A Cautionary Tale of Dicranopalpus

I've spent the last few months looking for Dicranopalpus caudatus in VC55 (Leicestershire & Rutland).  I figured it had to be here, it was just that no-one had looked, instead recording specimens as Dicranopalpus ramosus agg.  Yesterday in a scruffy piece of plantation I found numerous male Dicranopalpus lacking the typical dark Zorro eye mask.  Aha, I thought, but of course they had to be checked. 

The first one I checked turned out to be Dicranopalpus caudatus, as expected (first record for VC55):

So I thought I'd check another one:

No eye mask, but this one is Dicranopalpus ramosus:

So, as suspected, the male Zorro mask is not a reliable character - and they all need checking! These observations also bring into question the possibility of hybridization between these two "species". 

 

More on the unstoppable rise of AI

I'm aware that AI identification divides opinion, but it you think it's going to go away, you've lost the plot. 

The latest AI incarnation I've become aware of is the beta version of automated picture recognition on the Danish Fungal Atlas website - https://svampe.databasen.org/en/imagevision

Denmark's mushroom atlas, Danmarks svampeatlas, is home to the well-known MycoKey software. The image recognition system is a logical extension of MycoKey. Trained on a Danish dataset of 250,000 images, this is pretty useful for UK users. Allowing people to identify fungi via AI - what could possibly go wrong? The software includes the disclaimer: 

Note that the system should be used with great care, and not as tool to identify edible fungi without involving knowledgeable humans with experience in fungal recognition. So please explore with curiosity and sanity.

It also flags when the ID results contain poisonous species. Beyond that, if people choose to ignore the warnings, well that's an argument in favour of natural selection as far as I'm concerned (although I'm pretty sure there are lawyers out there who would see it profitably differently). I've been playing with the AI, and as far as I can see it's pretty good. Although it lacks a probability score for search results that Obsidentify helpfully incorporates, it does have an unlabelled "confidence bar" for each hit. Each species returned does link to a useful guide text which includes spore details, etc. Obviously, if you think you'll be able to identify Cortinarius or Russulas from a mobile phone photo, you're probably not safe to be let out on your own. In future, it would be good if such apps could incorporate key ID information into the results returned, eg "check spore size" or "look for hairs on hind tibia". Even without that, unless you're a conspiracy theorist who thinks that this is all part of the great AI plot to take over, things can only get better. Because they're certainly not going to go away...

Lygus Identification for Dummies (like me)

For some time I have been unhappy about my ability to determine the species of certain Lygus specimens. A typical Lygus pratensis is easy - based on "shinyness" (pubescence) of the elytra and markings on the scutellum. (Having said which, the extent of seasonal colour variation in L. pratensis has only just dawned on me - not quite as extreme as Palomena prasina but not far off.) Likewise, a typical Lygus rugulipennis is easy - dull (pubescent) appearance. However, not all specimens are typical. A short time ago I found an atypical Lygus - quite shiny with Lygus wagneri-like markings on the scutellum: 

Such specimens are a problem. I find Nau's illustrations of the pubescence of the corium unhelpful (and he acknowledges the difficulty in distinguishing between certain specimens of L. pratensis and L. wagneri - Nau, B. (2004) Identification of plantbugs of the genus Lygus in Britain. Het News Issue 3, p11). 

Namyatova et al (2022) published a study of Lygus species including both habitus characters and male reproductive anatomy (Namyatova, A.A. Tyts, V.D. & Bolshakova, D.S. (2022) Identification and delimitation of the trans-Palearctic Lygus species (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae) using integrative approach. Insect Systematics & Evolution, 54(2), 146-192). According to Namyatova et al the overlap between L. pratensis and L. wagneri is explained by the fact that they are synonymous based on DNA homology, something which fits with observations of habitus. Leaving taxonomy issues to one side, the drawings of the spicule and the presence or absence of teeth on the right side of the small lobe of the vesica make distinguishing Lygus species (backed up by habitus) relatively straightforward. Although only males can be determined and dissection is required, this is at least a definite way of identifying atypical specimens with certainty. 

The issue now is that I have yet to encounter L. wagneri! Although we do have one record of this species in VC55 I am not convinced that it occurs here. However I am confident that if I do ever find a male L. wagneri I will be able to identify it with certainty! 

 

 

 

Entomology Journal - September 2024

Limited opportunities for entomology this month, and further truncated by bad weather later. 

 

My Journal, September 2024

10.ix.2024 

Finally managed to run the moth trap after missing the whole of August. 13/7 not too bad considering the trap blew over! The highlight was a nice Small Ranunculus, Hecatera dysodea. Followed on with more seasonal garden wrangling before the rain. 

12.ix.2024 

A very enjoyable evening at the first LRES meeting of the new season. I was able to pick up specimens from several people to check. 

13.ix.2024 

Another very cold night, the coldest September night for five years according to the Met Office. Spent some time checking the contents of a flight interceptor trap I was asked to look at. 

16.ix.2024 

A lovely autumn day, sat in the garden and watched a successful mating of Garden Spiders. Identified some of the bugs I had been given at LRES. 

17.ix.2024 

18/9 in the moth trap, not bad for a full moon, and while it was warm when the trap went on it got down to 6C in the early hours. Spent the rest of the day tackling the wildwood in the garden. The evening was the AGM for the local wildlife group, with a talk on urban botany in Leicester from Russell Parry - whose thought-provoking talk made me dream of electric sheep: https://ajcarthropoda.blogspot.com/2024/09/dreaming-of-electric-sheep.html

18.ix.2024 

A short local walk on what turned into a nice afternoon. Lots of Common Darters ovipositing in the Washbrook, and plenty of Ivy Bees - the numbers are going up steadily year by year. 

21.ix.2024 

A lovely morning which I used to play dodge the cows along the Soar at Croft Pasture. Using the vacuum sampler turned up a good range of invertebrates. Fortunately home again before the apocalyptic thunderstorms in the afternoon. 

22.ix.2024 

A biblical deluge to greet the Autumn Equinox brought the local frogs out, and with them the first "star jelly" of the season. 

23.ix.2024 

Spent a very wet day indoors working on Lygus specimens. Some progress made but I need more specimens! 

25.ix.2024 

Only 10/5 moths in the trap after a chilly night, so the highlight was a rather lovely Caddisfly, the Cinnamon Sedge, Limnephilus marmoratus, a new species for me. Attempted to hack back the vegetation in the garden ponds to restore some order. 

28.ix.2024 

Took advantage of a sunny afternoon to spend half an hour in Knighton Park beating trees for insects. My finds were down no doubt because of the recent heavy rain but it was good to get back out again in the sunshine for an hour. In the garden a Hawker dragonfly was interested in the newly cleared pond.

29.ix.2024 

A rather chilly outing to Billesdon with the dipnet and the beating tray. The pool produced a range of Corixids and I found more insects on the trees. Home before the rain started again. Looking at a few days on the microscope now until the rain stops. 

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Dreaming of Electric Sheep

Earlier this week at our local wildlife group Russell Parry gave an excellent talk on urban botany in Leicester. As part of this he discussed the frightening loss of plant species from the countryside and the concomitant(?) rise in urban species. As with all such changes, the causes are multifactorial, but one of the big drivers are management practices. In particular, one thing that Russell mentioned is the impossibility of replicating the Lammas system without appropriate winter grazing. No mowing regime can replicate the effect of light grazing over winter as this removes over-vigorous thugs, allowing delicate species to survive. Mechanical mowing is not a substitute as it cannot be carried out regularly through winter due to increasing rainfall, meaning the land is unavailable through flooding, or machinery cannot go on it without causing compaction (and loss of delicate species). 

This has given me much cause for thought since I listened to Russell's talk. We struggle with our small urban perennial meadow, where the thugs take over in the blink of an eye and winter flooding (and compaction) is an ever increasing problem. My first thought was around Rentasheep - for a monthly subscription would-be meadowers take delivery of a sheep (and portable fencing, presumably an electronic system with a collar on the sheep) for a few hours a month. Leaving aside issues of animal welfare, it didn't take long to figure out that this would be prohibitively expensive, and to be honest I can't see a tribe of itinerant door to door shepherds arising anytime pre-apocalypse. 

But there is a solution. Robot lawn mowers are all the rage and it wouldn't be that difficult for someone much cleverer than me to incorporate a slot for a mobile phone, so that with an AI image recognition appropriate app, a lawnmower with a suitable blade becomes an electric sheep (lightweight, although you could of course dial in the desired degree of poaching for optimum biodiversity in the same way that you set the cut height on a lawnmower). All the hardware and the software for this already exists, it's just a question of someone who cares enough stitching it all together. Surely it can't be long before I can pop into my local B&Q for a electric ovine (or mini-bovine)? 

Electric sheep are not limited to my urban pocket handkerchief meadow - it's also a practical and affordable management solution for rural landowners, not to mention hard pressed Wildlife Trusts. Of course, with rural crime what it is, there will need to be a second generation or robot guard dogs to prevent the electric sheep being nicked ... or do I mean rustled? Electric lamb chops anyone? 

Entomology Journal - August 2024

August has been a busy month for me with limited time for entomology. At last there are plenty of insects about although the season seems out of joint, weeks behind where it should be. 

Time for Harvestmen

This month I've been spending some time working on Harvestmen (Opliones), a group I've tended to shy away from as I found them very difficult to identify. Paul Richards Harvestmen of the British Isles (WildID) has been a great help and is highly recommended. As I haven't been able to get out as much as I would have liked, I've been playing with Opiliotrays (video) in the garden. 

More long-legged adventures here: Whole Notta Love (In the Opiliorium): https://ajcarthropoda.blogspot.com/2024/08/whole-notta-love-in-opiliorium.html

My Journal, August 2024

06.viii.2024 

Other commitments have prevented any entomology so far this month but I did manage to sneak out into the garden for 10 minutes for a late afternoon FIT Count. The Water Mint produced a good range of insects with a count of 28, although the bumblebees greatly preferred the Pickerelweed flowers next to the mint and steadfastly refused to enter the count zone. 

07.viii.2024 

A Steatoda nobilis web outside the back door has snagged a Lesser Stag Beetle, Dorcus parallelipipedus. These spiders make the strongest silk I know (try it), but even though this is a hefty beetle it's not quite the bat or lizard they have been known to catch (rarely). 

08.viii.2024 

The wanderer returns. While I was watching TV a love-lorn male House Spider crossed the carpet. Decades ago this used to be a common occurrence but I don't think it's happened for the last twenty years. First the Pholcus arrived, then the Steatoda, both bad news for the much larger House Spider. I haven't seen many Pholcus recently so this chap, deciding it's as near to autumn as makes no difference, set out in search of love. Good luck sir! 

13.viii.2024 

Escaped for 10 minutes sweeping my favourite local road verge (memories of lockdown). I was targeting two species and managed to find both, although one flew off before I could pot it and the other was immature. 

16.viii.2024 

There was an autumnal feel to the air first thing this morning, although it doesn't smell like autumn yet. It was all go on the FIT Count in the afternoon, 62 - my highest score to date, so much so that it was difficult to keep track of all the comings and goings, the Water Mint was really pulling them in. There are plenty of bees on the runner bean flowers now, hopefully they will start setting soon. 

17.viii.2024 

Since we are beyond the Inglorious Twelfth, I decided to take a look at the Heather at Charnwood Lodge. This was the first run out for the vacuum sampler since February and it turned out to be a good decision, sucking up multiple heathland specialists including Cymus claviculus, Orthotylus ericetorum, Scolopostethus decoratus and Stygnocoris sabulosus, all but one of which are new records for the site. This was a good haul, but in spite of that most of what I found was still immature and it feels like things are weeks behind where they normally would be. I then turned my attention to the Oaks and this produced the best find of the day, Theridion pinastri. This is not only the first record of this spider for VC55 but also a considerable northward range expansion for the species. Understandable considering Charnwood Lodge provides the perfect habitat it requires. 

20.viii.2024 

Went shopping: https://ajcarthropoda.blogspot.com/2024/08/entomological-forceps.html

22.viii.2024 

Recent stormy weather has limited opportunities for much entomology. 

23.viii.2024 

It feels like it's been a disastrous year for moths and data for the first half of the year from the Garden Moth Scheme shows that it's been the worst year since 2013. However, it's not outside the normal run of year to year variation. 

In the afternoon I popped out to the local arboretum where bugs abounded. 

26.viii.2024 

Out with Knighton Wild this morning monitoring water quality in the Washbrook as the follow-up to the Saffron Brook Project.  No change in the Trent Biotic Index (score = 4/10).  This isn't surprising as the inputs haven't changed - sewage releases from Oadby, surface runoff, and pet flea and tick treatments. 

30.viii.2024 

A nice day out at Coombs Meadows with friends. It had a late summer feel, everything a bit tired, and the entomology was a bit disappointing. However, the picnic at the end made up for it.

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Whole Notta Love (In the Opiliorium)

I recently collected some Harvestman from a site I visited in order to identify them. Because I didn't have time to look at them immediately I knocked up an impromptu temporary Opiliorium (noun, a naturalist enclosure for the observation of Opiliones) (well it's a word now) consisting of a ventilated plastic box, a piece of wet kitchen roll and some apple peel on the bottom, and an arrangement of shoots for climbing on (being able to choose their own level is important in helping them to choose their own humidity level, from damp at bottom to drier at the top where the vents are). Because this was temporary housing I didn't add any substrate other than the paper towel or any food other than the apple. 

Immediately on introduction most of the inhabitants made themselves fairly scarce, but the pair (well, a male and a female) of Opilio canestrinii were very active, climbing around and doing laps of the enclosure. After an hour, they had settled down in the upper reaches of the enclosure, snuggled up with the second leg of the male resting on the female's abdomen. And so they remained until it got dark. 

I checked on them a few times after dark and the male was enthusiastically pursuing the female around the enclosure; she was equally enthusiastically running away, and that was the pattern each time I looked at them. The Dicranopalpus in there skittered around trying to keep out of the way and the Oligolophus hanseni hunkered down in the lower reaches and tried to get some sleep. I suspect they were unsuccessful in this, as was the male in his endeavours. 

The next day I examined and identified the specimens and released them. The downside of the translucent plastic box was limited visibility and I'm very tempted to set up a more long term Opiliorium in a glass aquarium for observation. From my limited experience I'd say the enclosure needs to be as big as possible in order to observe more natural behaviour. These fascinating Arachnids are surprisingly active given the chance. 

 

Entomological Forceps

 

As I tend to work on very small insects I normally dissect using stainless steel pins, but on occasion, a pair of forceps are useful too. For my purposes they need to have superfine tips and that means they have a limited lifespan, however careful you try to be with them. (Pro-tip: you can carefully regrind the tips with a fine carborundum stone, but they're never as good as when they're new.) The universal recommendation is to get Swiss-made Dumont forceps, but averaging around 30 quid a pair and bearing in mind the lifespan I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Watkins and Doncaster will sell you a cheap pair for 11 quid, but in the end I picked up a Japanese-made set of five for the same price on eBay. 

I still have and occasionally use a few of my grandfather's woodworking tools, which given that penny pinching runs in my family were probably not new when he acquired them, are something like something like 150 years old. I hate the idea of disposable tools and appliances, but the economy gene is dominant in my phenotype. 

 

Entomology Journal - July 2024

A very busy month of entomology - summer has finally arrived.

What happened to the insects?

Chris Raper addresses the question - where are they? And the answer is: it's complicated - a combination of factors rather than a single clause:

• Weather: the wet/cold start to the year
• Climate: a decade of extreme weather
• Habitat: 
• Habitat loss
• Habitat degradation
• Habitat fragmentation

Thankfully, he also has the solutions, which are do-able, although unfortunately, the powers that be seem uninterested...

My Journal, July 2024

02.vii.2024 

A short walk to the Washbrook yielded a Water Scorpion nymph, which I was aware were there, half a dozen species of water beetle, and what appear to be Water Cricket nymphs, which were a surprise. Must go back in a month and check for adults. 

05.vii.2024 

Another local trip to sample the Washbrook further upstream. In spite of the damage done by the Environment Agency, I found quite a good range of invertebrates. It was also good to see Meadow Brown and Ringlet in the garden after the winds of the last few days. 

08.vii.2024 

A visit to Holwell with the intention of targeting the ponds, but I couldn't resist a trawl through the quarry en route. This was the right decision as it turned up a specimen of Hoplomachus thunbergii, the second record for VC55. Later, the ponds along the mineral line proved productive for beetles, although less so for bugs. 

11.vii.2024

Spent the afternoon working on some water beetles. When I was done, I looked at a small bug found on the kitchen windowsill in the morning. This turned out to be Psallus flavellus, only the second record for VC55 (the first being three days ago). 

12.vii.2024

Following a recent conversation I knocked together a rain shield for the moth trap out of a piece of polycarbonate twinwall and bungee cords. The rain shield worked great, the only problem was the moths - 13/6 on a warm, wet, cloudy night in July. Worse still, the bycatch was zero - not a single beetle, bug, caddis or midge. Desperate times.

14.vii.2024 

A morning trip to Launde. Mostly cloudy but quite a lot of butterflies if nothing exotic. A good range of bugs although there are still plenty of nymphs around for later. 

17.vii.2024 

Flying ant day. In the face of repeated kitchen invasions and the absence of my hypothetical pet anteater, I've resorted to nematodes. 

18.vii.2024 

Finally, moths - 105/31, which is my best total for a couple of years. Emptying the trap felt like the good old days. Most notable were two female Ringed China-mark, Parapoynx stratiotata, new for the garden. 

19.vii.2024 

An early morning trip to Croft Hill to beat the heat. Not up before the Lark, but up before the Small Skippers, giving good opportunities for close inspection of the roosting sleepy-heads. The number of butterflies was delightful, in particular lots of Marbled Whites, and 9 species in total. 

22.vii.2024 

A cooler, slightly windy night so I wasn't too unhappy with 28/12 in the moth trap. Now the new government is easing relations with Europe it's good to see Diamond Backs and Silver Y return. 

Rather belatedly I have started doing garden FIT Counts as a nice low carbon way of recording. https://ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts - a bit breezy but only scored 3 today. 

23.vii.2024 

A trip to Narborough Bog, where dipping in the Soar proved very unproductive, but sweep netting turned up a few nice specimens, including Pilophorus clavatus and Psallus haematodes. 

24.vii.2024 

I'm really annoyed! Sorting through the bugs from Narborough Bog yesterday I found a nice red Anthocoris, and moreover it was a male. After some mental gymnastics (discarding all the exotic possibilities) I realised it had to be A. confusus or A. simulans, so I dissected it. A quick glance at the aedeagus confirmed this but then... When I was transferring it to a slide to check, it simply disappeared. For once, I didn't manage to ping it off the needle across the room, it simply vanished somewhere between picking it up and putting it on the slide. This really annoyed me, so I spent an hour looking for it - without success. 

26.vii.2024 

47/21 in the moth trap, not too bad. Limited by-catch but some interesting looking Caddis. 

27.vii.2024 

Sorting through some samples I was sent to identify it was good to find Orthotylus ochrotrichus. We have essentially no records for this, but only because no-one bothers to disentangle the green Mirids. 

28.vii.2024 

A very pleasant trip to Great Merrible (after a failed attempt in the spring when it was simply too wet to get there). I found an excellent range of insects, of which the pick were Halticus luteicollis, only one previous record, from Ketton, and even better was Dicyphus pallidus, swept from Enchanter's Nightshade. It took a bit of detective work to confirm this one, but this is undoubtedly the first record for VC55 (although Dicyphus in general are hugely under-recorded). Orius laticollis was also the first record for VC55. 

30.vii.2034 

FIT count on Knapweed scored 19, a few too many Honeybees but a steady procession of leafcutters. 

31.vii.2024 

74/26 in the moth trap, and for the first time this year, lots of micros. I think the thing I like best about moths is the names: Burnished Copper, Clover Case-bearer, Holly Tortrix, Lettuce Tortrix, Thistle Marble - all new for the garden. 

The squirrels have discovered the cob nuts so we've had to pick them all green. 

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