A STORY UNCOVERED BY 90-MILLION-YEAR-OLD 

CREEPY CRAWLIES FROM ORAPA, BOTSWANA 

Dr Sandiso Mnguni

 

Date:          Thursday, 03 August 2023 Time:  19:30

Venue:       The Auditorium, Roedean School, 

                   35 Princess of Wales Terrace, Parktown, Johannesburg

Charge:      Non-members:  R50, members: free          

 

The Orapa Diamond Mine in Botswana is known to contribute to the economy of the country by producing diamonds. However, there are also diamonds-in-the-rough, in a form of fossil insects. Fossil insects enable us to reconstruct the ancient ecosystem of the deposit. Fortunately, there are many groups of fossil insects which have been formally described from this deposit. These include various types of beetles, ants, wasps, flies, ants, aphids, and many other groups. Using extant species of the previously mentioned insect groups, reconstructions of the deposit have been made by various researchers. The talk seeks to share some of the work that has been done on fossil insects from the above-mentioned lacustrine deposit, because of a volcanic eruption that formed a crater lake. I will also share my contribution, and the work that I am currently undertaking. Lastly, I will close by sharing my future plans, and most recent collaborations that I have made with Russian palaeoentomologists.

Dr Sandiso Mnguni

Dr Sandiso Mnguni is a Palaeoentomologist. He studied BSc Pest Management Programme (PMP) at Walter Sisulu University (WSU, NMD campus). He furthered his studies by enrolling in BSc Honours in Entomology at the University of Pretoria (UP). He then registered for MSc in Entomology at Rhodes University (RU). He has recently been conferred a PhD in Palaeontology by the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Throughout his career, he has published 5 research papers, some in high-impact journals. While doing his PhD at Wits, he was also a part-time lecturer at WSU, and also served as the Deputy Chairperson of the Sophumelela Youth Development Programme (SYDP), and as Deputy Secretary of the Bridge The Gap. Along the way, he has mentored 6 undergraduate students.