No need for concern over ‘dying’ taaibos

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - There is no reason for concern over the apparent dying of thickets of the taaibos (Searsia) shrubs along the N2 between Wilderness and Knysna.

An invertebrate ecologist from Scientific Services at SANParks, Hendrik Sithole, has given the assurance that the shrubs will grow back their leaves.

He responded to a query from Wilderness resident Mike Leggatt who was concerned over large areas of seemingly dead taaibos that he noticed along the highway. Upon closer inspection, he saw caterpillars grazing on the leaves and wondered if this was the cause of the shrubs' dying.

According to Sithole, the caterpillars on Leggatt's photos seem to be the larvae of the barred eggarlet moth (Bombycomorpha bifascia or pepper-tree caterpillar).

Outbreaks of these caterpillars is a natural phenomenon in the Garden Route around this time of the year (June/July). He refers to the Steenbok Nature Reserve where the same thing happens to taaibos.

According to an article on the reserve's website, groups of the caterpillars mass together as they eat every leaf on the shrubs, soon completely denuding them so that from a distance they look dead.

Large groups of the Pepper-tree caterpillars were noticed.

However, after a few weeks the first signs of new green leaves appear and eventually the shrubs recover completely.

"I assume the taaibos along the N2 will also grow leaves soon after this natural shearing," says Sithole.

The process is believed to rejuvenate the taaibos and the caterpillars have an important role to play.

"These caterpillars play the role of cycling nutrients as they eat the leaves and then the nutrients from the leaves go into the soil when the caterpillars defecate. The caterpillars are also food for cuckoos during winter when other insects are scarce to be the food source."

The caterpillars are the larvae of the barred eggarlet moth (Bombycomorpha bifascia). Photo: Paul Venter