Warmth - insects.

Tonight I've put a Heath trap out, a bit optimistic and later in the week may be better, but it has been warm and sunny all day, and there have been some insects. Three Small Tortoiseshells, a Helophorus grandis, a Honey Bee, a Bombus lucorum s.l. a large queen and amongst the Aleocharinae a decent Staphy beetle, Anotylus rugosus, which is new for the patch and me. This was in a colour tray trap.

Bombus lucorum s.l. could be B. magnus, on the other hand.

Anotylus rugosus, TG4 down the microscope lens.

A quick inspection outside has revealed Depressaria radiella on the kitchen window and a caddis which escaped me on the outside of the Heath trap.

Tachinus rufipes, from litter sample.

Earlier in the week this common Staphy, a bit awkward to ID, turned up in the litter sample. Also in there was this Megarthrus depressus which is also new. I've caught it before I reckon but misidentified it, this being a male was more straightforward as the pronotum has an additional angle on it.

Megarthrus depressus, male, annoyingly the key feature is nearly covered by a bit of gunk on the pronotum.

The other beetle in there was Cartodere bifasciata which I've found once before, minute at 1.5mm. A smart little beastie tho.

Cartodere bifasciata.

I found a dead hedgehog in the hawthorn hedge. So, brought it home, put it under a cage and set a couple of pitfall traps. Bingo, another Catops. I even managed another dissection and got one of the parameres out with the aedegus. This confirmed it as new, Catops tristis.

Catops tristis.

Aedegus, unfortunately I didn't get the paramere in the image, but it was long and fine and fell well short of the tip of the aedegus. Pretty sure these features confirm this as tristis.

So all round some decent beetling. The Amscope is really proving its worth with beetles. I've also been having a look at Collembola though. Some can be done with a stereo microscope or a good image but for quite a few a compound microscope is needed. 

Isotoma sp, dorsal and ventral.

This Isotoma is quite large for a springtail at 3mm, unfortunately there are four species in the genus and you have to be able to see how many pairs of teeth there are at the base of the furca, the springy bit. I don't really understand the images that explain this, it could do with some good diagrams. I had a go at enlarging the image.

Possibly I can see a single tooth which would make it viridens, but it's not clear enough.

Really you need to make slides of the furca and then examine with a compound microscope.

There are plenty of Collembola in the garden to practise on anyway.

I did my WeBS count today, a couple of days late but no wind. The ducks all hide in the vegetation when it's windy anyway. Seven pairs of Pintail, quite a few Pochard and lots of waders on territory made for an optimistic outing. There was a Great Tit on South Ronaldsay the other day, one here would be a red letter day.