Studies in Cameroon
I visited Cameroon with my good friends Graham Vick and Pete Mitchell in 1996,1997 and 1998. We visitied Mount Kupe which is on the edge of the Bakossi Forest (pictured above) in Southwest Cameroon near the town of Limbe.
Graham collected the adults and found a number of new species. I concentrated on larvae and exuviae although the latter were hard to find in the wet gloom of the rain forest. The species illustrated here is Pentaphlebia stahli which is a large red damselfly of the family Amphipterigidae. This has very similar looking species, both as larva and adult in Venezuela in the Neo-Tropical region suggesting that the species may have been around when the two continents were linked.
Graham collected the adults and found a number of new species. I concentrated on larvae and exuviae although the latter were hard to find in the wet gloom of the rain forest. The species illustrated here is Pentaphlebia stahli which is a large red damselfly of the family Amphipterigidae. This has very similar looking species, both as larva and adult in Venezuela in the Neo-Tropical region suggesting that the species may have been around when the two continents were linked.
The adult Pentaphlebia just looks like large red damsel but the larva is a remarkable looking animal with flattened legs, antennae and appendages and is perfectly adapted for its life in upland forest streams where it clings to the underside of rocks waiting for its prey to pass by.
These streams have remained unchanged for millenia quite oblivious of changes to the lowland forest below.
I understand that the larvae of the South American Amphipterygidae inhabit similar habitats to those in Africa and look almost identical.
These streams have remained unchanged for millenia quite oblivious of changes to the lowland forest below.
I understand that the larvae of the South American Amphipterygidae inhabit similar habitats to those in Africa and look almost identical.