Richtersveld: Nature's Parched Masterpiece

Author: Pieter van Wyk, Botanist

The |Ai|Ai- Richtersveld Transfrontier Park is situated in one of the world’s richest desert biodiversity hot spots and has world recognition for its rich desert flora and having the highest concentration of succulent plants in the world. Since the 18th-century botanists from European countries have been drawn to the region, but it remained poorly studied in natural science until the mid-1960s when a German botanist started to explore the botanical riches of the region in depth. Over the past hundred years, more than 400 endemic plant species have been discovered in the Richtersveld, and a total of almost 3 000 higher plant class species recorded for the aridest corner of South Africa. Yet the vastness of the plains and mountains in this parched landscape still give space for much exploration as can be seen in recent years’ discoveries. This is about some of the amazing natural discoveries over the past decade in the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, specifically the South African section of the Park and its direct surroundings. One would think major discoveries like those read in history books, to have taken place hundreds of years ago, or on remote islands and exotic jungles somewhere else in the world, but no, these are discoveries in one of our very own South African National Parks that has tickled the interest of scientist across the globe. 

In 2012 a survey was done by the University of Stellenbosch, researching the genus Oxalis, locally known as ‘suuring, sorrels or clovers. To the majority of readers, these are weedy unwanted garden plants, however, a treasure trove was opened in the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park when these overlooked weeds became scrutinized under the microscope lens. To the amazement of scientists Dr Kenneth Oberlander, Dr Francois Roets, and Prof Leanne Dreyer from the Stellenbosch University, their field trip delivered 10 new distinct species in the Oxalis genus, two of which they discovered growing around the braai areas at Kokerboomkloof campsite in the park. Since then the university has been gradually describing the new species, and in 2014 published a paper called “Discovery of substantial Oxalis (Oxalidaceae) diversity and endemism in an arid biodiversity hotspot”, highlighting that regardless of the harsh desert environment, the Richtersveld is the second-highest in Oxalis diversity on the planet. In 2014, Mr Rheinhart Brand (Biodiversity and Social Projects) project manager at the time, discovered another new species of Oxalis on cliffs south of the De Hoop campsite in the Park, and in 2015 two more new species were confirmed which our very own botanist, Pieter van Wyk, discovered in the Richtersveld World Heritage Site, and more new discoveries in the genus since then have been made on the Namibian side of the region.

In 2013 an astonishing publication made it to the scientific journals in which a new genus with 4 new species included for the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park were described. The genus was named in honour of the Nama people in the Richtersveld and is therefore called Nama. Nama is a group of terricolous weevils which live in the sand. The species was collected and described by Dr R. Borovec and Dr M. Meregalli from the Rurin University, Italy by sieving sand, and putting out fall traps in the Helskloof area of the park. Not only to their amazement, they discovered a new genus, but 4 species belonging to the genus. Living in the sand makes this particular group of terricolous weevils difficult to find, and the extent of their distribution remains uncertain, with the possibility of several more unknown species to be found in the region.

In 2014, SANParks’ botanist, Pieter van Wyk, was working as an Environmental Monitor for SANParks and he started to explore the high mountain of the park. On his first day hiking to the highest peak of the park he discovered a new Hesperantha which were described later that same year, and were given the name Hesperantha eremophila (meaning desert friend), they are species of bulbs, and these specific species of flowers in August, opening in the evening to be pollinated by moths. Also in 2014 Pieter hiked into the Armanshoek gorge and discovered a new species of Heliophila (sporrie) and Acanthopsis (verneukmyniehalfmens), together with over 100 first botanical records of new distributions to the park, highlighted how poorly known the mountains of the park still are. Dr Hester Maria Steyn has published various new species of Acanthopsis for the Richtersveld over the past six years, and still, new ones are found.

In 2015 another major discovery was made in Akkedispas which made headlines in BBC News and CNN News. Bryan Maritz, Nick Tye, and Chris Barichievy collected DNA material of a flat lizard species, always thought, or confused to be the Cape Flat Lizard, Playsaurus capensis for Australian herpetologist Dr Martin Whiting and others. A combination of morphological differences and the results from DNA testing proved that the species were new to science. During 1991 Akkedispas in the park has been famous to 4x4 drivers, and the name was given due to the abundant presence of the elusive flat lizard species, but little did visitors and locals in the park know what unique species it is. In 2006 the famous Sir David Attenborough presented on the Augrabies falls flat lizard for a BBC Earth serious documentary, and due to his contribution to the natural world, the new species was named in his honour and are now called Platysaurus attenboroughii. That same year an article was published in the SANParks Times about an uncertain species of buck-spoor spiders that live in the sand at the Tatasberg Wilderness Camp, after which several attempts the species could not be found in the nests, and remained a mystery to this day. On Pieter van Wyk’s way back from a botanical collection trip, close to Maërpoort in the Park, he had a quick stop to have a look at some succulents, and to his surprise, saw nests of buck-spoor spiders there as well, and thought it might be the same species which scientist is searching for, known from Tatasberg Wilderness Camp in the park. Pieter managed to collect two females and not too long after also found the species at the Tatasberg Wilderness Camp. It turned out that the Tatasberg species are one of the known 13 species endemic to the Arid Regions of Southern Africa, belonging to the genus Seothyra, however, the species from Maërpoort turned out to be completely new species. Pieter said the following about his discovery “my excitement was without limits, because of it being my first spider collection, and it turned out to be new, what is the chance of that!”

In 2016 while hiking mountains in the Helskloof area Pieter came across a very odd-looking species slightly resembling armed crickets. This species was quite rare. Pieter took photos, which were examined by Dr Jonathan Colville from the University of Pretoria, and identified as an unknown species in the Tetigonidae (long-horned grasshopper) order. That same species has not been seen again, likely due to the long ongoing drought in the Richtersveld, and remains un-described. It is possible that the species is a new genus and even family. The same year a survey was conducted on geckos of the Richtersveld by Czech herpetologist Dr Jirid Smid and others from the Stellenbosch University and SANBI. An astonishing number of 22 gecko species were recorded in the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, making the park one of the earth's richest places in gecko diversity, and also during their fieldwork, at least 4 localities within the park were recorded by them bringing it to a total of 65 reptile species.

By 2018 it became quite evident how unique the Richtersveld region is to the more known field of botanical science, but also the unknown field of etymology and herpetology. Two more new genera of insects belonging to the order Mantophasmatodea got described by Dr Benjamin Wipfler, Dr Tobias Theska, and Dr Reinhard Predel, with a single species for each genus, making them monotypic, in 2018. These rare insects are only seen under good climatic conditions after rains, which in recent years has become very rare, making the study of such species difficult. The one genus owned its scientific name from the small Nama community on the border of the park, Kuboes, and is called Kuboesphasma compactum whilst the species belonging to the other new genus was named after the Richtersveld, Minutophasma richtersveldense. An interesting fact about these insects is that they are living fossils. The most common vernacular name for this smallest order of insect on the planet, with only 8 known species, is gladiators, although they also are called rock crawlers and hillwalkers as well. Their modern center of endemism is western South Africa and Namibia (Brandberg Massif), although a relict population and Eocene fossils suggest a wider ancient distribution. Mantophasmatodea is wingless even as adults, making them relatively difficult to identify. They resemble a cross between praying mantids and phasmids, and molecular evidence indicates that they are most closely related to the equally enigmatic group Grylloblattodea. Initially, the gladiators were described from old museum specimens that originally were found in Namibia (Mantophasma zephyrum) and Tanzania (M. subsolanum), and from a 45-million-year-old specimen of Baltic amber (Raptophasma kerneggeri). In 2002 Tyrannophasma gladiator, and Mantophasma zephyrum were discovered in Namibia, and in 2018 the two new genera and species endemic to the Richtersveld were added to the list of this unique order of insects.

In 2018 Dr Jonathan Colville from the University of Pretoria, asked Pieter if he has ever seen a blue species of ‘monkey beetle’ on the coastal plains of the Richtersveld.  At that stage, Pieter never paid any attention to monkey beetles and started to photograph the various forms and colours found in the park. On the first day Pieter went searching for these little colourful beetles, he decided to go to Armanshoek together with the park manager Mr Brent Whittington. He managed to photograph 5 species of monkey beetle that day, of which one species turned out to be another new insect species for the Richtersveld belonging to the genus Scelophysa, like the buck spoor spider, Pieter and Brent stood in amazement and thought; “what is the chance of collecting something again for the first time in one’s life, and it is new”. 

In 2019 Pieter also rediscovered a bladder grasshopper, locally called “Hekiejee” belonging to the family Pneumoridae, which was first photographed by Dr Graham Williamson in the early 90s but never formally described or accepted, due to only old photos of the species being available. After Dr Williamsons' account of the species, it was seen only once again in 2004, until Pieter found a single specimen in September 2019 while guiding the Land Rover Club of South Africa. The |Ai|Ai-Richtersveld Transfrontier kept on amazing him with the wide variety of small plants and animals that can be found. By the end of 2019, Pieter already discovered 21 new species of plants in the Richtersveld region, and this only since starting to work for SANParks in 2013, and numerous discoveries were made by others as well. Pieter thought about these discoveries: “I thought I have seen it all, little did I know about the exciting discoveries that still lay ahead.”

In 2020 the Richtersveld region and |Ai|Ai-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park once again made global news due to discoveries. A paper was published called “The Namaini, a new weevil tribe with six new genera from South Africa (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae)”, of these, one genus, Namaquania are a Richtersveld regional endemic and a new endemic genus, Pentamerica to the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, each of the genera containing several new species to science. These discoveries brought excitement to the etymology circles. Another exciting discovery was yet to be made for 2020. In September that year our very own Pieter, the Botanist of SANParks, went to a remote mountain slope in the park where he have never been before. Within his first 200 meters of climbing, he started to make new distribution records and immediately sensed, “I am walking into a habitat which has not been visited by anyone else before me”. He then found a tiny new species of Bulbine, and while examining it, his eye caught a tall strange succulent shrub, almost the size of a small tree in the distance. The species turned out to be a new species of harpuisbos (Othonna) in the daisy family. Due to its rarity and gigantic size, the discovery made headlines in botanical circles as one of the biggest botanical discoveries in 25 years within the Northern Cape Province. In total 4 species have been confirmed as new to science, and 4 more yet to be confirmed, which likely are also new to science, all discovered in one tiny habitat in one day.

In 2021 Mr Nick Helme (Environmental Consultant & Ecologist) compiled a botanical survey of the Lower Orange River Mining area in the Richtersveld, during his survey several rare Namibian endemic plant species was recorded for the first time in South Africa, and a remarkable new species of Bunsvigia (Maartblom) was also discovered, which is the first discovery of a species in the genus for several decades, and one of many rare endemics to the amaryllis family.

Just how unexplored are the Richtersveld region, how many fauna and flora are endemic and how many of them are threatened by extinction? These are questions that cannot be answered, as vast areas from within the |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park to the surrounding area are being mined, overgrazing and climate change are taking their toll as well, with very little to no conservation of the region's biodiversity around human invaded areas. What is known now, is that the Richtersveld region is the only Arid/Desert biodiversity Hot Spot in the world second to none. The richness of species and an incomparable high percentage of endemism outcompete places such as the Congo Tropical Rain Forest. It is a true marvel in a parched landscape, and well worth getting recognition as one of the “World’s Natural Wonders”. The |Ai|Ais-Richtersveld Transfrontier Park, even though being the driest of all South African National Parks, are the second-highest in plant species richness after Table Mountain National Park, and have the highest percentage of endemism as well endangered species for any of the parks on the Africa continent. What makes this area so unique, and quite freakish, is a perfect combination of variable climate zones, topography, geology, and time. The region is situated on one of the earth’s most geologically diverse places, which also happens to be in the middle of two rainfall seasons, and has three biomes, the Gariep Desert, Succulent Karoo, and Fynbos biomes and they all meet in the Richtersveld. The placement of the area on the African continent, and the rich soil chemistry due to rich geology, has made it an explosive area for species or speciation during major events in the past, for a long time, this it is an old center of evolution. From biodiversity and especially a conservation point of view, the Richtersveld are neglected and in need of protection, before we lose this hot spot.