Figure 1.
The Namib Desert fog basking beetle Onymacris unguicularis (beetle length ca. 2 cm).
Figure 2.
A Namib dune bushman grass Stipagrostris sabulicola hummock in the fog. (plant height ca. 1 m).
Figure 3.
Fog water collection (mean plus standard deviation) per mm2 of the experimental objects upper surface area. The fog basking beetles were found to harvest significantly less fog water than the grass straws and metal wires. One-way ANOVA, significance codes: ** p<0.01; n.s., not significant.
Figure 4.
Water run-off dynamics of beetle and grass.
Amount of water collected by beetles (black line, N = 12) and grass (green line, N = 12) exposed to fog in intervals from zero to 120 minutes with 20 minute increments (mean ± SD). The water run-off in the beetles is a steady flow, in plants it is in cascades.