In which Giovanni gets all spiky...

Back in March of this year I came across some shieldbug eggs under bark. I didn't know at the time, but they were later identified as Spiked Shieldbug eggs (Picromerus bidens) and it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to further study the life-cycle of these fascinating bugs.

And so I took some home with me and carefully ensured they were given optimum conditions for the bugs to develop and finally emerge. These are the pictures...

Nothing happened until April 15th of this year when the first nymphs arrived...

These are the tiny nymphs that emerged on April 20th 2015


On April 25th four more emerged. These are redder because I managed to catch them soon after emerging...

April 25th nymphs

By April 29th they had darkened

On the same day, some began to moult for the first time...

April 29th first moult

The next picture is from May 4th...

Unfortunately my sometimes haphazard filing system has resulted in a few pictures going AWOL between these dates, which is really annoying for me as they showed how the nymphs had already begun to become predatory. Instead of feeding on plant sap, they were starting to need more substantial food in the shape of caterpillars etc. Even more upsetting, is the fact that you can bet your bottom dollar no sooner have I published this update without them, than they will miraculously re-appear? 

Anyhow, let's move on to the next stage that I do have,the mid-instars...

May 31st mid-instar nymphs

It was at this stage that I struggled to find enough food for them all and so decided to release them all, apart from one individual that I would hang on to to allow me to complete the whole process in pictures, from egg to adult insect. I called him Giovanni! Giovanni is the Italian equivalent of John-Gift from God. I also understand that Giovanni is a leader in something called 'Pokémon' and as he was to become the leader it seemed apt...         

Giovanni in all his glory...

The next picture is from June 1st...

Beginning to show some lovely metallic hues now

June 10th next and these are now late instar nymphs...

June 10th late instar

Starting to show the spiky shoulders that gives this bug it's common name...

June 10th late instar

The final instar nymphs are quite something...

Final instar Spiked Shieldbug Nymph

Final instar Spiked Shieldbug Nymph

Final instar Spiked Shieldbug Nymph

One final moult...

And the cycle is complete...

Giovanni becomes an adult...

In all honesty Giovanni could be female but whatever his sexuality..he/she..is splendiferous!

This picture (above) shows Giovanni whilst he was still a touch teneral in colour as it was taken soon after the moult. I waited a few hours for him to recover and ensure he was fit for release, and then took him to an area where I often find these shieldbugs and watched as Giovanni wandered off in search of a new home...

The end.

Or is it? Not quite because since tying this up, I have had a lie-down, sat in the Hero Yoga Pose for half an hour, given myself an Indian head-massage, completed a course of cognitive therapy, read a couple of pages of 'Mindfulness' - Finding Peace in a Frantic World, given myself a stiff talking to about losing files and set about re-exploring my satellite drive, whilst all the time concentrating on my breathing and guess what? I have located one of the missing pictures that shows how soon these little bugs become predatory...

Well I certainly learned a whole lot by doing this and I guess it's something I may never have seen otherwise.

Until the next time...

A Cinderella moment?

It's the morning of 18th Jun and I am up early to close down the moth trap before it attracts too many day-flying,undesirable insects.
Checking the contents,I notice a pair of large,green moth eggs....

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An examination of the catch from the previous night reveals that there can be only one culprit; the large,female,poplar hawk moth. I check my reference books and they confirm that these are a 'reasonably easy' species to raise and so I decide to save the eggs for observation.

Within a few days the caterpillars were already visible through the eggs...

I prepared a suitable home for them and collected lots of poplar ready for their emergence and then....waited...

As soon as the tiny caterpillars emerged,they began to have their first feed by eating the whole of the eggshell...

I guess at this stage,they were around 3mm long

When this was done,they began to wander in search of the food plant that would sustain them through to pupating. I made sure they climbed on to the poplar leaves and then photographed them once more...

By just seven days following my discovery of the eggs,they had already moulted for the first time...

And now look...only 2 weeks since I found the eggs-talk about a Cinderella moment!

This photo (above) was taken this morning-the 4th July 2013 and what a change there has been.

I am now hoping to be able to continue caring for these until and beyond pupating so that I can then complete the life-cycle by photographing the moths emerging next year.

Aside from the pure enjoyment of watching these creatures, there is so much knowledge to be gained from observing natural behaviour in a controlled environment. It is something that would be impossible to do in the wild and I now feel I know so much more about these fascinating critters.

I hope you have shared in both my enthusiasm for the subject and the joy of seeing what I saw?

Until the next time then...

Caterpillars preparing for winter...

As things start to wind down for winter, any of the species that hope to survive the season are now making final preparations. I have been watching a reasonably large collection of Buff-Tip Moth caterpillars over the past few weeks as they furiously feed up before pupating...

They live gregariously until the final instar and will often twist around each other on a single twig, as in the photo above. Fully grown they can reach 60mm in length and look very impressive, as does the damage they can inflict on the host plant-in this case oak.

When they undergo a moult, they seem to be able to do so in the same position and more-or-less at the same time...

The remains of a mass-moult

The black spots on a bright yellow or orange background make this caterpillar very conspicuous and also of course, warn of its poisonous nature.

If that wasn't enough to deter any unsuspecting predator, it also has an unpleasant smell. The mature caterpillar has this striking yellow inverted 'Y' on its head.

Through last week the feeding became a lot more frenetic as the time neared for pupation. I've noticed when observing other species that just before pupation takes place, the feeding will become very intense. I also witnessed  how the group was dispersing, and saw several individuals strip an oak branch of its leaves in no time and would then be left dangling from what remains...

Although these caterpillars can be around until into October  this particular bunch have in fact now all pupated. This involved leaving the host plant/tree and once they reached the ground, bury themselves in the earth, just below the surface where they will spend the winter before emerging as the adult moths next springtime.

This is one of the last photographs I took before they all disappeared below ground...

This photo below demonstrates how the process begins, it was taken a few days after the caterpillars left the tree...

The whole transformation into a pupa seems to take quite a while in this species, especially compared to butterflies, which I've watched pupate in less than half an hour.

From looking as though they have died in the early stages, the next photograph shows how fantastic they look at the second stage...

Then finally, as the whole process is completed, they attain the darker colours that will help to camouflage them throughout the winter months should they be unearthed, or come to the surface for any reason...

I look forward to being able to bring you shots of the adult moths next year.

Until the next time...

Part two....

As I mentioned in my last post, I had too much for one entry and so here goes with part 2...

I'm at last starting to see a good variety of hoverflies here in Kent. 

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Helophilus pendulas-female

This one was a nice, clean example and my guess is that it had not long emerged.I've read that it's scientific name means 'dangling sun lover' 

A close-up shot shows the facial strip nicely that can be used to help identify the species.As this fly seemed oblivious to my presence, I decided to try a natural light shot as well...

It didn't occur to me at the time, but later wondered if there was something wrong with this one because when I walked the same route early the next morning, it was still in the same place.

It even allowed me to lift it on to my finger for a photo...

It sat there quite happily whilst I wondered what I should do when it suddenly lifted-off and was gone:possibly it was as simple as it being late in the day when I first saw it (hence, coldish) and by the time it had recovered from emerging and its wings were ready for flight, it was too late and so rested there overnight.

As you'd expect in springtime, there are  things emerging all the time and so I have another freshly emerged fly photo to show you next. This one was very fresh, as witnessed by it's teneral colouration...

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Tachina fera

I'm fairly sure the identity is right.It belongs to the Tachinidae family of flies and is quite a large thing at 12-15mm. They are all parasitoids, with larvae that grow up inside other insects. This particular one is know to parasitise caterpillars.

Here's another shot of it from a little later one when it has coloured up.....

And another view, a dorsal shot ...

Enough with the flies already! 

Rhopalus subrufus

The rhopalid bugs are back in the garden at last. There are four species of these in the U.K. and all are rather hairy with wings that are reddish in colour.

This profile view (above) shows just how hairy they are. I've only found two species in the garden thus far, this one and the striking, red and black Corizus  hyoscyami.

What next? Oh yes-I wanted to show you a photo I'd forgotten about until now. It's of Goldfinches on a bird-feeder in a friends garden from a few weeks ago. It's taken with a point and shoot and through the window but still shows just what beauties these little birds are...

From something of beauty that can be appreciated with the naked eye, to something that would be impossible to see with the naked eye but is just as wonderful when viewed through a microscope...

Orange-Tip Butterfly Wing

This is an ultra close shot of an orange-tip butterfly wings seen through a microscope lens that I managed to attach to the camera. I have to say that I've been wanting to try shots like this for a while but wasn't expecting too much from this first attempt. It's a really tricky process and the lens that I used could hardly be described as top quality: in fact, it came from e.bay and cost me just £1.04 plus postage!

 Even so, the result made me smile, it's something unseen without the aid of a microscope and once revealed is stunning-alright, the quality of my photo could be better (and probably will be as I progress) but who would have imagined that a butterfly wing would look like this?

Here's another photograph showing a different area...

The thing that struck me about this is, when we see orange-tips in the wild they appear to have shades of green on their wings for camouflage. What it actually is though is yellow and black and that makes me wonder why mother nature didn't just use green if that's the effect she was looking for?

Sightings of butterflies have been pretty sparse through April but I did manage a shot of a comma a few days ago...

A Comma Butterfly

Well this blog entry is starting to reach epic proportions itself now and so I think it may be time to add a final image and then high-tail it outta here!

A Wood Ant

That's it-quite a variety bag for this edition and I already have some nice and hopefully interesting items for the next one.

Until the next time then...