Psocid to me baby!

Here we go again then. Time for another update. The whole point of these updates, well the whole point of my blog actually, is to try to imbue you with some of the enthusiasm that I have for the natural world and bugs in particular.

Since I first started blogging, almost a decade ago now, it has become increasingly 'sexy' to talk about the environment and the role  insects play within our world. Perhaps at long last the people wielding the power will do the right thing. I actually heard a farmer saying on TV the other day that they had "ignored nature until now, but could do so no longer". There's progress!

Meantime, I shall continue to do my little bit in any way I can...

In my last update I talked about camouflage. Here's another tiny bug that uses this in what seems like  quite an extreme manner. For starters, this Psocid nymph in my photo is only 2mm long max. Does something so small even require camouflage? 

I guess the answer must be yes, or why bother. Here's another photo that shows you what I actually saw before closing in for a macro shot...

Not exactly standing out like a porcupine at a nudist colony is it! And yet it does seem that bugs of this species all do it. I think it might just be confined to the nymphs though.

I'm not certain what it is that they are covering themselves with: an entomologist friend did tell me what he thinks it is, but I think that's just crap!

A Barkfly nymph - possibly Cerobasis guestfalia?

Curious creatures huh? The common name for Psocids is Barkflies, or Book-lice. According to the National Barkfly Recording Scheme: The order Psocoptera is one of the least recorded insect groups. This lack of recording is not because the species are rarely encountered – on the contrary; almost every tree in Britain is likely to be home to some of these creatures and psocids are far more abundant than some insect orders.

In fact, if you are interested in discovering a species new to science, I would say these would be your best bet and the chances quite high.

More strange looking creatures: this time a hoverfly larva. This is what a hoverfly looks like before it becomes the winged adult we all see flying around, all the time thinking it's a wasp. I think this one is probably the Marmalade hoverfly  Episyrphus balleatus. In case you have been wondering; the feeding end is on the right of this photo. Those 'ears' at the other end are neither ears or antennae; they are in fact, put simply, breathing tubes.

My bug finds so far this year have been patchy. One species however that I have seen huge numbers of already is the Hairy Shieldbug (taxonomists please stop renaming bugs, I can't keep up!)

Never have I seen so many gathered together as I have this year. On one local walk recently, I kept seeing these large, green, spiky plants; not sure exactly what they were, maybe wild lettuce or something similar. Anyhow, wherever they occurred, right at the base they formed  little reservoirs where water collected. In each of the plants I looked at there were drowned Hairy Shieldbugs...

Meanwhile, this rather strange looking looper caterpillar was found on willow... 

I was really pleased to find this next plant bug. Freshly moulted too. It's a number of years now since I last saw one.  This is Miris striatus, or as some folk like to call it: The Fine-streaked Bugkin. It's a predatory bug that feeds on aphids and the eggs and larvae of moths etc. Described as 'local' here in the south of the UK.

Miris striatus (moult at bottom)

I must remember when identifying this bug though, there is a really similar one called 'Calocoris quadripuntatus' that has similar patterning, but is just a tad smaller. If that isn't confusing enough, it seems that there is also yet another similar species: 'Rhabdomiris striatellus', however, after further research, it appears that C. quadripuntatus and R. striatellus are one and the same.

Yep! Two names that identify one bug! 

Pictured above is my first sighting of an adult Sawfly. I have seen a number of larvae, but this is the very first adult for 2019. Adult sawflies only live for a couple of weeks: they get their name from the saw-like ovipositor, which the female of the species uses to cut into the surface of leaves, where she then deposits her eggs.

Pentatoma rufipes; A Red-legged Shieldbug

Another first for this year I think. This is probably a mid-instar of the species. When fully grown, the adults have a kind of 80s shoulder pad thing going on. It'll probably be at least another month or so before I spot any mature bugs. 

Adult Pentatoma rufipes from 2016

This...

A bug-eyed caterpillar. At least that's how it appears right? But those black eye-like blobs are not eyes at all. No, the eyes are the small circle of dots at the base of the 'blobs'. 

Spring, Spring,spring...

Things are really starting to hot up here in Kent now, over the past week we have had some reasonable temperatures and I have spotted a good number of invertebrates.
Just today I saw Small Tortoiseshell and Comma Butterflies as well as Honey Bees, Bumble Bees and Hoverflies.

I've also been seeing a few species of weevil starting to emerge.

Curculionidae Weevil

I'm not sure of the exact species of the weevil pictured here but think it probably belongs to the Curculionidae family.

A little background:

Curculionidae is the family of the 'true' weevils and is the largest of any of the animal families with over 40.000 species described worldwide. These weevils are quite diverse and can range in size from 1-40mm.

The warmer weather has also encouraged out the little jumping spiders...

Salticus scenicus-A Jumping Spider

This picture was a real challenge to get. It's made up of several shots that have then been combined (stacked) to comprise the final image. As this was a live spider there was inevitably a bit of movement of the legs (well, when you have eight, it's difficult to keep them all still.) There was also some movement of the camera (my fault) and so the software used to combine the images had to work hard to produce the end result.

The picture(s) below show the timeline of the images as they were shot, if you look closely you can see the movement I mentioned. The reason for the difference in colour of the final image is just that I decided to correct the ISO settings for a more natural look.

The next photograph is one that I've cribbed from my flickr photostream. It's an extreme close-up of the same species of spider.

I explained on flickr that this was the result of an experiment and that I'd post details here. So here goes...

For this shot I used a 28mm film camera lens reverse mounted to around 100mm of extension tube. I'd recalled a while ago one of my flickr contacts explaining about  multi-shot images taken by setting the camera to high speed/continuous mode as a means of getting several images to stack.

That's what I decided to try:I experimented with several ways of doing it but basically, I just set the camera on to a macro rail and held the shutter button in whilst I carefully pushed the camera slowly towards the spider. It took several tries to get anything worth saving at all but when I viewed this particular set of images, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they came out.

It's not however something I'd recommend: at least, not the way I did it. It's both time consuming and very hit & miss.I think I was just lucky here.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGE

Bombylius major-A Bee-fly

I'd seen my first Bee-fly of the season a couple of days ago. Today though, as I stood beside a bramble patch, watching a comma butterfly basking in the sunshine, something caught my eye.
Stuck in the remains of a spider's web was this very damp and very deceased, bee-fly. I'm not sure exactly what happened to it, whether the spider was responsible or not but I decided to rescue it from the web and take a few close up shots as these are not that easy to get close to normally.

I dusted it down best I could and took a few photos of which this is one.

Bee-flies look menacing with the long proboscis but are actually quite harmless. If you hear a high-pitched whine close to low growing flowers, chances are it'll be a bee-fly. I always think of these as real harbingers of spring.


Entry from my diary for Friday March 9th:
Every morning I check on the caterpillars that I've been trying to raise at home as an aid to increasing my knowledge of species and their behaviour. Today, unexpectedly I was greeted with the sight of one having pupated.

 Moth pupa

Friday March 16th:
I didn't get to check on my caterpillars this morning until around 9am. When I did it was something of a shock that overnight this pupa had become a beautiful moth. I knew of course that this species over-winters as larvae but hadn't appreciated just how short the pupal stage is:a mere 7 days in this case.

Phlogophora meticulosa-The Angle Shades Moth

This fantastic, night flying moth belongs to the Noctuidae family and it's pattern varies quite a bit but tries to give the impression of dead, dried leaves when it's at rest.

It feeds on a variety of plants and is quite common in woodland,gardens and even urban areas.

As these are night-flyers, I found a safe and secluded part of the garden to put this one in until nightfall. Before doing so, I couldn't resist having the opportunity to take some further shots knowing that it wasn't about to disappear.

A real treat to see this little one fresh as a daisy and ready to go.I'm already looking forward to seeing what emerges from the next pupa.

Whilst in the garden on full 'bug-alert' recently, I came across this creature...

A Bark-fly

This tiny thing (less than 5mm) is a bark-fly or louse and belongs in the Psocoptera family. It rejoices in the name of Pteroxanium kelloggi and not a lot seems to be known about these little ones as this is only the second record of finds in my area, and I made the last one! No doubt under-recorded as so many bugs are.

Asellus aquaticus

Whilst we are on the subject of lice...this charming creature pictured above is a common freshwater louse. Again, these are common in many ponds and streams and are quite like the woodlouse in appearance.These feed on organic matter in the sediment and are about 15mm long.

Quite a mixed bag for this blog entry as you might expect as spring takes hold. I'll be back with you soon and who knows what the next entry will feature-I certainly don't!

Until the next time then...