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 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?
