No it's not a vice ring!

Well you never can tell what's around the corner can you. I fully expected to be back here sooner than this; in fact I did attempt to update the blog, but was thwarted.

Self pity isn't a great attribute, and so this is just by way of an explanation of enforced changes, rather than anything else. My right eye has been affected by something called a Weiss Ring which is a form of PVD (Posterior Vitreous Detachment) which has left me with this view out of that eye...

It is there all of the time but floating around, and working at the computer is quite difficult. I am told that it is permanent, although in time my brain will learn to ignore it. That could take anything from 3 months to in excess of a year.

And so meantime, I am going to have to update less often, or possibly make the updates shorter. You see....there's always an upside eh! It might be a good thing to abridge these entries, I do tend to write a tome when a quick résumé with a few pictures would suffice.

Okay then, without further ado, let's crack on. Who needs perfect vision anyhow, I only need to be able to see as far as next year for 2020 vision!

After beautiful February turned into mad March, the weather finally relented, and the first signs I had of an impending spring were these  bees that were crawling around on the forest rides a few days ago. They might be Tawny Mining Bees, but equally well may not. My ID skills for bees are not great with 2 eyes! Come to think of it, they don't look at all tawny do they.

If I was excited to find those, and I was: I was apoplectic when I spotted this next one...

I think this is one of the Nomada species of Bee. I discovered it sleeping on the needles of a pine tree. You can see how it has its mandibles clamped to the needle. Fabulous eyes these have eh. 

I also spotted this bug exuvia the same day. I have been trying to work out what it might have belonged to, and more to the point, how on earth has something so delicate survived the winter?

Bug exuvia (disguarded skin)

The butterflies are back too: I have seen Brimstone, Red Admiral, Peacock and Comma already...

A Comma Butterfly

That's all for now, back as soon as I can

 

Unlucky 13? (Count 'em)

A Rove Beetle (Staphylinidae)

ROVE BEETLES

According to the UK Beetle Recording website, there are 1130 species of Rove Beetle (Staphylinidae) here in the British Isles. In fact, the family contains more than one quarter of all British beetle species.

How many of those have I found? Well let's just say that somebody suffering from Amelia could still count them. And I don't mean the captain of the Millenium Falcon , Hands Solo!

Another of my 'Staphy' finds

In case you don't know, and to save you rushing off (and possibly not returning) to look up Amelia. It is a birth defect causing one or more missing limbs. Anyhow, to return to the plot; I guess I must have actually discovered a dozen or so Rove Beetle species over the years and thought I knew the species at least well enough to be able to recognise anything belonging to this family. 

After all, I may not have found too many, but there is a definite similarity to all of them that I (wrongly) assumed would allow me to identify any, at least to species level. However, to quote Scottish singer-songwriter James Aaeron Diamond "I should have known better". Just when you think you have nature sussed, it throws you a curve ball.

Before I get to the 'Full Monty' and reveal all though; here are a couple more of my Staphylinidae finds that illustrate what I mean about the similarities...

The striking Rove Beetle: Paederus littoralis

There are a number of Staphylinidae subfamilies, of which Micropeplinae is one. Within Micropeplinae, there is just one Genus: Micropeplus. Micropeplus contains just five species ( are you following this? I shall be asking questions later). 

What has all this got to do with the price of bread? Use your loaf! We have arrived at the Full Monty; the hats are off  and all will be revealed, so...hang on to your hats...Oh! too late. You see that kinda shark fin shape my red arrow points towards: well in the end it all came down to that being one cool way of identifying my latest Rove Beetle find.

Which by the way, I still have not shared with you, so I had better put that to rights immediately huh? 

Micropeplus staphylinoides

Yes, it was one of those five species that I came across under a fallen branch in local woodland. But as you can see, it is so very different to anything that I have found previously from this family. I was flummoxed I don't mind admitting. The closest I could get was possibly Colydiidae which seemed to fit habitat-wise and had a similar appearance I thought.

Wrong! I was going to need some help with this and so contacted beetle expert Mark Telfer. Mark has his own  website @ http://www.markgtelfer.co.uk/ 

and is a very knowledgeable and helpful guy, who has identified beetles for me before. 

Here's his reply:

I well remember your discovery of Diachromus germanus. Which I did mention in the Status Review of Carabidae. 
These two beetles are rove-beetles (Staphylinidae) of the wonderful and distinctive subfamily Micropeplinae. The species is Micropeplus staphylinoides, with a characteristic shark’s-fin  near the rear of the abdomen. This is not an uncommon species but takes some spotting.

Fantastic! What I love about Mark's approach is that he provides just enough information, without getting into the minutia, which frankly, I would probably struggle to comprehend anyway, being the amateur that I am.

For instance, this is a description from another website:

The middle ridge of the abdomen towards the base of

the second to last tergite (fourth visible tergite
) projects
as a pointed tooth, almost reaching the hind margin of
the segment. Vertex with two
indistinct furrows in the middle and with a rounded
swelling each side. Elytra distinctly narrower than the
pronotum.

Micropeplus staphylinoides it is then. Another newbie for me and the local woods. 

I did find another beetle on one of my walks. This one was on a concrete post and I spotted it whilst photographing a wolf spider. Possibly Panagaeus species (Carabidae) but wouldn't want to go further than that. Edit: This has now been identified as Anthicus antherinus (Thanks to martinf)

The family Carabidae, commonly called ground beetles, is made up of just over 350 species in Britain and Ireland. It is quite varied, with some beautifully marked beetles: Asaphidion curtum being a real favourite of mine..

Asaphidion curtum-A Ground Beetle (Carabidae)

All of the beetles pictured above are previous finds of ground beetles. 

Apion weevil

I seem to be stuck in beetle mode here and so may as well add a couple more finds. There was this Apion, or Seed weevil. And then one day there were lots and lots of these Pea-leaf weevils that you can see in the next photograph. I suspect the Pea weevil is Sitonia species, and probably Sitonia lineatus. They are one of the earliest weevils I find each year and have even found during winter.

Sitonia lineatus?

Oh! This is the Wolf spider that I was photographing when I spotted that first Ground beetle. This spider is Pardosa species. The Lycosidae, or Wolf spiders, are primarily ground-inhabiting and will also forage on low-growing vegetation. All Lycosids are hunters, so they do not trap their prey in a web. They are not easy to photograph because can run very fast.

What about the creature in these photographs (above) then? Again, this is something I have not seen before; unless, they are Thysanoptera (Thrips). I did once find a whole family of both adults and juveniles, and as far as I can remember, which isn't far at all...these look similar. I could check my files I suppose. But, chances are that the original photos were lost when my USB spare drive went down with 30000 photographs on it!

I think that is probably long enough for one update: almost 2 metres already. 

I shall beat a hasty retreat with this  photo of a magnificent looking Collembola...

Neanura muscorum - A Springtail (Collembola)

And remember: “Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.”

Wonderin' who sayeth that now? It was this fella...

H.W.L.