Wild spun-sugar...

When I discovered something whilst out walking in a local meadow, that at first glance you would be forgiven for thinking was wild spun-sugar, my interest was piqued.

Only small at around 5-7mm but beautifully formed, there seemed to be several of these miniature baskets adhered to both dock and sorrel plants.

Time for further investigation. I took some photographs and as I was wandering home, it dawned on me that I had actually seen something very similar a few years ago; but at that point, been unable to find an answer.

My research this time however soon provided a number of clues as to the identity of the creature that was responsible. To be 100% confident of the species would probably entail dissection, even so, I am reasonably happy that these enigmatic structures are actually the pupal cases of Hypera rumicis, a species of weevil.

Described as a pale-buff coloured weevil, with darker brown markings on the elytra (wing casing) of about 5mm in size. The weevil itself can be seen from late spring into summer, in areas that contain dock, or provide damp conditions.

If I didn't know better, I could make some kind of tenuous link with erstwhile England footballer David Beckham here; after all, world cup fever and all that? Lucky then that I do know better.

Whetted your appetite? Okay then, I'll elucidate-the intricate lattice-work of this cocoon, is sometimes referred to as a golden ball, or golden net ball (tenuous huh?) and is constructed by the larvae for its transformations. 

It resembles some of those made by caterpillars of moths. It's composed of loose threads, permitting the larva or pupa to be seen through the mesh.

Quite why nature has decided that this kind of protection from parasites is adequate escapes me; especially given that any movement in the leaf or stem the casing is attached to, seems to cause the larva inside to twitch and wriggle, drawing attention to itself.

I took a few shots of a larva beginning to make one of these fascinating creations...

I also managed a short video-well it wasn't that short actually, this is over half an hour's worth at its original timing. I have increased the speed to x8 to reduce the size for my blog and also...preventing boredom setting in.

The usual reminder here that videos don't show in the emailed version-you need to view this update directly on my BLOG

(The shiny-looking object bottom right is just my 'Plamp' to hold the plant steady)

A close up shot of this beautiful structure:

I don't know if this could be a similar, or even the same species but I found it recently on a birch leaf. Maybe it isn't a weevil at all?

That's about it for this update-I'll be back just as soon as time allows with another, my 137th I think..