<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica;">A total of 586 reptiles, belonging to 35 species and five subspecies, were examined in surveys aimed at determining the species spectrum and geographic distribution of ticks that infest them. Of these reptiles 509 were tortoises, 28 monitor or other lizards, and 49 snakes. Nine ixodid tick species, of which seven belonged to the genus <em>Amblyomma</em>, and one argasid tick, <em>Ornithodoros compactus</em> were recovered. Seven of the ten tick species are parasites of reptiles. Amongst these seven species <em>Amblyomma marmoreum</em> was most prevalent and numerous on leopard tortoises, <em>Geochelone pardalis</em>; <em>Amblyomma nuttalli</em> was present only on Bell's hinged tortoises, <em>Kinixys belliana</em>; and most <em>Amblyomma sylvaticum</em> were collected from angulate tortoises, <em>Chersina angulata. Amblyomma exornatum</em> (formerly <em>Aponomma exornatum</em>) was only recovered from monitor lizards, <em>Varanus spp.</em>; most <em>Amblyomma latum</em> (formerly <em>Aponomma latum</em>) were from snakes; and a single nymph of <em>Amblyomma transversale</em> (formerly <em>Aponomma transversale</em>) was collected from a southern African python, <em>Python natalensis</em>. All 30 Namaqualand speckled padloper tortoises, <em>Homopus signatus signatus</em>, examined were infested with <em>O. compactus</em>. <br />The seasonal occurrence of <em>A. sylvaticum</em> and the geographic distribution of this tick and of <em>A. marmoreum, A. nuttalli, A. exornatum, A. latum</em> and <em>O. compactus</em> are illustrated.</span>

The tortoise tick Amblyomma marmoreum was collected from large numbers of reptiles and other animals during the course of numerous surveys conducted in South Africa. A total of 1 229 ticks, of which 550 were adults, were recovered from 309 reptiles belonging to 13 species, with leopard tortoises, Geochelone pardalis being the most heavily infested. The 269 birds sampled harboured 4 901 larvae, 217 nymphs and no adult ticks, and the prevalence of infestation was greatest on hel meted guinea fowls, Numida meleagris. Only two larvae were recovered from 610 rodents, including 31 spring hares, Pedetes capensis, whereas 1 144 other small mammals yielded 1 835 immature ticks, of which 1 655 were collected from 623 scrub hares, Lepus saxatilis. The 213 carnivores examined harboured 2 459 ticks of which none were adult. A single adult tick and 6 684 larvae and 62 nymphs were recovered from 656 large herbivores, and a total of 4 081 immature ticks and three adults were collected from 1 543 domestic animals and 194 humans. Adult male and female A. marmoreum were most numerous on reptiles during January and February, and larvae during March. The largest numbers of larvae were present on domestic cattle and helmeted guineafowls in the Eastern Cape Province during March or April respectively, whereas larvae were most numerous on helmeted guineafowls, scrub hares and the vegetation in north-eastern Mpumalanga Province during May. In both provinces nymphs were most numerous between October and December. Amblyomma marmoreum appears to be most prevalent in the western regions of the Western and Eastern Cape and Free State provinces, and the north-eastern regions of the Northern Cape, KwaZulu- Natal, Mpumulanga and Limpopo provinces.

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A fossil carabid (Coleoptera) belonging to the subfamily Promecognathinae is described from Cretaceous crater lake deposits at Orapa, Botswana. The specimen, which is the first ever fossil promecognathine, is placed in a new genus Palaeoxinidium. The fossil supports a Cretaceous age determination for the sediments, and it indicates that the Orapa crater was, at least in part, heavily vegetated at the time of deposition. Cladistic analysis of the fossil and extant Promecognathinae indicates that the fossil represents the sister group of the extant taxa and that the latter, in turn, comprise a pair of sister groups. It is, therefore, proposed that the Promecognathinae should be divided into two tribes: the Palaeoaxinidiini, represented by the fossil, and the Promecognathini, represented by the extant groups. The Promecognathini should be subdivided further into the subtribes Promecognathina and Axinidiina, represented by the American and African species, respectively. Three alternative zoogeographic hypotheses that explain the distributions of the fossil and extant promecognathines are discussed and tests for the hypotheses are proposed.

This paper describes a case study that was undertaken to determine whether formal sector personal debt financing might contribute to the funding of South African informal market traders. The case study was conducted at the Natalspruit informal market in Ekhurhuleni, Gauteng. Quantitative questionnaire surveys and a financial diaries project established that market traders in the market have capital requirements large enough to justify the use of formal sector debt financing, can generate sufficient operating profits to pay for formal sector debt financing and would be willing to utilise formal sector debt financing if given the opportunity. However, formal sector debt financing is most relevant to those informal market traders with the skills and motivation to utilise financing effectively and who are willing to inject more formality into their businesses.

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A new genus and species of a staphylinid beetle, Afrinophilina orapa gen. et sp. n., is described using a single well-preserved compression fossil from an Upper Cretaceous fossil insect deposit, the Orapa Diamond Mine in Botswana. Afrinophilina is placed in the extant subfamily Paederinae based on concealed antennal insertions, and hypomeron with a well-developed post-coxal process. It is placed among the Pinophilini based on an elongated procoxae (as long as the profemora), broad, oval, fully exposed trochantin, and a conspicuous second abdominal segment. The new species is placed in the Pinophilina, rather than the Procirrina, based on the presence of well-preserved pair of paratergites on segments III-VIII. Characters which may distinguish this new species from other Pinophilina include the lack of an emarginate shape of the rear margins of the elytra, broad neck, and having two pairs of paratergites on each side of segments III-VI. This is the earliest occurrence of a member of the Pinophilina. It is the first member of the Pinophilina from the Southern Hemisphere, particularly the African continent. Similarly, compared to other fossil staphylinids, the fossil also portrays morphological stasis dating back to the Cretaceous, thereby suggesting a punctuated equilibrium pattern of evolution.