ChrisR
Chris’s brain-dump
Welcome!
This is my place for articles and general ramblings on entomology. I hope you like it - I will try my very best to keep it up to date with more articles and posts to let you know what I am up to.
(click on any photos to see bigger versions)
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Red-necked footman moth at Hartslock
Posted on June 14th, 2009 2 commentsIn the morning I ran a workparty at Hartslock nature reserve where I decided to just do a bit of tidying up. While strolling round I spotted an intriguing little moth, which I knew must be unusual so I took a photo. Back home I identified it as a red-necked footman moth (Atolmis rubricollis) - an unusual moth that is quite rare in our part of the country and so is likely to be a migrant - perhaps one that came over in the recent Painted Lady migration.
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Bombus hypnorum at Moor Copse
Posted on June 14th, 2009 No commentsIn the afternoon I decided to head out to one of my favourite local nature reserves - Moor Copse.
Despite being pestered by clegg flies (Haematopota sp.) I managed to see some really nice insects - most notable of which was Bombus hypnorum, a recent visitor to the UK. The only problem was accidentally setting my camera to ISO-1600 so the resulting photos were rubbish … the selection below is a testament more to PhotoShop than my ability as a photographer!!
There weren’t many tachinids - just a few very tatty Zophomyia temula, the very distinctive shiny-black, spikey fly with yellow wing bases. This species has been on the wing for at least a month and seem to have become much commoner in the last 2 years.
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Is art worth killing for?
Posted on June 9th, 2009 No commentsIt might sound like a strange question to ask an entomologist but a recent debate on bug_girl’s blog got me thinking. Obviously, I have no qualms about collecting insects for my studies because my work contributes to scientific knowledge and indirectly benefits the things I am interested in. But are art displays like those by Jennifer Angus doing entomology any favours and could they in fact provide a catalyst for lobbyists to bring down a lot of very negative and emotive feeling against people who collect any insects?
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Pantophthalmidae
Posted on June 9th, 2009 No commentsThese photos are of my holdings (9 specimens) in the family Pantophthalmidae, originating from French Guiana and obtained partly from Philippe Soler (Le Planeur Bleu museum, Cacao) and partly from Jean Cerda’s Malaise trap samples.
This neotropical family is related to the soldier flies (Stratiomyidae) but the pantophthalmids are renowned for being some of the largest flies in the neotropics and for having larvae that burrow into live wood. There are 2 genera and 20+ species but I have been advised that their taxonomy is a little confused and the group needs revision. Interestingly they seem very prone to infestations of phoretic mites, which usually sit on the anterior tergites - these can be seen on some of the photos as clusters of small white specks.
When I get a chance to identify them I will split this post into the different species. Many thanks to Martin Hauser for copying his literature for me.
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- Pantophthalmus conspicuus (female), body length 36mm
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- Pantophthalmus conspicuus (female), body length 34mm
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- Pantophthalmus haydeni (female) (body length 35mm)
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- Pantophthalmus tabaninus (male), body length 34mm
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- Pantophthalmus tabaninus (female), body length 32mm
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female), body length 28mm
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female), body length 28mm
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female), body length 20mm
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female)
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female)
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female), body length 25mm
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female)
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- Pantophthalmus vittatus (female)
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Dorset
Posted on May 31st, 2009 2 commentsJust having a few days away in Dorset, visiting my parents. Lovely warm, sunny weather so far and the scenery in wonderful down here.
First trip was to Powerstock Common and although we didn’t see the Marsh Fritillaries (having a bad few years apparently) we did see a few Wood Whites and my favourite - a Narrow-bordered Bee Hawkmoth. Didn’t see any tachinids though, which was a little disappointing and it was a bit difficult to collect off the main tracks due to there being so many ticks on the foliage waiting to grab you.
Second outing was to West Bexington where we collected a carrier-bag full of cuttlefish ‘bones’ (for the neighbour’s budgies) and admired the really lovely shingle habitat complete with Horned Poppy, Sea Kale, Sea Campion (over), Houndtongue and a small patch of Thrift.
Back home I noticed a few Ruby-tail Wasps (Chrysis sp.) running and flying around the shed so I crept up and got a few photos as one stopped to preen.
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- Thrift
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- Sea Kale
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- Houndstongue
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- Horned Poppy
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- Ruby-tail
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Palearctic reorganisation finished!
Posted on May 23rd, 2009 No comments
Ta Da!! I have finally arranged my palearctic specimens into their correct drawers - alphabetically by genus. It started off in 8 drawers but allowing for gaps and slack-space it finally stretched to 11 drawers (195 species). Amazing really - I didn’t know I had so many tachinids!! The first drawer in the photo is actually “V-Z” so it has more gaps than the others.… and yes, I do really have a white, fluffy sofa … and no, it wasn’t my idea …
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Sturmia bella update
Posted on May 21st, 2009 No comments
Just received an update from Dr Owen Lewis, the manager of the Sturmia bella project, a project set up to investigate the role of Sturmia bella in the decline of the Small Tortoishell (Aglais urticae) butterfly.I have attached his first-year report below (in PDF format) and it makes interesting reading. While Sturmia is undoubtably a very common parasitoid of Small Tortoishell it is by no means certain that it is responsible in any significant way for the decline in the UK population. However, the project is still ongoing and more data is necessary before any real conclusions can be made.
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Palearctic reorganization
Posted on May 19th, 2009 No commentsI decided not to avoid it any more and started organizing my Palearctic collection into glass-topped drawers and unit trays. This means bringing together my British material (3 store-boxes); my Russian specimens (1 store box), Finnish specimens (1 store box) and my existing European specimens (1 store box).
Having everything together in one place makes much more sense and will mean that my reference material will be more accessible and easy to use.
I have also decided that they will be ordered alphabetically - bypassing the nighmare of tachinid subfamilies & tribes. One of the commonest problems when looking for a species in a traditional tachinid collection is to know which drawer the specimen is in because the tribes are all very similar and very unmemorable. Alphabetic sequencing is unconventional and means that subfamilies are broken up across the whole collection, which isn’t ideal, but it is a sacrifice worth making.
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Finnish finished
Posted on May 17th, 2009 No commentsJust packaged up some flies to go back to Jari in Finland - he lent me some of his Malaise trapped tachinids to identify, with the promise of sharing the identified ones between us. Towards the end I had to admit defeat with the Siphona sp. (the Finnish fauna is totally different to what I am used to and I don’t have any reference samples) and some “small black jobs”, which I just didn’t have time to work through.
Jari has been very generous and let me keep a number of very exciting specimens - namely: Graphogaster brunescens (very rare in England - see photos below), Loewia erecta (a relatively new species), lots of Cylindromyia interupta & brassicaria, Ceromya silacea and a scattering of other nice species. I hope to add some more photos here in a little while.
Many thanks again to Jari - I am looking forward to seeing the results of this year’s collecting!
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fg-taxon-?? (Goniini?)
Posted on May 16th, 2009 No commentsThis is another really lovely tachinid of medium size but with everything very rounded. The head is similar to some of the Goniini and even the posterior segments of the abdomen are rounded and whitened.
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Lauxanid #1 (Setulina cf. geminata)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 No commentsThis is really pretty little lauxanid with a lovely mottled wing pattern. This specimen has been donated to Steve Gaimari, who was kind enough to offer a tentative identification. Hopefully he will be able to confirm it when he gets the specimen
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fg-taxon-?? (Minthoini)
Posted on May 14th, 2009 No commentsThis spectacular fly looks very similar in style to European Mintho spp., with the strongly laterally compressed abdomen. The body length is 13mm. It seems fairly obvious that it is attempting to mimic paper wasps, with the narrow waist and shaded wing costa.
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Ropalomerid #1 (Willistoniella sp.)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 No commentsThis is a really odd little fly that looks like a cross between a sciomyzid (snail-killing fly) and a sarcophagid (flesh fly), which isn’t far from the truth because the family Ropalomeridae sits within the Infraorder Muscomorpha and the Superfamily Sciomyzoidea. The family is nearly entirely neotropical, with 1 of the 26 known species occuring in the Nearctic.
I can’t find very much information on their ecology - except that their larvae have been found in rotting substrates and the adults are attracted to molasses and rotting fruit. I can back up the latter observation because I have seen them feeding on rotting banana bait traps.
After a bit of Googling and downloading papers I think mine is a female of the genus Willistoniella (the commonest genus) - based on the shape of the face; one pair of marginal scutellars; and the only slightly curved and laterally compressed hind femur. Unfortunately I don’t think I can go much further with the ID because the key relies on seeing parts of the female genitalia that seem to have been retracted on my specimen.
Marques A. P. (2005) Revisao do genero Willistoniella Mik 1895 (Diptera, Ropalomeridae) da regiao Neotropical.
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Syrphid #4 - Ceriogaster sp. (female)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 1 commentThis is a lovely black hoverfly with metallic green patches. The specimen has been donated to Menno Reemer - many thanks to him for the identification.
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Syrphid #1
Posted on May 12th, 2009 No commentsThis wasp mimic hoverfly looks very similar to Stratiomyid #7. This specimen has been donated to Menno Reemer.
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Syrphid #4 (Microdon cf. granulosus)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 No commentsThis amazing metallic green hoverfly was in the first batch from French Guiana. Menno Reemer is currently revising the Microdontini so the name is only tentative and might be subject to change. Menno has this specimen.
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Syrphid #3
Posted on May 12th, 2009 No commentsAnother wasp-mimic hoverfly. This specimen has been donated to Menno Reemer.
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Syrphid #2 (Palpada cf. scutellaris)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 1 commentAn interesting black hoverfly with a beautiful yellow scutellum and contrasting grey dusting patches. This specimen has been donated to Menno Reemer. Many thanks to Martin Hauser for the identification suggestion.
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Stratiomyid #7 (Hermetia sp.)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 1 commentA wasp-mimic soldier-fly - very similar in form to this syrphid. This specimen has been donated to Martin Hauser - many thanks to him for the name suggestion.
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Stratiomyid #6 (Hermetia illucens)
Posted on May 12th, 2009 2 commentsAn interesting soldier-fly that seems to be a wasp mimic. This specimen has been donated to Martin Hauser. An identification of Hermetia illucens has been suggested by Rui and I think he is correct, as this is a very common species in the tropics
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