Spider Surprise

A cold December day, half the countryside under water - what else to do but huddle over a nice warm microscope catching up with samples from the summer bulge when it is just impossible to keep up. In this case, a streamside vacuum sample from September. It started off in a humdrum way, knee deep in Bathyphantes gracilis and Tenuiphantes tenuis, but then ... a tiny speck of a spider turned out to be the Ray Spider, Theridiosoma gemmosum. I've never seen this species before and it's the first record for VC55 as well as a considerable range expansion. Fortunately it's a pretty unmistakable species (once you look close enough), which is lucky as this was an immature male - not surprising since September is past the peak for this species. A nice surprise on a winter's afternoon.

Entomology Journal - November 2024

Winter has arrived, entomology slows down. 

Bluesky

There are social media people and non-social media people. If you're one of the latter you might want to read on - old dogs and news tricks, etc. I had a long history on the Twitter social network, including academic publications. At first I couldn't get my head around Twitter - how could something so trivial be of value? The value of course is in the conversations which happen in the network. I fell out of love with Twitter some time ago, but couldn't face leaving. In the end, I didn't leave Twitter, it left me - sometime before it became "X". I haven't missed it, solely because I now have a new and much better network. Naturalists (and other communities) have flocked to BlueSky - https://bsky.app/ - and it's already helped me with identifications, as well as simply giving a sense of belonging. I hope you will join me there and become part of my network - https://bsky.app/profile/ajcann.bsky.social  If you need any help getting started, just ask. If you would like to know more about BlueSky, there's a good article in Nature here. 

Pygmy Backswimmer, Giant Headache?

Although small, the Pygmy Backswimmer, Plea minutissima, was always an easy tick - there's nothing else like it. Well now there is. A new paper describes another species (Plea cryptica sp. nov.) found across Europe, but not so far in the UK. It's highly improbable that it's not here, so now we've got to check them all - not an easy task. Raupach, M.J., Charzinski, N., Villastrigo, A. et al. The discovery of an overseen pygmy backswimmer in Europe (Heteroptera, Nepomorpha, Pleidae). Sci Rep 14, 28139 (2024)

Also:

• Parasitic Mites on Corixids
• Olympus TG-6 Update

My Journal, November 2024

01.xi.2024

Gave the moth trap a run but only three Light Brown Apple Moths, zero bycatch. Doesn't justify the electricity so I think that's it for me now until the spring.

02.11.2024

A trip to Loddington to sieve the leaf litter. Nothing amazing found but nice to be out in spite of the drizzle.

05.xi.2024

Visited Loughborough Cemetery to check the Mistletoe. Little found sadly.

12.xi.2024

Took a trip to Bardon Hill to sift some leaf little. Arthropods were hard to find, but nice to be out.

16.xi.2024

A lovely visit to Launde Park Wood. Although bugs were in short supply I was happy to sit in the sun and drink coffee. The highlight of the trip turned out to be tiny yellow fungus cups on a dead log. I assumed these were Lemon Disco, Bisporella citrina, but one of my Bluesky friends pointed out to me that the adjacent black fruiting bodies are pyrenomycete fungi, probably Rosellinia species.  This means the yellow one is  actually Sulphur Disco (Calycina claroflava, formerly Bisporella sulfurina), which parasitises the mycelium of pyrenomycetes.  

19.xi.2024

Winter arrives, bringing snow. Bugs are huddled up.

22.xi.2024

I ventured out to Billesdon to try to find some aquatic bugs.  Plenty of snow on the ground and I had to break the 1cm thick ice on the pool. Underneath, I found lots of Notonecta viridis and also abundant Corixids happily overwintering and unbothered by the cold. Among the species I found was a specimen of Callicorixa praeusta parasitised by  the larva of a Hydrachna water mite (link above). 

26.xi.2024

A rare sunny day. The Winter Gnats are dancing. I've tried to net these in the past to check the species but they always elude my clumsy efforts. Took a trip to Brocks Hill to take advantage of the sunshine but very few invertebrates around. A single Drymus reyei under a log was a nice find.

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More Olympus TG-6 Tomfoolery

Recently I wrote about using the in-camera focus stacking on the Olympus TG-6 for macro photography, today I thought I'd push it as hard as I can to test the limits of this camera. The first idea was to create multiple inage stacks (by pressing the shutter repeatedly) and then stack them all together using Helicon Focus. This was ... partly successful. My first test subject was ... a pencil. I made 9 image stacks then fed them into Helicon. 

The problem is that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep the camera from moving between stacks - any movement at all degrades the final Helicon stack. The best I managed was three aligned stacks (3x15=45 images), which is the pencil you see above. 

I then moved on to wildlife. With a small spider (Diplostyla concolor), about the same size as the pencil tip in the above image, I couldn't manage to get multiple stacks without camera movement - this was the best, a single set of 15 images. 

When I tried with the bug Drymus ryei, the same thing happened, but the result still wasn't bad. So it was time for the big head to head: Olympus TG-6 versus Sony a6500 with Sony 90mm macro lens - a camera with a 12MP sensor versus a setup with a 24MP sensor costing four times as much. 

Olympus TG-6

Sony a6500

And the result was ... well the Sony is better (duuh) (click on the photos for larger images), but the TG-6 gives it a run for its money, costs a fraction of the price and fits in a shirt pocket. Good job TG-6! 

I could of course carry on with this nonsense by putting the TG-6 on a tripod and using the Olympus OI.Share app to remote trigger the camera. But that, I'm sure you agree, would just be silly...

 

Parasitic Mites on Corixids

I ventured out recently, broke the centimetre-thick ice on a local pool and underneath, found abundant Corixids happily over wintering and unbothered by the cold. Among the species I found was this specimen of Callicorixa praeusta: 

You may notice the small red object protruding from the rear end. Looking closely, this was a mite attached to the bug rather than part of the Corixid: 

Phoretic (hitchhiker) mites are not uncommon on Arachnids but a little research told me that this was in fact the larva of a Hydrachna water mite.

These larvae are actually parasitic rather than phoretic, feeding on the haemolymph of the Corixid. There is some interesting information here: http://coo.fieldofscience.com/2014/12/hunter-balls-hydracha-water-mites.html  They are not as common on Corixids as on some other Arachnids and I have no idea how much harm they inflict on the host. 

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,

And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.

Augustus De Morgan 

 

 

Olympus TG-6 Update

The Olympus TG-6 is my goto camera, the one I pick up first. I'm amazed how good this camera is for macro photography, and how such a powerful package can slip into a shirt pocket. (Having said which, an iPhone beats it for landscape and portraits). I've already made a few tweaks to improve the quality of images this camera delivers but today I made a few more.

Photography is all about the lighting, macro photography even more so. I've previously written about how important the Olympus Light Guide is for macro photography, and made one tweak to improve this further. This simple (and cheap) macro diffuser for Olympus TG cameras is useful in avoiding the burnt out highlights which result from having the light source so close to the image. This is a particular problem with shiny objects such as beetles and water drops. It's cheap and it works but it's a bit limited in how it can be applied, so today I made Mark II - a circle of packaging foam crudely taped to the front of the Olympus Light Guide! This further level of diffusion on top of the Light Guide is much more flexible in how it can be used, producing less harsh images with more detail. 

The other thing I have explored today is the in-camera focus bracketing versus in-camera stacking. The TG-6 focus stacking has been my goto macro setting for any subject that's not moving. In contrast, in-camera focus bracketing produces a series of images which can be assembled into an image using third party software (in my case, Helicon Focus).  Producing such an image sequence manually with a camera as small as the TG-6 is not practical. Focus bracketing still requires a static subject, but the advantage is that you can pick and choose which images are included in the stack, plus which software such as Helicon is more sophisticated and allows more adjustments then the built in program. Stacking the images manually is an extra step but assuming you can brace the camera to avoid movement during the capture (or use a tripod and a remote shutter release, which seems a bit crazy for a camera this small), the improvement in the result is usually worthwhile. Put the diffuser and focus bracketing together and the output is great for such a small pocket camera. 

(click for larger image) 

 

Entomology Journal - October 2024

A month of variable weather and troublesome Hymenoptera...

VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera Recording and Checklist

After a great deal of work - mostly by my colleagues with a shamingly small contribution from me - we were finally able to publish the first two parts of our documentation of VC55 Bug Recording: 

LESOPS 63: VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera Part 1: Recorders and Recording. Sue Timms, Kate Nightingale & Alan Cann. Leicestershire & Rutland Entomological Society Occasional Publications Series 63, October 2024. ISSN 095–1019. Available at: https://www.naturespot.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-10/LESOPS63TerrestrialHeteroptera.pdf

LESOPS 64: VC55 Terrestrial Heteroptera Part 2: Provisional Checklist. Sue Timms, Kate Nightingale & Alan Cann. Leicestershire & Rutland Entomological Society Occasional Publications Series 64, October 2024. ISSN 095–1019 Available at: https://www.naturespot.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-10/LESOPS64TerrestrialHeteropteraChecklist.pdf 

The plan is for more to follow in future, covering the other major groups. 

My Journal, October 2024

03.x.2024 

Worked on a range of Lygus specimens. I finally feel confident about these tricky bugs (as long as I can find a male!). 

04.x.2024

After the rain of the past week it was good to spend a day out at Melton Country Park. I was surprised to realise that I hadn't actually been there for nine years. I found a very good range of insects the highlights of which were Micronecta scholtzi, lots of Anthocoris limbatus and my favourite ladybird, Hippodamia variegata, the Adonis Ladybird.

05.x.2024

A friend dropped some specimens off for me to identify. The highlight was a male Anyphena numida. This is the first record of this spider for Leicestershire and Rutland. It was first identified in the UK in 2017 and is spreading rapidly from the southeast. 

10.x.2024

After much prevarication I finally cleaned the sensors on the microscope cameras. I don't like doing this because of the risk of damage but it seems to have worked well - far fewer annoying spots in the images now. 

11.x.2024

Quite a good frost, giving me hope for good autumn colour in the days to come took a trip to Cossington Meadows mostly targeting the pools with the dipnet. This produced some good records, including Corixia dentipes.

13.x.2024

Lots of fungi around but I'm very rusty on my ID skills. 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. Seems pretty good to me, with the obvious limitations - https://ajcarthropoda.blogspot.com/2024/10/more-on-unstoppable-rise-of-ai.html

15.x.2024

Took a trip down to Blaby and Countesthorpe. Pond dipping produced a good range of species. 

17.x.2024

Enjoyed a very good LRES meeting at which Ray Morris discussed gall midges, even though galls and Diptera are not my area! Good to have face to face discussions. 

18.x.2024

After a misty start, took a trip to Shady Lane Arboretum on a sunny but windy afternoon before Storm Ashley hits over the weekend. 

21.x.2024

Visited a private estate at Osbaston to do some recording. In the walled garden we found the best growth of Mistletoe that I have ever seen on one of the old apple trees. Even better was the fact that it was only a few feet off the ground. Gently beating this produced a possible single specimen of Anthocoris visci, a Mistletoe-dependent species I have been looking for for two years. Unfortunately this turned out to be a female so we have been unable to confirm the species by dissection. However, a nearby Box hedge also produced Anthocoris butleri, also a good record.  Unfortunately I didn't spot a wasp nest I was standing next to (while trying not to fall in a stream) and managed to get stung on the hand by a wasp, but carried on recording after making a very swift exit, pursued by wasps. 

22.x.2024

Very pleased to have a flying visit from Jon Daws, dropping off some old record material. 

The hand which was stung by the wasp yesterday is now very swollen and painful making it difficult to do anything. I'm becoming increasingly annoyed that I didn't identify the wasp that stung me so that I could record it, and I regard an arm covered in very angry wasps as a rather poor excuse (even though running away as fast as possible was the smart thing to do under the circumstances). 

27.x.2024

Took Jon Daw's tuning fork (in D) to the Botanical Gardens to bother a few spiders in their webs. Moderately successful although there doesn't seem to be that much around at present. 

30.x.2024

A return visit to Osbaston to try to confirm the Anthocoris visci record from a week ago. Sadly we were unsuccessful. 

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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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FIT Counts

The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) launched FIT Counts (Flower-Insect Timed Counts) in the UK several years ago. At the time, I decided not to bother. This year, with the moth trap in my suburban garden not justifying the electricity to run it (other than to document the disastrous decline in flying insect numbers this year), FIT Counts seem much more attractive. For one thing, they are a very low carbon way of recording - in good weather, spend ten minutes watching flowers and insects in your garden or local park, then upload the results via a mobile phone app or the website. I'm usually disappointed by big citizen science projects, which tend towards engagement rather than useful data, but the FIT Count methodology is geared towards long term monitoring which is desperately needed. Please give it a go. It could become a habit. 

 

The return of Enoplognatha latimana

In 2019 I first recorded the spider Enoplognatha latimana in VC55, see: Enoplognatha latimana - a new species of spider for VC55. By 2021 this newly arrived species had spread widely across the two counties but since that time, the advance seems to have slowed down. Despite much tedious checking of Enoplognatha epigynes and palps it's been Enoplognatha ovata all the way. Yesterday I was sweep netting when I turned up several Enoplognatha specimens. Despite the statistics arguing otherwise, some sixth sense told me they were interesting. On checking, one turned out to be Enoplognatha ovata but the other was my first Enoplognatha latimana in a long time. Which was nice. 

 

 

Entomology Journal - June 2024

A busy month of entomology. Finally things have clicked into gear. 

Green Shieldbug development

I managed to document a nice photo series of Green Shieldbug development:

My Journal, June 2024

01.vi.2024

Two sets of Harlequin Ladybird eggs from last weekend hatched so I documented the process before releasing the larvae in the garden - read more here: A Hatch of Harlequins. The Collard Doves are nesting again in the garden and have resumed their hyper-aggressive behavior, not tolerating the Magpies or the Wood Pigeons.

02.vi.2024

A rare warm, sunny day at Lyddington Meadow. It's poorly managed and the vegetation is very rank; I never find as much here as I expect to. It's four years since I've been there (our first post-lockdown trip) but shocked to find no-one else has submitted any records in that time either. Entomology was hard work, it feels like everything is a month behind. Across the Welland in Northants a Cuckoo called continuously, my first for two years.

03.vi.2024

It's been a couple of years since I've managed to add any new spiders to the VC55 list, so I was very pleased to confirm that one of the specimens from yesterday turned out to be Ozyptila simplex. A good find for Lyddington Meadow!

05.vi.2024

Made a new spi-pot with a glass window to improve on the poor optical quality of the plastic ones, then took a short walk to try it out. This was surprisingly productive, including finding lots of adult Issus coleoptratus sunbathing on Ivy, a species I see more often as winter nymphs. In the evening I finally managed to make it to Microscope Club at Rutland Water, shamefully my first visit in its new format. Had an enjoyable time keying out water beetles with expert tuition, although I fear I'll never be a good Coleopterist. Lots of useful tips received and delivered, including additions to the entomological library.

07.vi.2024

A productive trip to Prior's Coppice. Even though it was still wet underfoot (which has saved Prior's Coppice from "improvement" over the centuries) and there were Damselflies everywhere, the small ponds at the side of one of the rides I was planning to dip for aquatic invertebrates have now completely silted up. Sadly this reflects the wider loss of aquatic environments. Even if there had been water remaining, for a relatively remote site Prior's Coppice attracts a surprising (to me) number of dog walkers, and although we did meet one with their dogs on leads (imaging my surprise - dogs on a lead in a SSSI!), for the most part any aquatic invertebrates are doomed due to pet parasiticides (see: Toxic to fleas is toxic to bees). Now on to the good news. I made an interesting discovery about Malachite Beetles, and also found a Willow Tortrix, Epinotia cruciana, quite a scarce moth.

09.vi.2024

This morning's brief pre-lunch trip down to the Soar was an object lesson in ... well, I'm not quite sure what, maybe you can tell me. I took only the dip net intending to look for aquatic insects but the first half was extremely frustrating, not being able to reach the river channel due to vegetation and steep banks. When I did eventually manage to get down there was little to be found other than fish fry (Sticklebacks and Minnows), huge numbers of Banded Demoiselle larvae, and tiny crayfish. However, I did find the first VC55 "Killer Shrimp". 

I had given up and was heading back to the car when I noticed Pond Skaters on a small muddy dog-infested puddle next to the path. I eventually managed to catch one, assuming they were bound to be Gerris lacustris, when I noticed there were lots of beetles in the puddle too. The visibility was zero and the depth less than two inches but trawling the mud produced a Corixid, lots of tiny Sticklebacks and what looked like at least three different beetle species. The Pond Skater turned out to be Gerris odontogaster and the beetles were of three different species.

12.vi.2024

Worked on some postal specimens sent to me for identification.

17.vi.2024

A brief inter-thundershower trip to a local pond. This used to be a gem, hosting a huge Common Toad colony but sadly has become very polluted and the toads are long gone. This year however the rain has flushed it out and life has returned. Swarming with Acilius sulcatus and Corixia punctata - high numbers but low diversity.

18.vi.2024

Spent the day training a student on spider identification. Good to be paying forward some of the help I've had over the years.

20.vi.2024

Spent the afternoon refereeing the garden thugs. The Great Tits have a second brood. They are very secretive and we only realised this yesterday, hearing the chicks (which sound well advanced) for the first time today. This brood will have a happier time than the first lot when the weather was dreadful. At 9.50pm precisely celebrated the solstice outside with a small glass of whisky. First garden bat of the year zoomed across the garden at high level but didn't hang around. Summer is here.

21.vi.2024

14/6 in the moth trap, best night of the year in spite of the full moon. Very sad numbers, but including my first Large Yellow Underwing for two years! I followed up with a quick local pond dipping trip. A lot of the aquatic bugs are currently nymphs but I'm slowly getting better with the water beetles.

22.vi.2024

Welford Road Cemetery open day. One of the local sites I never visit at this time of year, only in winter when there's not much around. Found a good range of bugs, and very pleased to find Denticulate Leatherbug.

23.vi.2024

Took a trip out to Ingarsby to dip the brook. Surprised at how low the water level was, barely a trickle. Very pleased to find a colony of Water Crickets, Velia caprai.

25.vi.2024

The Bug Team visited Hicks Lodge. Uncomfortably hot (mad dogs and hemipterists...) and many species still nymphs but some nice finds, including lots of Acetropis gimmerthalii. My personal highlight was finding Anthocoris limbatus on the Sallows. Having looked for this for a year it was satisfying to finally find one.

27.vi.2024

Woken at 4am by intolerable itching from the "Souvenir of Hicks Lodge" Horsefly bite. At least I managed to avoid the Deerflies. The second brood of Great Tits fledged.

29.vi.2024

A trip to Ulverscroft. Water levels in the Brook were very low and not much to be found, but very good numbers of Water Cricket, Velia caprai. The orchids were rather faded but I was able to make a nice comparison between Leptopterna dolabrata and L. ferrugata in Herbert's Meadow.

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Green Shieldbug development

On 07.06.2024 (Day0) I spotted a Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina, laying eggs outside my kitchen window:

By Day2 post-laying, the little perforated lids out of which the nymphs would eventually pop were already visible:

And then, not much happened. The weather was cold and the eggs developed a little more slowly than they might have done otherwise. Then, on Day16 after laying, tiny red eyes were visible through the shells:

Day18 - great excitement, the eggs hatched and the nymphs emerged:

24 hours after hatching the first instar nymphs had hardly moved, possibly waiting for their first moult to disperse?

At this point I moved ther nymphs to a less exposed spot where they will have a better chance of survival. Bon chance, mes petites. 

  

Killer Shrimp!

According to the media, any invertebrate new to the UK is a Killer! (complete with exclamation mark). 

Yesterday I found a single specimen of Dikerogammarus villosus in the River Soar near Leicester. Popularly known as the "Killer Shrimp", this species was first identified in the UK in 2010. It is true that this is a voracious predator, killing invertebrates and small fish. It is also a highly successful colonizer, having swept across Europe from their origin in eastern Europe. This isn't the first time this has happened, other Gammarids have colonized the UK in successive waves, e.g. Gammarus pulex and Crangonyx pseudogracilis. A closely related species, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, is well established along the Soar, but my recent find is the first VC55 record for D. villosus, which has been demonized even more than its congeners (Killer!). Papers published in the years after its UK arrival predicted dire consequences, including problems with biotic indices for water quality assessment - after the Killer Shrimp has eaten everything else ("Killer shrimps", dangerous experiments and misguided introductions: how freshwater shrimp (Crustacea: Amphipoda) invasions threaten biological water quality monitoring in the British Isles. (2012) Freshwater Reviews, 5(1), 21-35. https://doi.org/10.1608/FRJ-5.1.457). 

D. villosus is certainly tough as old boots - pollution tolerant (which is *very* helpful in British waterways), salt-tolerant and can survive in damp conditions for up to five days so it can potentially be spread by equipment including fishing gear, nets, boats, kayaks and trailers. And yet, fourteen years after its introduction, the distribution of this species still appears to be relatively restricted - it certainly hasn't spread as rapidly as first predicted. Part of the reason for this is certainly under-recording - identifying D. villosus requires close examination - but is relatively straightforward (see: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/assets/Uploads/ID_Dikerogammarus_villosus_Killer_Shrimp_v2.1-1.pdf ). 

Even so, this species has not swept across the country quite as easily as predicted. We need to take sensible biosecurity precautions such as disinfecting nets and equipment - but that doesn't deal with wild birds, etc. Even so, maybe the Killer Shrimp!, like the Killer Harlequin Ladybird! and the Killer Asian Hornet! - may not be quite as bad as first feared. It is another undesired pressure on aquatic ecosystems, but I'm a lot more concerned about pollution than I am about Killer Shrimp!