Saturday, May 18, 2013

SP5595ish - A few more

A pretty brief amble in the square yesterday evening helped add some unexpected plant life to the list - mainly as the net was not quite as productive as an earlier visit would have been. Not much doing today though, just a few from the garden. The garden moth traps last night were completely blank - unbelievable! Not everything has been identifiable though, including these dagger flies indulging in the characteristic acrobatic mating whilst eating pose ....


A single Lords and Ladies plant was unexpected, really thought this would not make the list for my square. Changing Forget-me-not was one I hoped to find, and I actually found a few plants together in one area along with Three-nerved Sandwort. Lots of flowering grasses now - I'll have to plan a specific effort on these!

My favourite dead ash tree failed to produce any new beetles this time, but instead I found a number of Leopard Slugs tucked up under the decaying bark.


Harpocera thoracica

Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus

Clover Springtail

Forest Bug

Another dagger fly - you'd think those leg balloons would be useful. Maybe Hilara maura

The coleophora I found in the garden on silver birch on 6th May is now recogniseable as C. serratella. I also found another coleophora in the garden today, C. lusciniaepennella on sallow. Both are welcome garden ticks.

Realised today that the flowering apple on the embankment is self set (presumably having passed through a bird) and that the apples on it are large domestic cultivars of some sort, so trust this is acceptable as Malus domestica.

And finally, just before writing this I pointed my Magenta Bat5 at a pipistrelle and confirmed that the local 45kHz are becoming more active.

Taxon Vernacular Date Added
454 Pipistrellus pipistrellus Common Pipistrelle 45kHz 18/05/2013
453 Coleophora lusciniaepennella (micromoth) [larval] 18/05/2013
452 Dilophus febrilis (fly) 18/05/2013
451 Tegenaria domestica (spider) 18/05/2013
450 Malus domestica Domestic Apple 18/05/2013
449 Rumex acetosa Common Sorrel 17/05/2013
448 Harpocera thoracica (bug) [nymph] 17/05/2013
447 Dipsacus fullonum Wild Teasel 17/05/2013
446 Dryophilocoris flavoquadrimaculatus (bug) [nymph] 17/05/2013
445 Pentatoma rufipes Forest Bug [nymph] 17/05/2013
444 Sminthurus viridis Clover Springtail 17/05/2013
443 Minettia inusta (fly) 17/05/2013
442 Tachyporus obtusus (beetle) 17/05/2013
441 Limax maximus Leopard Slug 17/05/2013
440 Arum maculatum Lords-and-Ladies 17/05/2013
439 Epirrita dilutata November Moth 17/05/2013
438 Moehringia trinervia Three-nerved Sandwort 17/05/2013
437 Senecio jacobaea Common Ragwort 17/05/2013
436 Myosotis discolor Changing Forget-me-not 17/05/2013
435 Ranunculus acris Meadow Buttercup 17/05/2013
434 Solanum dulcamara Bittersweet 17/05/2013
433 Plantago major Greater Plantain 17/05/2013
432 Arion ater (slug) 17/05/2013
431 Chamerion angustifolium Rosebay Willowherb 17/05/2013
430 Coprinus plicatilis Pleated Inkcap 17/05/2013
429 Prays fraxinella Ash Bud Moth 17/05/2013
428 Bibio marci St. Mark's Fly 17/05/2013
427 Sylvicola fenestralis (fly) 17/05/2013
426 Coleophora serratella (micromoth) [larval] 17/05/2013

4 comments:

  1. Good haul Mark. Continuingly interesting the similarities and differences. I also had a rubbish night in the trap (5 of 3, none new) and I'm also feeling more than a little worried about the grasses that are popping up everywhere! I've got STACKS of Lords and Ladies here though.

    Flies! What are they like?! Amazing things, no idea what most of them are!

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  2. It can't be impossible to identify mirid bug nymphs and there are named photos of nymphs on the britishbugs website but I've assumed these were identified by rearing them on, or by association with adults which are clearly the same species. So I'm prepared to be educated - how have you identified those?

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  3. I imagine you won't be surprised (but hope you're not disappointed) to find that these were named after trawling through British Bugs, although I did recognise these having seen them before. A lot of the nymphs seem to be as distinctive as the adults (no different to identifying moths from the caterpillars). I don't suppose all bugs are easily identifiable as nymphs, but these are absolutely nailed on as far as I can see. 'course it helps that these were swept from Oak.
    http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/d_flavoquadrimaculatus.html
    http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Miridae/harpocera_thoracica.html

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  4. Skev, Have just compared your bug nymphs to the images on britishbugs and you're right on both counts that they are an excellent match (though different instars in the case of D. flavoquadrimaculatus). And knowing the host plant also narrows down the alternatives.
    It's dangerous to assume that anything is distinctive, and I'm only really happy if I can key something out, or picture-match against a comprehensive set of pictures, preferably pointing out the diagnostic characters. Clearly neither approach is available with mirid nymphs but once again it looks as if my approach is over-cautious!

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