WHITE SPOTTED FRUIT CHAFER

This shiny black beetle with eight white spots was easy to see against the greenery in the garden as I walked past:

A closer look revealed it likely to be a White-spotted Fruit Chafer (Mausoleopsis amabilis), which feeds on decaying plant matter, fungi, dung, and flowers. This one appears to be eating a leaf.

Although these chafers are common to most habitat types in Southern Africa, I haven’t seen many of them in my garden before. In the picture below, you might spot an insect I didn’t see at the time – a brown spiky-legged creature on the leaf in the foreground.