Odds and sods

It's been much colder this week and there's been far less insect activity in the garden. Trying to fit in work, home schooling and everything else has been a bit of a struggle but I'm lucky to have a garden and a a bit of space to disappear to when the mood takes me. If only I had access to anything but boring arable fields for my daily exercise allowance I'd be a relatively happy man.

I have managed to fit in a couple of hours this week looking at previously caught beetles. Ones that were put away for a rainy day. 

This first one came to a MV moth trap at the RSPB's Lodge reserve in summer 2019. In the same trap was the longhorn Arhopalus rusticus and the dung beetle Aphodius zenkeri as well as the moth bycatch 😀

It keyed easily to Ernobius mollis once I'd worked out the family! It's one of the wood-boring Ptinids. It's the most commonly encountered member of its genus with records north to the Scottish highlands.

The next two came from the early morning jaunt to the River Cam for a spot of tussocking at the start of March. Boy, does that feel like a lifetime ago now!

First up, was a beetle that I couldn't even assign to family. I suspect because initially it was rather elongated after having been on vinegar soaked tissue for a month. With some help I now know that is a species of Atomaria. One of 46 species split into 2 subgenera. This one is the larger of the 2 groups and is somewhere near gutta/atra. However, there is a new key due in July when the next volume of  Beetles of Britain and Ireland lands, so I'll wait until I have that before having another go.

This one was obviously a Sepedophilus sp. with it's hairy pronotum. Going through the key it went to the pedicularius/nigripennis couplet. The elytra size ratio (width to length) and overall coloration looked better for the former. Top coleopterist Peter Hodge agreed. This is apparently quite a scarce species found in sedge litter in wetland habitats. Looking at the NBN map, there is another recent record from very close by, plus others a bit further away at Wicken Fen.

Still plenty of small fry left to ID on these days of containment. I seem to have recorded about 140 species so far this year, with a few more still to ID. Much better than previous years and more down to extra searching effort then any step change in ability I imagine.....