Megaceryle maxima (Pallas, 1769)

Here in Europe, only one species of Kingfisher exists - and, as its breeding habitat wasn't widely available to begin with, and has been significantly degraded by anthropogenic development (i.e. people building near water), it's not easy to see over most of the continent (well, lets be honest, medium-sized peninsula).

In Zambia, there are at least 9. This is one of them:

Female. Photographed near Livingstone, Southern Prov., Zambia, photographed with Olympus E-420 and Zuiko 70-300mm Telephoto lens.

On a visit to the upper Zambezi, a pair of these pigeon-sized birds were frequently in evidence, flying away from walkways with an offended screech, or bashing freshwater crabs into submission on rocks, branches and pathways.

The male, before we get onto the taxonomy, looks like this:

(note the red band across the chest, as opposed to a black one in females).

This charismatic crab-basher is

Megaceryle maxima

(Pallas, 1769)

Also known as, as you might suspect from the reference to their being pigeon sized, the Giant Kingfisher, sometimes referred to as the African Giant Kingfisher to distinguish it from the  (as unrelated as Kingfishers can get) Laughing Kookaburra, the only species that can rival it in size, of Eastern Australia. It is also called Reusevisvanger (literally Giant Kingfisher) in Afrikaans and Maseke in Chewa (and derived languages)

Unlike the Kookaburra, the maseke is closely associated with water - and typically found only where large rivers or lakes are bordered by mature woodland. As you might gather from that, it's declining - but, in the absence of any close assessment of population trends and range contractions, the IUCN tends to list African species as 'least concern', rather than the significantly more accurate 'data deficient'.

Anyway, before I get into a slightly unfair attack on an organisation that does a lot of work processing important statistics and has contributed hugely to conservation efforts for a lot of species, on with the taxonomy:

- Cerylidae   

- Alcedines     

- Coraciiformes

- Neoaves          

See also Troglodytes troglodytes, Chalcophaps indica, Ardea goliath, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus and Tockus alboterminatus.

- Neognathae       

- Neornithes           

- Euornithes             

- Aves                        

- Maniraptora               

- Coelurosauria               

- Tetanurae                       

- Therapoda                        

- Saurischia                           

- Dinosauria                             

- Avemetatarsalia                        

- Archosauria                                

- Archosauromorpha                        

- Sauria                                              

See also  Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Zootoca vivipara and Lygodactylus capensis.

- Diapsida                                             

- Romeriida                                             

- Reptilia                                                    

- Amniota                                                     

- Reptiliomorpha                                             

See also Syncerus caffer and Hipposideros vittatus.

- Tetrapoda                                                       

See also Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri and Chiromantis xerampelina.

- Sarcopterygii                                                     

- Osteichthyes                                                        

See also Synchiropus splendidus.

- Teleostomi                                                             

- Gnathostomata                                                         

- Vertebrata                                                                  

- Craniata                                                                       

- Chordata                                                                        

- Deuterostomia                                                                  

- Nephrozoa                                                                         

See also Burtoa nilotica, Ligia oceanica, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Alopecosa barbipes, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata, Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus, Rhyothemis semihyalina, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica, Stictogryllacris punctata, Tettigonia viridissima, Sibylla, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Hagenomyia tristis, Phyllobius pomaceus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Malachius bipustulatus, Oedemera nobilis, Melolontha melolontha, Cheilomenes lunata, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasiini and Lophyra cf. differens.

- Bilateralia                                                                             

- Eumetazoa                                                                             

- Animalia                                                                                  

- Eukaryota                                                                                  

And, having rambled on at some length earlier, that's all for now, folks!

Lophyra, Motschulsky 1859

I have a dilemma.

Vertebrates are much more readily identified than invertebrates, so although on a recent visit, I took pictures of many, many more invertebrates than vertebrates, the images of vertebrates are almost all identified, whereas the invertebrates are barely begun.

If I posted them in order of working out what they are, we'd have a long string of vertebrates and butterflies, followed by a slow trickle of grasshoppers, beetles, moths and the occasional bug, fly or wasp, perhaps with a spider or two thrown in a couple of months down the line. Which would be unsatisfactory.

So this is my compromise:

Photographed near Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia in December 2013, using Olympus E-420 with Zuiko 40-150mm lens and 3 KOOD magnifiers.

This charming little creature is a tiger beetle - and, although two more species were also photographed on the same visit, it's actually the first tiger beetle I've ever got a half-decent photograph of. Because - at the time of writing - I'm not absolutely certain of its identity, we'll to the taxonomy bit back to front.

This delightful creature belongs to the:

- Eukaryota
  - Animalia
    - Eumetazoa
      - Bilateralia 
        - Nephrozoa

See also Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri, Chiromantis xerampelina, Syncerus caffer, Hipposideros vittatus,  Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Zootoca vivipara, Lygodactylus capensis, Troglodytes troglodytes, Chalcophaps indica, Ardea goliath, Sterna hirundo, Burhinus vermiculatus, Tockus alboterminatus and Synchiropus splendidus.

          - Protostomia
            - Ecdysozoa
              - Arthropoda

See also Ligia oceanica, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Alopecosa barbipes, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi and Pardosa amentata.

                - Hexapoda
                  - Insecta
                    - Dicondylia
                      - Pterygota
                        - Metapterygota

See also Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus and Rhyothemis semihyalina.

                          - Neoptera

See also Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica, Stictogryllacris punctata, Tettigonia viridissima and Sibylla.

                            - Eumetabola

See also Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra and Anoplocnemis curvipes.

                              - Endopterygota

See also  Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes and Hagenomyia tristis.

                                - Coleopterida
                                  - Coleoptera

See also Phyllobius pomaceus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Malachius bipustulatus, Oedemera nobilis, Melolontha melolontha, Cheilomenes lunata and Neojulodis vittipennis.

                                    - Adephaga
                                      - Carabidae

See also Demetrias atricapillus and Anthia fornasiini.

                                        - Cicindelinae
                                          - Cicindelini
                                            - Cicindelina
 and the last point at which I can be certain is that it belongs to the genus:

Lophyra sp.

Motschulsky 1859

 I'm not good at identifying beetles, even with the paucity of information on the web. However, according to the most reliable [freely accessible] site I've found for the carabids, only one species of Lophyra has previously been recorded in Zambia. If we trust that this is not a new record - which might be risky, as this was close to the Zimbabwean border, but the only species listed for Zimbabwe is the same one - this should actually be:

Lophyra (Lophyra) differens

(Horn, 1892)

  

But as I mentioned earlier, I can't be sure of this last bit.

Moving on, swiftly and without delay: 

These little creatures were abundant on sandy soils on warm, humid days, generally moving around the ground in groups of 20 or so, separated from one another by generally very regular distances, and often caught in the act, if you catch my drift. They were very wary, and flew so readily that I at first mistook them for a fly (They put me in particular mind of the shore-flies Scathophaga litorea, for those around the sandy coasts of Northern Europe).

Although their reaction times are, apparently, fractionally slower than those of actual flies, I would note that photographing them was difficult - not simply because approaching them was difficult, but because if you did manage to approach them without disturbing them, they carried on doing what they'd been doing all along - running about eight inches every two or three seconds, and pausing for a moment before speeding off again. Bearing in mind my (perfectly rational) fear of crocodiles, and that these little creatures had made the sandy river's edge their home-ground, it's quite surprising that I managed to get any decent photographs - the most reliable manner I found was, once you've managed to get down to your elbows without chasing one away, move something in a small yet noticeable manner, and they occasionally freeze to consider it. 

It felt a little less valid when one was hit by a falling drop of water and, stunned, allowed itself to be coaxed onto my finger for examination, but it does give a clearer indication of scale: 

And, having rambled at length in various directions without saying much, that's all for now, folks!