The day I found a female...

Apparently, according to the gods who know about these things, all good blog introductions require a hook: here then is mine. 

At some point in this update, I will be sharing a photograph of a spider with blue pedipalps (Pedipalps are the two appendages on the front of a spider's head, they look a bit like an extra pair of legs), yes, I know; a spider and blue palps! 

However, that isn't the only exciting thing I have to offer: how about possibly the smallest fly you ever did see...

Thaumatomyia notata - a Fruit fly (2.5mm)

I took this with my 100mm macro lens and just natural light and so detail is not special, but I liked it just the way it was and so all I have done is made a tiny crop. 

If you're interested, the flower is an Osteospermum (African daisy). If you are not, then it's still an African daisy.

Until recently I have not been finding either female Orange-tip butterflies, or any eggs. That all changed one day when I found both...

An Orange-tip butterfly egg

An Orange-tip butterfly (female)

If you are interested, I think the plant this butterfly has settled on is probably Wood forget-me-not. 

The Woodland Trust carried out a lot of clearance work around one of the ponds in my local woods at the back end of last year, we are reaping the benefits now with lots of bluebells...

The ash population provides a much sadder sight, with so much having now been affected by what in 2006 was called Chalara fraxinea, and is now known as Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, or Ash Dieback.

Even amidst this disaster though, there was a brighter moment for me when I discovered a new beetle in these woods...

This is Hylesinus varius, a tiny beetle that is primarily associated with ash. When I say that it was a nice moment for me, I should point out here that the presence of this 2.5-3.5mm beetle is also not good news for the ash trees, they do cause some damage by boring into the bark etc.

There's a bug that seems to me to live right on the very edge of the insect world: it hardly justifies itself as an insect at all to look at. The critter I am talking about (okay then, typing about) is a Scale insect...

A Nut scale Eulecanium tiliae (best guess)

 

A Nut scale Eulecanium tiliae (best guess)

The first instars of most species of scale insects emerge from the egg with functional legs, and are informally called "crawlers". They immediately crawl around in search of a suitable spot to settle down and feed. Many species of crawlers, when they moult, lose the use of their legs if they are female, and stay put for life. Only the males retain legs, and in some species wings, and use them in seeking females.

Adult females of a few families are mobile and can move to other parts of the host plant or even adjoining plants, but the mobile period is limited to a short spell between moults.

Adult males, resemble small flies but never feed and die within a day or two of emergence.

Time to unveil the teaser then...

I suppose I could have more accurately described the palps of this spider as 'blue-ish'? But even so, it's intriguing right? I think this is going to be Araniella species and it's a male, hence the boxing-glove style of palps. 'Araniella displicata' did seem to be the closest fit I could find, but I doubt that's correct given the habitat of mixed woodland with few pine trees, which it is typically found on. 

Why the blue(ish) palps? Yes, I thought you might ask that - truthful answer is that I don't know. It seems to be a feature of the Araniella genus as A. Cucurbitina has something similar.

I found this super bee in my local woods too...

I am sure this is Nomada species but beyond that wouldn't like to speculate. Oh alright then! Possibly N. rufipes? Nomada bees, as you can probably tell here, can look quite wasp-like. In fact, they are cuckoos!  So named because they enter the nests of other bee species and lay eggs there, stealing resources that the host has already collected.

Kleptoparasitic is the technical term I think; although I am never quite sure if I should spell it with a K or a C? Whichever it is, it refers to 'parasitism by theft'.

Time for the sleeping weevil then...

Not sleeping at all of course; I'd be surprised if weevils sleep on their backs like this! No, I think what happened was this lady probably spotted me advancing with my camera and did the weevil trick of feigning death. The next one didn't seem to mind the camera at all though...

Sitonia species (possibly S.lineatus)

And one more weevil; let's call it a red one!

Oh alright then...red-ish

This one is called the dock weevil and is probably 'Apion frumentarium': I say probably because there are other possibilities.

And so, I think that triplet of weevils should represent my swansong for this particular update. Fear not though. Things are moving at pace now and there are more and more bugs appearing each day; even to a point where I think I probably already have enough material for another update. I shall return as soon as I have time to write things up.