Heartbeat of a mountain: diagnosing the age of depositional events in the Karoo (Gondwana) Basin from the pulse of the Cape Orogen

Careful consideration of the effects of the Cape orogeny on sedimentation in the Carboniferous–Jurassic Karoo Basin provides an indirect tool for accurately dating these rocks. Fossil and radiometric data, especially when combined with sedimentological and structural information, yield partly overlapping age brackets which can be used to correlate the successive tectonic pulses with specific depositional events. Application of these principles to associated basins in Gondwanaland can provide a firm foundation for more dependable stratigraphic correlation on a global scale. The exercise also suggests that a number of widely held opinions on the age of certain stratigraphic units in the Karoo Supergroup may be incorrect.     

Altruism during predation in an assassin bug

Zelus annulosus is an assassin bug species mostly noted on Hirtella physophora, a myrmecophyte specifically associated with the ant Allomerus decemarticulatus known to build traps on host tree twigs to ambush insect preys. The Z. annulosus females lay egg clutches protected by a sticky substance. To avoid being trapped, the first three instars of nymphs remain grouped in a clutch beneath the leaves on which they hatched, yet from time to time, they climb onto the upper side to group ambush preys. Long-distance prey detection permits these bugs to capture flying or jumping insects that alight on their leaves. Like some other Zelus species, the sticky substance of the sundew setae on their forelegs aids in prey capture. Group ambushing permits early instars to capture insects that they then share or not depending on prey size and the hunger of the successful nymphs. Fourth and fifth instars, with greater needs, rather ambush solitarily on different host tree leaves, but attract siblings to share large preys. Communal feeding permits faster prey consumption, enabling small nymphs to return sooner to the shelter of their leaves. By improving the regularity of feeding for each nymph, it likely regulates nymphal development, synchronizing molting and subsequently limiting cannibalism.