Saturday, January 19, 2019

Bridport & Thorne week 3

Its that time of year when (although there is always, always, plenty to look at in any 1km square!) most of the records are from lichens, bryophytes and various non-insect inverts. I, like many people, find it a bit of a struggle to keep plugging away with these groups. But persevering, I thought I would use my newly purchased FSC guide to Woodlice to look more closely at this group. I am glad I did as not only did I add several species of wood lice to each square I also made an interesting discovery in the Bridport square. This was as follows. I was turning over stones in the back garden looking for woodlice when I suddenly noted a couple of amphipods ('Sandhopper' like things) jumping around. Strange, as I thought that the only non-marine amphipods in the UK were the true Sandhoppers you see on any beach and several species confined to freshwater habitats. When I looked into it on the net it would appear there is a fairly newly introduced amphipod which now occurs in South West UK. It is called a Lawnhopper (Arcitalitrus dorrieni) and can be found under stones in much drier habitats than the other amphipods.

Photos - 2 this week as the lawnhopper photo is not very good!
Common Striped Woodlouse
 
Lawnhopper
 
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Group
Thorne
Bridport
Slime moulds
1
1
Hemiptera
1
0
Lichens
14
5
Coleoptera
2
0
Fungi
14
2
Diptera
1
0
Bryophytes
15
7
Hymenoptera
2
2
Plants
61
44
Butterflies
0
0
Molluscs
5
2
Moths
3
0
Annelids
0
0
Insects RSO
0
0
Arachnids
2
0
Fish
1
0
Myriapods
0
0
Amphibia
0
0
Crustacea
8
5
Reptiles
0
0
Springtails
0
0
Birds
33
36
Odonata
0
0
Mammals
4
2
Orthoptera
1
0
Total
168
106
 

1 comment:

  1. Wahey! Congrats on the lawnhopper. I usually get the typical five species but probably overlooking some. I expect only to get the water hog-louse to add to this year's list

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