Paddle palps

Work took me to the Suffolk coast today, specifically to Minsmere RSPB reserve. The weather was awful on arrival with driving sleet and a chill wind. By lunchtime it had cleared somewhat and whilst it was still cold I managed to grab 30 minutes to go looking through moss and leaf litter around the visitor centre and adjacent woodland.

I didn't find huge amounts of beetles but there were three weevil species, five ground beetles, five staphs and a silphid.

Calathus melanocephalus

Anthobium atrocephalum

When I picked up this large staph I assumed it was going to be Tasgius morsitans but it's actually Ocypus brunnipes given that there are 2 sizes of puncture on the pronotum and its heftier mandibles (although this isn't used in the key I have). I don't appear to have recorded this common species before so it's another new one for me.

I also found an overwintering Cychrus caraboides that had dug out a little earthern cell under a log. I took a few pics before returning it and as always was amazed to see the sizable paddle-shaped palp end segments that I guess must be one of the final things a snail sees...

Also came across this pseudoscorpion which spent most of its time walking purposefully backwards.
It was quite large for a pseudoscorpion but no idea as to what species it is. EDIT: it's Neobisium sp. Apparently N. 'carpenteri agg' is also known from coastal Suffolk and Essex. It differs from carcinoides in having a triangular epistome.

A plum tart's tick

One of the good things about reading other people's blogs is that you pick up tips for things to find and look at.

This recent post by fellow blogger, Skev, made me aware of the existence of a certain species of Prunus that I had no idea was even a thing.

So out I went today with my camera and my copy of The Vegetative Key .

Sepals reflexed and rounded

No sepals showing between petals, flower relatively wide ....

New growth green and glabrous ....

So if my 'borrowed' captions are correct then this is Cherry Plum Prunus cerasifera. Thanks Skev!

This particular plant was at the RSPB's Fen Drayton reserve. Despite being very close to home, it's not somewhere we venture to very often. Not sure why. Anyway, for a variety of reasons we ended up there for a brief walk today. The water from the River Ouse was very high and was starting to overflow again. In fact it was rising as we walked with the path becoming noticeably more submerged during our time there.

With so much flood debris knocking about, I just couldn't resist taking a couple of bags home for a look through. It would have been down right rude not to. I was literally grabbing handfuls as it floated by...

The pick of the beetle bunch were these new ones: a staph, a hydrophild and a latrid

I'd assumed that at 4mm that this was a small Philonthus, whilst not a million miles away it is in fact Erichsonius cinerascens. This genus is mainly found in wetland areas and there are 3 species to be found, this being the most commonly encountered.

This 1.4mm globular beetle is one of the two species of Chaetarthria. A tiny hydrophilid found in moss in rafts of vegetation. These need to be dissected as only males can be identified to species.

There was also this latrid. It keys to Corticaria but I've not had much experience with this family so will need to dissect and hope for a male again in order to be happy with my ID. Otherwise it will be carded and compared to known specimens at a future date.

Amazing what you can found during the winter. My last 6 weeks beetling has been a revelation. So many new things seen, Long may it continue....

As the water come rushing in

Storm Dennis has been and gone, and flood waters have been rising again locally. Not as bad as in many places but back approaching the post Christmas levels.

Am on half term duties for a couple of days, so the kids and I decided to go and have a look at water levels along the main Ouse drains north of Cambridge. Cunningly stashed in the boot of my car were sieves and tray plus a pooter and variety of tubes. So on arrival out the beetling gear came.

Grabbing handfuls of older material and putting it through the sieve, revealed a few beetles. But not that many species. The three main species were all Bembidion.

Bembidion aeneum

Bembidion obtusum

Bembidion guttula - you can even see a scrap of wing popping out between the elytra

I decided to move and have a look at some of the more recently collected debris. This stuff was still very wet and had only been deposited in the last 48 hours.

After an initial sieve only revealed springtails I decided to take a couple of bags of it to stick in the extractor back at home.

I left it in the warm for a couple of hours before having an initial check. There were a number of flea beetle species as well as a Helophorus sp. and a Rybaxis longicornis.

Flea beetle central

There was also this Crepidodera that I instantly knew was going to be plutus. Having previously misidentified a couple of aurata as this species. It was definitely a case of 'you'll know it when you see it'. The antenna colour change and elytra shape are so distinctive. 

I decided to have a look at the Helophorus. This must be one of my most hated beetle genera. Lo and behold this one turned out to be a brevipalpis, just like every one I look at. One day I'll find another species...

I still have a few left to ID but hopefully can make some progress with the more tricky flea beetle species. Plus I'll need to check the extractor again tomorrow and do another bag!

Thanks to Skev for a nudge on the blog title.

More tiny genitalia

I've yet to identify a Ptilid down to species level. I'm getting better at recognising the more common genera but I've struggled to go further.

So I can eyeball this one and be pretty sure it's an Acrotrichis.

Part of the problem has been with the dissection because a) they get no bigger than 1mm and b) you then have to find what you're looking for and get it in a state that is recognisable. 

Basically, I've just not been finding any genitalia.

Until now....

I had 4 individuals to practice on, so I got into a pattern.

1. Remove the head from the abdomen.
2. Manoeuvre the 2 micropins into the hole left by the head.
3. Gently separate the 2 halves of the abdomen.
4. Look in the end section of the abdomen for the bit you want and then remove it.
5. Get it on a slide under the compound microscope.

This worked and I was getting a spermatheca or aedaegus each time. Result!

I added a spermatheca to a drop of water but was honestly none the wiser!

Clive W on the Facebook page, suggested immersion in glycerol instead. Luckily I had some to hand.

The difference was amazing. I could see a lot of the fine detail. What an amazing structure. As someone else summed it up: it's like someone has been and violated a toy trumpet.

I flicked through the images in Duff Volume 1 and lo and behold this spermatheca is a dead ringer for Acrotrichus fascicularis, and one of the more commonly encountered species. Another new species for me and my first ptilid. 

Bring on the rest of them....

A more positive future

I was in Oxford yesterday to attend the 18th Coleoptersist's Day held at the Oxford Museum of Natural History.

Leaving the house at 6.30, I hit Oxford (via a park and ride) at 8.30 and met four other attendees for a healthy breakfast that involved various pig products and strong coffee. Fully fuelled, we made our way over to the museum to find ourselves the first ones there.

A bit of mingling ensued plus a look at the books on sale from Pemberley Books. It was tough keeping my wallet firmly in my pocket but I did pick up a copy of the newly released Water Beetles of Cheshire that had been brought down especially.

The line up was really good this year and no one went massively over time meaning that the whole thing went to plan.

A lunchtime jaunt to the Turf Tavern was followed by an overview of a couple of the Beetle recording schemes, which gave some food for thought plus some head time to how things could be improved.

I have to say that after previously complaining that the beetling world was being outdone by Dipterists it was good to see over 100 people in attendance, a good proportion of whom were under 35. It was lovely to meet a few folk that I'd only previously interacted with via Twitter or Facebook.

A sneaky half afterwards helped to concoct an idea for some field meetings later in the year so hopefully we'll be able to get something off the ground and help reinvigorate the beetle recording world some more.

Big thanks to all the organisers for a great day. Next up, the East of England Coleopterist's meeting

Back on the straight and narrow

After dipping my toe in the world of diptera I needed to get back on the beetles, so I took the sieves back out to the work compost heaps again today.

It felt almost spring like and the sun was taking the worst of the chill out the air.

The number of species of beetle was down on previous visits. I'm not sure if this is down to changes in weather and season or whether it's because I keep disturbing the piles in my search for more beetley goodness.

But, I'm still turning up new beetles.

Today's addition was Cercyon analis. At only 2.1mm long it's a pretty small hydrophilid beetle. It has strongly narrowed elytra which are obvious even to the naked eye. In the tray my first impression was that it was a massive ptilid.

The most numerous beetle (after the aforementioned ptilids) was the rather smart staph Lithocharis nigriceps. Introduced from east Asia in the mid 20th century, this species seems to be a fairly common denizen of compost heaps.

Anyway, after 10 minutes of sieving I felt the dirtiness from Diptera washing away. And everything was right with the world. At least for now...

What have I become...

So I finally gave in and potted one of the flies that hangs around my backdoor outside light. It looked a bit like a small cranefly. So I put it under the microscope for a better look. On closer inspection I was pretty sure that it was one of the winter gnats or Trichoceridae.

Having a quick rootle around on the internet and I found an old Royal Entomological key from 1950.

This fly appeared to have hairy eyes and a horny and down-curved ovipositer. The abdomen also appeared to be unbanded and one colour.

The wings both had 'clouds' of grey over a certain bit of the wing, circled in red below.

Which all took me to Trichocera regelationis. A quick google and this looks like the most common species and one which is highly likely to turn up in my back garden. So maybe I have actually identified my first (non-hover) fly correctly!

Will stick on the UK Diptera Facebook page to make sure I haven't royally ****ed up!

I feel slightly dirty now, and almost as if I have been unfaithful to beetles. Looking at a fly certainly didn't float my boat in the same way that beetles have, even from the first time I looked at one down the microscope. All very strange but I may well yet persist...

EDIT: The man from del Monte (well Julian over at FB Diptera) he say YES!!