Friday, May 18, 2018

Dalgety Bay - Sarc-asm

So maybe someone will remember this lovely duo - a Pipunculid and an intriguing small calypterate taken not only on the same day but in the same sweep. I had reservations about the initial tachinid determination of the calypterate and when I whipped out its bits I was pretty convinced it was a sarcophagid. Turns out to be true, and what a tiny sarcophagid it is! I'm used to them being enormous - usually the biggest flies in any batch and longer easily than both these placed end to end. Maybe I can post a side-by-side later.

Anyway, finally I cleared the decks enough yesterday to determine that it's Pierretia nigriventris, which I thought was new for county until I checked NBN this morning. It wasn't in the Nature of Fife 2006 county list though so it's new-ish! It has a curious distribution on NBN, which seems to include about 75% of coastal squares in Wales!



Everything else is more-or-less routine apart from a new hover for me in the shape of Neoascia tenur (which may turn out to be N.meticulosa ... but still new in both cases!)

Numbers:
754 lep-moth Eupithecia vulgata Common Pug
755 lep-moth Odontopera bidentata Scalloped Hazel
756 lep-moth Opisthograptis luteolata Brimstone Moth
757 lep-moth Xanthorhoe designata Flame Carpet
758 diptera Helophilus pendulus A hover fly
759 diptera Sarcophaga subvicina A flesh fly
760 * diptera Neoascia tenur A hover fly
761 diptera Lucilia caesar A blow fly
762 lep-moth Nola confusalis Least Black Arches
763 lep-moth Incurvaria masculella Feathered Diamond-back
764 diptera Delia platura A flower fly
765 diptera Merodon equestris A hover fly
766 flowering plant Calystegia sepium Hedge Bindweed
767 lep-moth Endrosis sarcitrella White-shouldered House-moth
768 diptera Fannia similis A lesser house fly
769 diptera Myathropa florea A flower fly
770 fungus Calocybe gambosa St.George's Mushroom

2 comments:

  1. You're getting more moths than me at the moment, Ali, haven't had my trap on for a few days due to cold windy weather, but it should be improving soon. However coastal East Anglia has it's own climate in the spring - any wind off the cold North Sea and it's freezing when the rest of the country is basking. Yes, I find some of the sarcs/tachinids difficult to decide which family they belong to.

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  2. We have easterly chills too. I had nothing last night except an indoor white-shouldered

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