipterology which was held in in Windhoek, Namibia at the end of 2018. This is the year to celebrate flies and their role in nature and human society. During the year we plan on showing you the diversity, significance and beauty of flies and how they affect our lives.