Flies, bryophytes, collembola.

So I caught a couple of flies in the lean-to greenhouse/conservatory. I took some photos and then I asked online after a bit of a guess at the ID. Very kindly IA responded about one of them and even more kindly, sent me a key.

Several hours later, having downloaded and printed the key and Dipterists Forum Dip morphology guide, faffed about with the thing, trying to understand all the terms, some of which have alternate terms.... I cheated and scanned the web for images. And then keyed in reverse, but I was unsure. Maybe the image I was using wasn't correctly named, or maybe I just didn't understand the wing venation couplet in the key? Anyway, I posted a possible ID online, and happily wasn't a million miles away but anyway IA named it for me and told me what to check.

Tephrochlamys rufiventris (thanks IA).

 

One of the crucial identification features, the thing that gets it to species is this tiny spine on the ventral face of the mid femur. Easy enough to see with the new microscope.

You can just see the one bristle amongst all the setae on the ventral surface of the femur.

The other fly is in a family that is way beyond my abilities so I'll just forget that one.

Anthomyiid, female, I'm informed, thanks TI.

I've had a bit more success with Bryophytes. One species that has bugged me for several years is the moss that grows on a lot of the mature trees here. It grows along the branches in clumps and my previous attempts to ID it have failed. Howver, new book in hand, specimens under the microscope and eventually I got it sorted.

Ulota phyllantha, or Frizzled Pincushion.

Close up showing the gemmae which seal the deal.

When we were out at Skaill the other day there was an interesting looking moss in a burn bed. The burn was dry, I grabbed a sample. Initially I thought this was Greater Water-moss.

But BH put me right, it's Cinclidotus fontinaloides, Smaller Lattice-moss.

A bit wet and shiny but shows the thickened leaf edges and the nerve fairly well.

I took more samples today and found a couple of liverworts, Lunularia cruciata, Crescent-cup Liverwort, I need to redo the pix as they're rubbish. But the field photo with the TG4 was ok.

 

Lunularia cruciata, Crescent-cup Liverwort.

  

A bit rubbish of Metzgeria furcata though. There's some moss tangled up in that too.

Metzgeria furcata, Forked Veilwort.

 I also found this moss in the stubble field which is I think Raconitrum ericoides, fingers crossed.

Raconitrum ericoides I think, Dense Fringe-moss.

One of the things about taking these moss samples is that there are lots of small inverts running about in them, they come to light under the microscope. Photographing them is not easy. Today there were a couple of staphys, Aleochines, so after a quick look I chose to ignore them, a lot of mites, and more interestingly, and feasible, a few Collembola. Most of these were uncooperative but I suspected Vertagopus cinereus and identified the easy Orchesella cincta, I managed a rubbish photo of that.

Orchesella cincta.

In the sample of moss, Racomitrum ericoides, from the stubble field there was a more photogenic Collembola, well it stayed still anyway. It was from the Isotomurus genus which is tricky, but I'm maybe suspecting I. pseudopalustris due to the habo, we'll see.

Isotomurus maybe pseudopalustris.

This was taken using the TG4 with microscope mode, manual focus and focus bracketing down the eyepiece of the microscope, it's turned out pretty well. The Collembola is about 2mm long.

 So a bit of success here, a few new things, the two liverworts at least and I think three mosses and the fly. I'd better wait to see if I can claim one or two new Collembola, I've had O. cincta in the past. I've got some more samples and photos awaiting attention.

Much of the rest of this very windy day was spent decorating the downstairs bathroom, eating the lime and lemon marmalade cake I made, and making stuffed peppers for tea.

On the bird front not much today, four Greenfinches, but there were 13 Goldfinch, 2 Brambling, 9 Chaffinch yesterday as well as Sproghawk, Hen Harrier and the usual quakers. The Woodpigeon flock is at about 20 unusually for the time of year. And I did photograph the Marsh Marigold, happily in flower on 29th January, that's a bit mad.