African Wildlife & Environment Issue 84 2023

GOOD READS

I have personally slept on the ground on numerous occasions and in many locations all over southern Africa, luckily without suffering any mishaps with scorpions. Others have been less fortunate, as some scorpions stings can be fatal, and this Field Guide specifically advises against sleeping on the ground to avoid being stung. Paging through this wonderful book I was delighted to find Newlands’s Rock Scorpion Hadogenes newlandsi Prendini, 2001 on page 164, named in Gerry’s honour for the significant contributions he made to the taxonomy of the genus Hadogenes in the 1970s and 80s.A few pages later I found the Orange River Rock Scorpion, Hadogenes zumpti Newlands & Cantrell, 1985, named in honour of our boss in the Entomology Department, Professor Fritz Zumpt. The latter often used to joke that one way to achieve immortality was to have a species named after you. So his name is now immortalised and his memory lives on in the rock-dwelling denizens of

the Orange River Valley west of Upington to the Richtersveld…maybe they will prosper there for a few more million years! In compiling this field guide Ian Engelbrecht has travelled to the furthest corners of South Africa and visited all its biomes in pursuit of scorpions. The vast majority of the outstanding photographs were taken by him, and he must have spent thousands of hours working on the digital images that grace the pages of this excellent publication. It is an absolute masterpiece, and a model of everything a field guide should be. This book is an invaluable reference for students, researchers, academics, hikers and anyone else with an interest in South Africa’s rich and fascinating fauna. Everyone who derives benefit, knowledge or pleasure from this book owes a huge debt of gratitude to the author. I recommend it unreservedly as a unique and worthy addition to your book collection.

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