Beautiful

'2 in 1' mollusk. This is a Gemmula kieneri with Malluvium lissum in abundance.The larger M.lissum specimens attached to the Gemmula will be females and the smaller ones attached to the shells of the females are likely to be males. It was recently dredged off the Durban Coast.

Protea simplex - “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” – we all know our national floral emblem the King Protea which is magnificent. In comparison this entry shows Protea simplex with withered and damaged leaves, but like all of us in that are in some way shaped by time and experiences, still beautiful in its own right.

Frog on Nymphaea - Beautiful frog on a beautiful water lily

Acanthopsis glandulopalmata - Acanthopsis glandulopalmata is endemic to the Northern Cape and is known from three localities in an area to the northwest of Steinkopf with one outlier population northwest of Springbok: aren’t the glandular hairs on the bracts just beautiful (zoom in 😊)?! The specific epithet glandulopalmata, (the Latin meaning “glandular-palmate”), refers to the hand-shaped bracts, covered in glandular hairs.

Convolvulus hawk-moth. Categories : Beautiful and Iconic. Description, It is the eyes for me, you can't say no to those eyes!

Rhynchocyon macrurus- Chequered elephant shrew. - There are only 17 species in a single family (Macroscelididae), and two sub-families: the soft-furred sengis (subfamily: Macroscelidinae) with three genera and 13 species, and the giant sengis (subfamily: Rhynchocyoninae) with a single genus (Rhynchocyon) and four species (Andanje, et al. 2010, Wambui, 2009). They are found in closed canopy forest and thicket habitats with dense leaf litter. The Chequered Sengi (R. cirnei) has the widest distribution, ranging from northern Mozambique to at least northern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Grey-faced Sengi (R. udzungwensis) is endemic to the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. The Golden-rumped Sengi (R. chrysopygus) is endemic to Kenya, narrowly distributed along the coast between Mombasa and the Tana River. The Black-and-rufous Sengi, R. petersi the focus of this note, only occurs in south-eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania, including the islands of Unguja and Mafia (but not Pemba) (Hoffmann, et al. 2016). This species is the most beautiful and qualifying animal that deserve a massive recognition not only by the museum rather globally.

Pterois antennata (Lionfish/ broadbarred firefish) - This is one of the most beautiful fishes in the world. It’s beautiful and dangerous at the same time as it has venomous spiny dorsal fin.

Beautiful Insect

Montaspis gilvomuculata - This photograph shows a very rare and unique specimen because only THREE specimens are currently available in South Africa. The specimen is also beautiful and potentially of great interest for scientific study.

prepared skin specimens normal and albino of the golden mole Chrysospalax trevelyani

Pachycarpus concolor E.Mey. subsp. concolor. Forgive my bias, but for me (curator of the Apocynaceae at PRE) this is a beautiful specimen This local form of Pachycarpus concolor is a “one stop shop” specimen.– collected, pressed, identified, mounted, stripped and filed by the collector himself.