Corresponding author: Martin H. Villet (martin.villet@gmail.com)
Academic editor: John Midgley
Jason G.H. Londt contributed almost a quarter of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s specimens of
Villet MH (2023) #SideHustle: Jason G. H. Londt’s contribution to holdings of the South African Cicadidae (Hemiptera, Auchenorrhyncha) in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. In: Dikow T, Williams K, Midgley J (Eds) Festschrift for Jason Gilbert Hayden Londt. African Invertebrates 64(2): 85–93.
Jason Gilbert Hayden Londt graduated from Rhodes University with a doctoral degree in Entomology in 1974, and briefly worked on ticks for the Agricultural Research Council at Onderstepoort, but moved to the Natal Museum late in 1976 (
The Museum itself was initiated in 1879, passed from the Natal Society to the Natal Government in 1903, and is currently named the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. It houses internationally significant specialist collections of African insects (particularly dipterous flies and hangingflies), arachnids, molluscs, oligochaetes and cultural history. Since 1906 it has also published academic journals that are currently named “African Invertebrates” and “Southern African Humanities” and available on-line. Jason Londt was only the Museum’s sixth Director in a century.
Starting in 1976, Jason’s taxonomic research career focused on true flies (
This article reviews the cicada species deposited in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum by Jason, one of which is illustrated in Fig.
Male (NMSA-HEM 017489) and female (NMSA-HEM 017491) of
The cicada specimens in the
Some collectors’ names that were missing from the Museum’s database were inferred through the associated
The locality data were reviewed to locate the sites with appropriate precision. Where the geocoordinates of a locality were not specified on a specimen’s label, the metadata of conspecific specimens from the same nominal site were consulted (on the basis that this would avoid creating spurious sites); if this produced no solution, the metadata of other species caught by the same collector were consulted (on the basis that collectors usually use locality names consistently and rarely collect over large areas in short periods). The remaining localities were attributed the geocoordinates associated with the sites’ names as they appear on Google Earth (
The resulting spreadsheet was used to map the localities and to compile statistics on the collection.
The collection contains 51 male and 22 female specimens from a total of 28 species, placed in five tribes and three subfamilies (Tables
Metadata associated with specimens of
Species | Metadata |
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1♀; Limpopo, Happy Rest Nature Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umfolozi Game Reserve, Emoyeni Trail area; |
1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umfolozi Game Reserve, Emoyeni Trail area; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Umfolozi Game Reserve, Emoyeni Trail area; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, c. 2 km W of Sutherland; |
1♀; Northern Cape, c. 31 km N of Sutherland; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Renoster River, 18km N of Sutherland; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Queen Elizabeth Park Reserve; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Springside Natural Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Cobham Forest Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Garden Castle Nature Reserve; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Injasuthi Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Injasuthi Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park, Tiger Falls area; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; 28.683°S, 28.933°E; alt. 1440 m; 23 Mar 1991; J.G.H. Londt leg.; NMSA: NMSA-HEM 027002 | |
1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Garden Castle Nature Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Garden Castle Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Itala Game Reserve, Mbiso Camp; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Karkloof Nature Reserve; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, National Botanical Gardens; |
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1♂;, Ntchisi Forest Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, Mangrove and Forest trails; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Kosi Bay Nature Reserve, Ugudu Lodge area; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Kosi Bay Nature Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Ithala Game Reserve, Ntshondwe resort area; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Thobeka Lodge, 4km NE Manguzi; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Thobeka Lodge, 4km NE Manguzi; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Athlone; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Entumeni Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; North West, Pilanesberg National Park, Bakubung Camp; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Cumberland Nature Reserve, near The Point; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, Mangrove and Forest trails; |
1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, Mangrove and Forest trails; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve, Mangrove and Forest trails; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Umlalazi Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Harold Johnson Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, c. 31 km N of Sutherland; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, c. 31 km N of Sutherland; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, c. 18 km N of Sutherland; |
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1♂; Western Cape, Bottom Ouberg Pass 54 km SE Sutherland; |
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1♀; Eastern Cape, Graaff-Reinet Karoo Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, c. 5 km E Augrabies Falls National Park’s main gate; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Hilton, Jacana Eco Estate; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Bisley Valley Nature Reserve; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Bisley Valley Nature Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Hesketh Conservation area; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, Hesketh Conservation area; |
Metadata associated with asillid predation records in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum involving
Cicada prey | Asilid predator | Metadata |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Akkerendam Nature Reserve, 1 km N Calvinia; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Swartkop 31 km NW Sutherland; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Sutherland, 18km N; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Akkerendam Nature Reserve, 1 km N Calvinia; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Sutherland, 30km NW; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Josephine Bridge; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Josephine Bridge; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Natal National Park; |
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1♀; KwaZulu-Natal, Eshowe, Dlinza Forest Reserve; |
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1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Bishopstowe, near Pietermaritzburg; |
1♂; KwaZulu-Natal, Josephine Bridge; |
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1♂; Eastern Cape, 47 km SW Matatiele; |
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1♂; Northern Cape, Sutherland, 30km NW, near Besemgoedkop; |
Fifteen of the specimens are predation records. These records are comparatively rich in male specimens of
The earliest specimen, a prey item of
The localities are generally well documented on the labels, although a few were refined from collecting event numbers and background knowledge. The sites are mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, but include records from five other South African provinces (Fig.
Map of Jason Londt’s collecting sites of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s (white circle) primary specimens of
In summary, Jason is responsible for collecting almost a quarter of the Museum’s holdings of
Warm thanks are extended to Jason for collecting the specimens that made this study possible, and which has advanced knowledge of the
Londt
Occurrences
Spreadsheet of collecting sites and metadata.