A Citrullus variety was thought to have been domesticated 4000 years ago in Egypt, which led to the watermelon.
Location approximate to Okwa Valley.
Certain of the genus, less confident about the species.
location approximate to Okwa Valley
Winged termites emerging from ground. Happening simultaneously from hundreds of burrows. One of the most spectacular things I've ever seen.
The red velvet mite.
From Cloudley-Thompson (1962) Some aspects of the physiology and behaviour of Dinothrombium (Acari):
"Adult giant velvet mites appear in the desert after rain. They are diurnal in habit, but become crepuscular in dry conditions. Their high rate of water-loss by transpiration suggests that they are not particularly well adapted to drought. They are positively phototactic [moves in response to light] and negatively geotactic [moves upward away from the pull of gravity] in dry sand, but dig burrows where it is damp. Their scarlet coloration has an aposematic function."
location approximate to Okwa Valley
