And the light it burns my eyes

On one of my daily bouts of exercise last week, I noticed some large piles of rotting straw and reeds close to a foot path that looked worth a rummage. So today I decided to head back that way to have a quick look for beetles. There was some amazing fenland light going on with blinding light one minute followed by thick clouds quickly darkening things and then back to full sun. Birds were even singing.

Anyway, I relocated the piles. There was quite a bit to choose from.....

I picked a pile and started having a look. There were springtails in profusion but the number of beetles wasn't huge and carabids were almost completely absent. Staphs made up 90 plus percent with Habrocerus capillaricornis being easily the most numerous beetle, bombing about the bottom of my bucket, moving from hiding place to hiding place.

A Habrocerus capillaricornis that's quietened down a bit

I did however, end up finding three new staph species for me (with a few others (aleochs!) still to ID) which is pretty good going given that it was a lightning visit. I also saw a huge woodchip pile that will require further inspection at a later date.

First up was this paederine staph that keyed easily to Medon apicalis and the aedeagus backed me up. Similar in shape to Lithocharis that I find a lot of in the garden it is slightly larger and has a darker pronotum. 

The Lott and Anderson book says that this is pretty much restricted to East Anglia and NBN backs that up. However it's a species that seems to have popped up everywhere in woodchip and grass piles over the last few years, as far as northern Scotland. So definitely a species whose fortunes have turned.

There were also a couple of these tiny ones with pimped up palps and antenna. It does make you wonder how they are used and why they evolved. This is a species of Bryaxis and keys (using the out of print RES Key) to B. bulbifer, the most common one apparently. 

Lastly, was Cordalia obscura a rather shapely staph with an almost heart-shaped pronotum, not to mention a heart-shaped reflection from the ring light on its elytra.

It was good to be out, grubbing around and looking for beetles. I saw two distant people and had the paths to myself. 

Post title inspiration comes from Underworld (mkII)'s first album. 27 years old this year!!  I saw them perform live in early '94 in Sheffield and it was a pretty amazing night, I seem to remember the room going mental when Cowgirl kicked in. When we were kings...