Karoo prinia Karoo prinia The Karoo prinia or spotted prinia ("Prinia maculosa") is a small passerine bird. It is a resident breeder in South Africa, Lesotho and far southern Namibia. It is a species of karoo scrub, fynbos and bracken covered slopes in semi-desert and mountains. The former eastern subspecies "P. m. hypoxantha" is now usually considered to be a separate species, the Drakensberg prinia, "P. hypoxantha". The Karoo prinia is 13–15 cm long, with short rounded wings, a longish tail, strong legs and a short straight black bill. The head has a whitish eyebrow and the upperparts are otherwise brown. The
Karoo Group (i.e. the oldest layer of the Cape Supergroup). The valley floor is covered, in the main, by the next (younger) layer of the Supergroup, namely the much softer Bokkeveld shales. The dolerite of the Great Karoo did not penetrate these rocks, so Karoo Koppies are not seen in the Little Karoo. The Little Karoo contains two other geological features that give the landscape a special character. During the erosion of the African interior following the bulging of the continent during the massive lava outpourings that ended the Karoo sedimentation 180 million years ago, some of the eroded material was