Acknowledgements

There are many I have to thank for making this work possible and I regret that I will probably miss a few.  When I stepped off the airplane in Cape Town back in September 2002, I had no idea what to expect.  Traveling alone and with no specific plans to work with anyone for three months, I was understandably nervous.  My official affiliation as a Fulbright Student was with Steven Johnson at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  However, I would not go there until December as Pietermaritzburg was on the other side of the country and the season for Philoliche in September was in the west.  I was lucky that my co-adviser, Peter Cranston, had put me in touch with Belinda Day, a graduate student in the Freshwater Biology unit in Zoology at the University of Cape Town.  Steven Johnson had also put me in contact with the brilliant secretary in Botany, Ms. Sandy Smuts, who helped me find accommodation and many essential items.  I was touched and grateful when, without any official affiliation, both the Botany and Zoology departments at UCT offered me office space, an email account, and numerous other resources.  Botany even invited me to help proctor a field trip and helped me through several precarious circumstances, which Sandy referred to as my “trial by fire.”  Without such open hospitality and kindness as I learned to navigate a new country and culture, I would never have been able to accomplish as much as I have in my research.

 

Belinda Day and her family deserve special thanks as they have opened their home to me many times and helped me navigate several issues and a near disaster.  Francois Theron, Belinda’s husband, acted as my lawyer during a two-month ordeal when I was pulled into a confidence scam when purchasing a car.  His actions helped prevent me from unjustly going to jail!  Belinda’s mother and head of the Zoology Department, Jennifer Day, welcomed me into her home and offered me moral support and sage advice.  She also made sure I had the support I needed from the Zoology Department. And, of course, Belinda has become a good friend.  Our many long talks over tea on the back steps of the Zoology building were grounding and priceless. 

The Day’s at their lovely home, Rosebank, Cape Town, South Africa, 2006

Rika DuPelssis, co-manager of the Cederberg Wilderness, also deserves special thanks.  I first met Rika while she was working in the Limetberg.  There, my field assistant and I pulled of the side of the road on DuToits Kloof pass.  As we grabbed our insect nets, Rika was standing nearby and giving us a raised eyebrow.  When I approached her, showed her my permits, and told her what I was looking for, she immediately volunteered that she knew a good collecting spot.  We would need a 4x4 bakkie (=pick-up truck, pronounced “buckie”) to get there, but she could take us there tomorrow, and why didn’t we come stay at her home tonight in the meantime and have a braai (barbeque).  Of course, I could not turn down such an offer.  To my enormous benefit, we became good friends.  Together, we traveled and collected in many places across South Africa.  And when we got lost on an overgrown trail in the Swartberg, she practically carried me out of the mountain when I collapsed from heatstroke. 

Rika and Shelah on the last sunset of 2003, near Yzerfontein, South Africa

There are many other people to thank and I will do so by region in no particular order:

At UCT and in the Western Cape:  My various field assistants, especially Christina Jones, Craig McKune, and Kate Watermeyer; Åsa Hemborg and Nolan for help on field trips, buying autos, and being loving friends; Mike Picker and his lab for tons of help and advice, for providing my office during my second stay, always having an open door and his boyish enthusiasm; Bruce Anderson for showing me my first Philoliche, how to do field work in the Cape (including jumping into dams), his infectious enthusiasm and sharing his great knowledge of natural history; Tony Marshall, the manager of the Swartberg Wilderness, for opening his home to me and my field assistant, rescuing me and Benny Bytebier from his mountain when Benny’s truck lost it’s rear axle and for his wise advice that “the Swartberg is not for sissies!”

At UKZN and KZN:  Steve Johnson whose work inspired me to adventure to Africa and whose encouragement and support as my Fulbright sponsor made this possible; Clinton Carbutt a graduate student whose ability to speak Zulu kept me from harm while collecting at Kranskop; Craig Peter, now assistant Professor at Rhodes University, who traded time with me in the field, brought me to many great Philoliche collecting spots, and gave me support and a place to stay while visiting the Eastern Cape; Catherine and Sheldon Conway who allowed me to stay and collect on the Shaw farm, to stay at their beautiful home in Hilton and play with their beautiful baby, Jessica; Brian Stuckenberg at the Natal Museum, who encouraged me to work with Philoliche aethiopica and always had kind but critical support and advice; Johan Esterhuisen head of the Hellsgate Tsetse fly research station, who climbed trees to set aerial malaise traps, lent me several H-traps, took me to my first Muti market, and gifted me many specimens of Philoliche rubiginosa.

Additionally, I would like to thank my friend Ted Bryan who was always there for me; Riana Coetsee, the director of the South African side of the Fulbright Program for her support even after the end of my tenure, and to her and the SA Fulbright Commission for finding me worthy of the Amy Biehl Award; and to all the farmers and South Africans who allowed me to collect on their land, usually offered me a bakkie ride, and sometimes offered me tea and lunch or even a place to sleep.

UCD and the States: Brain Spitzer who traveled to Africa to help me on a trip across Africa and Zimbabwe facing difficult collecting conditions and blister-bush (the parsnip incident), and produced the “Philoliche song”; Alex Wild who took some great photos of Philoliche and provided me assistance from the USA when I was overseas; Matt Buffington who encouraged me to visit South Africa again and helped enormously in reviewing my manuscripts; Paul Aginer and Cathy Koehler for their great friendship and moral support; Deanna Jackson for many B-flick movie nights, (Gojira!) and being a great friend; Christopher Pagan for his moral support and also being a great friend; Shelley McMahon who always had an open ear; the Population Biology Graduate Group whose funding policies and financial support allowed me to purse independent work; Donald Strong for supporting my switch from ecology to systematics; Philip Ward an inspiring naturalist who helped encourage my interest in insects with bug boot camp and strongly influences my beliefs regarding taxonomy, systematics and speciation; Lynn Kimsey, Steve Heydon and the Bohart Museum for many lunches, numerous resources and office space, and especially Lynn for treating me as one of her own students; my committee members Steve Nadler and Rick Karban for their support; Peter Cranston my co-advisor for facilitating my switch to Diptera systematics, introducing me to the Day’s and providing funding from his Schlinger Endowment; and finally Mike Sanderson for having faith in me through a difficult time, providing funding and lab space, getting me to actually write, and for originally inspiring my interest in taking an historical approach to evolutionary biology.

Funding for this work was provided by grants from the Center for Population Biology, the ARCS Foundation, a Jastro-Shields Summer Fellowship, a Dissertation Enhancement Grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB 0183288), and a Fulbright Student Scholarship from the U.S. Fulbright Program.