The Tenebrionidae of Southern Africa, 31. Comprehensive notes on the tenebrionid fauna of the Namib Desert

Abstract

Since 1948 frequent trips have been made to the Namib Desert. These trips were timed in such a way that they covered the seasonal changes, being undertaken during all months of the year, and touching on all major bio-geographic and ecological sections of the Namib. The object of all these trips was to widen our knowledge of the fauna of the Namib Desert, to which, probably on account of its reputed barrenness and inaccessibility, very little attention had previously been paid. Although much has already been published on the taxonomy of the material collected -consisting mainly of articles on the Tenebrionid beetles, other insects, Apterygota, Arachnoidea and reptiles - large numbers of as yet undescribed species are preserved in the collections of the Transvaal Museum. In spite of the many collecting trips undertaken, only a superficial knowledge of this fauna has so far been gathered owing to the scattered nature of the collecting stations which were more or less confined to marginal areas, and the fact that it has not been possible to work out in detail considerable portions of the material belonging to groups that are taxonomically very obscure. Nevertheless, a modest attempt is here being made to give some comprehensive notes on the fauna of Namib Tenebrionids.