Monday, July 30, 2018

The Happy Bespectacled Stink Bug?

That doesn't mean that this update concerns a species of fly called 'Time Flies'. No, Tempus fugit' is what I meant. Yes, hard to believe but it was 2014 when I last saw something like I am about to share with you. Even more extraordinary for me was that it was as late as the last week of September. 

Having whetted your appetite with this little teaser, I guess I should share now huh? Okay...


What d'ya mean, 'what is it?', would a few more pictures help? Good, 'cos guess what...I have more...


Yes, Coreus marginatus the Dock Bug. This is a nymph that has suspended itself from the vegetation to enable it to moult. Bugs need to continually moult to allow for growth, only stopping once they become an adult insect. The colour is very pale when they first emerge, but will soon darken.


I recently found some really interesting information about flight speeds for insects, also wing beats per second. I thought you might be interested too?


No need for that attitude Robert! I am doing my best here to engage with my public.

What amazed me here was that the Hummingbird Hawk-moth which seems to hover effortlessly in front of flowers, actually has a slower BPS rate than the Hoverfly, House Fly and Bees; yet, flies faster.

Then, take a look at that Scottish Midge - can it really beat its wings  1000 times per second! Try and imagine that? That's 360,000 times in just one hour.


There, you see, now you're pleased you looked eh?


Oh well, I tried...( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Flea Beetles next! Oh stop it...they are not fleas, or even related to fleas in any way. The adultusually have long, hinged hind legs that enable them to jump like fleas. Right now they are peppering my nasturtium plants with tiny holes and there seem to be more every day (beetles and holes that is). There are both Small White Butterfly eggs and larvae on the same plants and so it will be interesting to see who wins out in the end.


I have ringed the tiny caterpillar but the eggs are probably too small to see in this picture

Pupation of the beetles occurs in late summer, with second generation adults emerging during autumn and the larvae will begin to feed immediately after hatching. Mainly on plant roots, although some larvae feed on leaves. Hmmmmm...




Time to wind the clock back to April of this year when I visited America. I still have photos from my trip to share and thought I would include a few more here.

Let's begin with this fabulous beetle: this is Enoclerus eximius the Checkered Beetle. It belongs in the Cleridae family and is 6 - 8mm long. It predates on other beetles, mainly on willow, alder and Californian laurel.
Enoclerus eximius

I was pleased to spot this next little bug nymph; it's one that I see quite often right here in Kent UK, well, not this one, but the same species. Campyloneura virgula is its name...

Campyloneura virgula


This rather large Crane-fly was hanging around in the long grass and I did wonder if either it had just emerged, or those wings had been damaged somehow? 




I haven't been able to pin down an ID for these Damselflies yet but there were lots of them on the reeds around a lake one day when I visited. I am wondering if they might be Forktail species?







These rather large and flightless beetles are known as Darkling Beetles (Eleodes species) and seem to be pretty much a coastal species. I found this one in Santa Cruz.






This was a real treat for me; a Gulf Fritillary, or Passion Butterfly. It was one that I was hoping to find. Passion butterfly by the way, after the fact that it uses passion flower as the chosen food-plant for its larvae.

A Gulf Fritillary Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae)


Here's another bug that I made an assumption about regarding identity, only to prove myself wrong when I researched it. I had assumed that this green stink bug was in fact the Common Green Stink Bug Acrosternum hilare, but no, this is actually a Southern Green Stink Bug Zezara viridula. Distinguishable from its cousin by the red antennae segments. 

Edit: Please see the comments on this post for an update on this bug's true identity, because it seems that my second assumption was also wrong!

It has been pointed out to me that it is much more likely to be Thyanata species and possibly T. pallidovirens or T.custator (the red-shouldered stink bug).

Many thanks to Rockwolf for this information; I actually had not even heard of the Thyanata species ;-)

Thyanata species Stink Bug (Shieldbug, much nicer)

These Stink Bugs gave me a little trouble regarding an identity too. I thought at first they were Conspicuous Stink Bugs, in fact, in a way I wish they had been, just because they have a common name of The Happy Bespectacled Stink Bug. But no, it turns out that the description relates to the two spots that look like orange spectacles, on the dorsal thorax, which these don't have.

And so I have settled on  Cosmopepla uhleri a bug that  uses Scrophularia californica as a host, which I believe is a type of Figwort. 

Cosmopepla uhleri 

I still have more I could share but don't want to outstay my welcome and so will say 'That's a wrap' and head for the hills until the next update. Thanks for reading this and making it to the bottom of the page!


Wednesday, July 25, 2018

In which I lose a screw...

I thought I would begin this latest update by sharing some of the smaller bugs I have found over the past few days.

Which reminds me, last week I crashed into the back of a car at the lights. This really short guy got out and was quite irate; he shouted "I'm not happy..."

I said, "Well which one are you then?"

Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's off to blog we go...




This teeny spider is Araniella cucurbitina. Or is it? There is another very similar species called Araniella opisthorapha. The problem is that they are almost impossible to tell apart in the field; even worse, I didn't find this one in the field, it was in the garden! Let's settle for Araniella species shall we.


Then there was this amazingly Lilliputian, cuter than a Putto, weevil...


You can get an idea of just how small this was by looking at the thumbnail of....my thumbnail. S-M-A-L-L eh? So small was it, that I had to get the macro lens on it to even be sure it was a weevil. I doubt I will get to fully identify this one, although I am sure there will be somebody who can do so, I just doubt it will be me!

Back to spiders now 'cos I know how popular they are with you all 🤞🏻You can't beat a good spider is what I always say: well, you could with a length of willow I guess, but I don't advise it...


I mean, c'mon...even you cannot be frightened of this little bugger? That is the head of a screw behind it and be honest, it's dwarfing it. I found this Salticid (jumping spider) in the house, although I cannot for the life of me remember exactly where that screw is now; well, you've seen one screw, you've seen 'em all? 


I suspect it may be Evarcha species, but then, I suspected George Warleggan was a nice person. 



Enough of the minutia, although, I like to think they are important. Here's a short video I took on my phone in the garden. It features a solitary bee being seen off by a bumblebee.


The usual reminder that this video may not show in the email version of my blog, you will need to view the online version...

         

I know what you're thinking, these updates are so dour that time seems to slow right down? No, no, no, that was in slow-motion! Did you see the bumblebee waving its leg at the solitary bee to warn it off? 

Not the same one I hasten to add (I didn't really hasten, I took my time) but here is a different bumblebee, that was finding pollen aplenty on the Gaillardia flowers in the garden...



With all of this hot, sunny weather we are having just now in the UK, the photos from the garden, are full of bright colours and so I thought I'd mess around with the next one and try to give it a colder/wintry feel. I am not sure how well I did, I'll leave you to be the judge.  It was only a bit of fum anyway, so don't be too hard on me. A bit of fum? What the bejeezus is fum? Is it having a jolly time with a maternal relative perhaps? OK, OK...the picture!


Know what it is? Correct, a Woundwort Shieldbug: Eysarcoris venustissimus from the Pentatomidae family, for the pedants (sorry Maria). 😂


One more garden find? A Hairy Shieldbug this time; well, a nymph of same anyhow...

Dolycoris baccarum nymph

Having started this update with the tiny bugs, this now looks positively gargantuan by comparison right? Actually this is just a fairly late instar (although I am not sure what it was late for) and the adults are only around 10mm or so in length. This one seems to have antennae damage. 

By the way, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have seen that small, pinkish area just above my copyright 'thing', which I have included to try and prevent theft of my pictures (you and I both know it's a futile exercise, but I always knew exercise was futile so why not) and that pinkish splodge, is actually my thumb again. Yes, even though it was hotter than hell when Beelzebub is having a barbecue, it was also windy and I was attempting to hold the plant leaf steady. 

I think I might wind this blog up here, well why not, I have wound everyone else up with my metaphorical...

Before I go though, I will leave you with two things; the first is this thought, I have lots, and I mean lots, of strange dreams, but never, not once, have I been asleep in my dream, why is that I wonder? 

Secondly, what the heck the first thing has to do with my blog I have no idea, but anyway, secondly, these final pictures are of one of my very favourite plant-hoppers. It's one of the first I ever found, and I seem to come across the nymphs and adults quite regularly...





Issus coleoptratus

That's all - don't bang the door on your way out please...


Friday, July 20, 2018

The Butterfly Experience, as experienced by me...


When I saw this in the local press...


I couldn't resist checking it out. This is almost within walking distance of my front door. I wasn't expecting too much; I knew space would be limited and it is brand new, only opened for the first time on July 2nd of this year. Located within a local garden centre in a purpose built enclosure...



The butterfly Experience opens at 11am and closes at 4pm but on arrival soon after 11am there was nobody around to oversee visits and take the entrance fee of £2 per person (£1 for children). Somebody soon appeared though and suggested that it would be in order to look around and then pay on the way out. A (returnable) identification chart was helpfully provided (could have been even more helpful by having all the correct species listed) and before you could say 'Butterfly, Butterfly,flutter around, Butterfly, Butterfly, touch the ground...' I was  trying to acclimatise myself to the heat and humidity of the interior of the building.

Identification charts

Small it is and so there will never be a huge variety of species here, but from speaking to staff, the response from visitors thus far has been "Very encouraging and positive" and an expanded 'Butterfly Experience' next year is not out of the question. Somebody has obviously researched the needs of these tropical creatures and how to correctly house and care for them. The unit is well thought out and constructed with plenty of warmth, light and moisture. At one end there is a chrysalis house...


Interesting for me was the fact that the pupae all seemed empty. I guess you might expect that in mid-July, but will there be enough butterflies to sustain the population until the end of August, given the short life span of these insects? Although, I believe that the Owl butterflies can live for as much as 130 plus days: the Blue morpho and Flame, maybe a month or less?

In fact, let me see if I can get somebody on the telephone right now and put these questions to them.

In case you are unsure what a phone looks like ;-)

Alright then, I did manage to speak to a really helpful member of staff and this is what he told me. There are weekly deliveries of extra pupae/stock throughout the open season. With regard to the winter months; the whole shebang is dismantled to be re-instated next year prior to opening again. Any remaining butterflies or caterpillars, pupae, are handed over to a professional breeder, who will care for them until they are needed again. The plants I imagine won't cause a problem, as this is run by a capable garden centre anyway.

I also asked again about expansion plans and was told that there are no firm plans as yet, but the response has been fantastic from visitors,  including many school visits, and that the online feedback has been amazing too. 

I also understand from our chat that there are inspections from a wildlife organisation to ensure all is as it should be. 



There was one, large pupa that I picked up from the floor that appeared to be complete, whether it was still viable or not, I am not sure. I just placed it somewhere safe.



Butterfly houses are not great for taking photos because of the humidity and unnatural backgrounds, but I did get some photos so that you have an idea what to expect should you plan a visit...


Blue Morpho - Morpho peleides 

Common Lime Butterfly - Papilio demoleus



Leopard Lacewing - Cethosia cyane








Leopard Lacewing pupa- Cethosia cyane


Here is a photo I took of three different instars of the Owl Butterfly caterpillars..

Owl Butterfly caterpillars- Caligo memnon


Owl Butterfly caterpillars- Caligo memnon



Owl Butterfly ova (eggs)- Caligo memnon


Not sure of species for these eggs that I spotted, poss same as above?


Lastly. here are just a few of the butterflies that I photographed with my mobile phone...

Owl Butterfly - Caligo memnon

Iphidamas Cattleheart - Parides iphidamas?

The Flame -Dryas julia

Blue Morpho - Morpho peleides 

                                            



Common Lime Butterfly - Papilio demoleus
And so my impression is that it is a promising start and well worth a visit. Hopefully it will grow into something even better.