I ran the moth trap last night for only the second time this year, 2 Common Quakers were what awaited me at first light this morning. As I was up early and the morning was dry and warm I decided to have a quick jaunt up towards Ely to try my luck at some tussocking. The fields I was interested in border the River Cam and flood from time to time. They were certainly wet but more importantly covered in grass tussocks.
There were a lot of beetles and other inverts in the samples and the trick was not to bring too many back with me, thus minimising 'homework'. I kind of managed it but there are still a fair few small staphs to get my head around, including some of the dreaded aleochs, but interestingly not a single Stenus.
Most pleasing was finally catching up with Stomis pumicatus. I'd not seen this species before and had assumed I must have been looking in the wrong places for this supposedly common species. It turns out that although widespread, it isn't encountered too frequently with some experienced coleopterists only clocking up a few records. There were three individuals this morning in amongst the frequent Pterostichus strenuus.
This Lathrobium elongatum was also a new one for me, and a really nice looking staph. An easy-ish one to spot in the field with its 2/3 red elytra. There were quite a few of these in the tussocks I looked at.
I also finally found a new species of ladybird for me. One of the more common inconspicuous ones, Rhyzobius litura.
I was back home by nine for a second cup of coffee and a spot of breakfast, before getting on with household chores. I'll have to work through the rest of the specimens this week but suspect there will be a couple more new staphs for me.
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