persistent.time.window

Not so long ago I didn't know what3words, what it was. Until Nahal pointed out that I had a series of blog titles reminiscent of the apps language. I then found the app and now rather like it, quite handy for telling folk where you are or giving an accurate location. Anyway, today the blog post title is intentional, but it doesn't lead to any particular place via the app, it just refers to an odd coincidence.

Persistent because I've gnawed away at a problem with the county micro-moth list until eventually today I came to a solution. Time because the solution was in 2017. And window because there lies the coincidence.

So here was the problem, a moth called False Codling Moth Thaumatotibia leucotreta. Originally, when going through the county recording sheet for micro-moths I noticed the scientific name was incorrect, the genus wasn't capitalised, so I made a note for the County Lepidoptera Recorder and highlighted the species in the list.

Thaumatotibia leucotreta False Codling Moth.

The CLR then couldn't find the record of the moth. So I embarked on a bit of a search, emailing folk to see if they knew anything about the record. No joy. Finally, I emailed the previous CLR who came back with a bit of a surprising answer, he'd found a photo of the moth in his records, my photo, I'd sent it to him in April 2017. Searching my photos on a backup drive I couldn't find the image, but then I had the bright idea of searching the local insect Facebook Group. And out popped the answer. The story of how I'd found the moth on the kitchen window, on the inside. I'd misidentified the moth initially, as it isn't in any of the books, it's an adventive, an Afro-tropical species. I'd mis-identified it as Grapholita molesta, another adventive; my photos were still named as that, which is why I couldn't find them. Now, at the time I was working, so distracted by the hum-drum of the job and not knowing the rarity of the find, I'd included the moth in a blog post and then forgotten all about it. The CLR of the time had somehow mislaid the record between correctly identifying it and writing the annual report, although he had entered it on the recording sheet.

Thaumatotibia leucotreta False Codling Moth, 9mm forewing.

Now, the window that I'd found the moth on is by our pantry, and in our pantry there are always peppers, chillis and oranges, the food stuff for Thaumatotibia leucotreta. This moth was just the second Scottish record of this species. Oddly, the window the moth was found on has a radiator underneath it, on which I found the first Scottish record of Blair's Mocha Cyclophora punctaria. Coupled with the slight embarrassment of forgetting about finding this rare moth, there is now the odd coincidence of where it was found. A hot spot for finding rare moths for Scotland is inside our kitchen by the radiator; that's weird!

Life get's in the way...

A fortnight and no blog post has been an unusual event in the last couple of years, but I've struggled with time of late. I've been in shed demolishing mode which has proven to be quite a job, nearly done now, with the remains either ready to be taken to a good home or cut into fire wood. The shed was in fact an old rail truck, rolling stock that no longer rolled, the wheels having long since gone to another place. With a bit more work the space will be a horsebox parking bay.

Anonomised by Ivy.

Shed plaque (and slug - Deroceras reticulatum, I think).

I've also been embroiled in moth stuff. This being the time of year that records pour in. My role as administrative support and verification assistant for the CMR has taken up a lot of time. It is very fortunate that so many folk are prepared to help with identification, huge thanks to BH, MY and RL. And talking of moths another species for the year on the lovely Monday, Ruby Tiger.

Ruby Tiger.

Not the best photo but it was sprinting across the track. Took this on the Pixel 7, it's not so good for this purpose. However, it is phenomenal for taking images down the microscope, especially when a highly magnified image is required.

Male genitalia of Philonthus carbonarius, a Staphylinid beetle. (Incidently, I ran this on Obsidentify just to see what it would come up with and it suggested Philonthus cognatus with 98% certainty; that's wrong but not a bad try!)

Labial palp of a Tachyporus beetle. Detail of the labial palp is useful for identification in this genus.

However, getting the detail of all the spines on the elytra is very tricky. It's easier to draw the pattern to be honest.

Tachyporus elytra, position of spines, as best I can see.

Using Mike Hackston's key and the Roger Booth key (I can't get along with Joy) this comes out as Tachyporus atriceps which might be new to the county.

Pixel microscope image Tachyporus atriceps.

Macro photo of Tachyporus atriceps, 2.8mm.

I've spent a lot of time on three parasitic hymenoptera, and I should be writing up the annual report on these species. I'm trying to dent the backlog in the fridge. With help three have been identified, a possible Hyposoter brischkei (thank you AG and NM), a certain Itoplectis aterrima (thank you JB); both from 2023; and a certain Ichneumon oblongus (thank you AC) found in moss from which I also extracted the above beetles and a Notaris acridulus. The Itoplectis is quite possibly new for Scotland.

I managed to mangle the Itoplectis aterrima rather badly, macro image.

The fore tarsal claws are an important ID feature, Pixel 7 down stereo microscope shot.

Ichneumon oblongus female, a brachypterus individual, macro image.

Face showing the clypeus, important for ID, micro/Pixel 7 image.

Micro/Pixel 7 image meta and mesosoma (T1 and T2), lateral.

On the bird front spring is here with Shelduck and Oystercatchers turning up earlier than ever I think, Black-headed Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls have also been on The Shunan. 

Shelduck, drakes disputing territory.

 There's now a pair settled on The Shunan.

The farm have been cleaning out all the ditches, making The Shunan shallower, it will certainly be more suitable for waders this spring

Oh, and I gave a talk about photography and microscopes to the Field Club, I'll pdf it and put it on a page of this blog.

Skating flies

Towards the end of July last year I found a lot of flies skating on the water surface up on Birsay Moor. I took some field photos and IA kindly identified them as most probably of the genus Hydrophorus, members of the Dolichopidae family. IA also pointed me towards the 1978 Royal Entomological Society key to the family which is freely available online. A quick look at the NBN, OWIARC and the key suggested that Hydrophorus praecox was the likely contender of just a few members of this genus. I went back up on the moor to take some specimens with the hope of obtaining a specific identification. Collected, labelled and put safe in the specimen fridge to await identification. Somehow I managed to lose the specimens in my fridge, however, whilst sorting through some Ichneumons in there the other day they came to light, having been misplaced. Under the microscope and referring to the key it quickly became apparent that the flies were not Hydrophorus praecox which has no wing clouds, my flies have two. Males and females key separately, but the wing clouds eliminated all but three species quite quickly. It then became a bit of a wrestle. I went back to the key and started from scratch, keying out the genus, as IA hadn't been 100%. However, he had been right, the flies were Hydrophorus. I tried Steven Falk's Flickr collection, no Dolichopidae, but, as luck would have it there were photos on Bioimages, Malcolm Storey's fabulous photo resource. These wonderfully detailed photos showed exactly what I was seeing with my specimens and assuaged my doubts with a couplet in the key. Hydrophorus bipunctatus, which is new for Orkney. Photos below include an original field photo and studio specimen images. I've been playing with that Pixel 7 again, it can take images down the microscope quite effectively.

Hydrophorus bipunctatus, original field image, 28/07/2023.

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Weather

We've been getting a lot of weather. More than usual. There was all that snow. Then there was gloom and wind. A couple of really lovely days, and now we're back to the wind. This afternoon I struggled to make headway against the wind, it must have been 40mph and gusting 50. More than 50 will likely blow me over. An indoors day spent photographing and identifying things collected over the last week or so, there are still quite a few to do.

I do like the genus Stenus. They are Staphylinidae and fairly tricky to identify, they are quite small also. To my eye they look like wee aliens. I took a clump of Cock'sfoot, Dactylis glomerata, the other day and pulled it apart in a plastic tub. There were a few Stenus in there, it looked like three different species. Not unexpected was Stenus clavicornis, a largish one at 5.0mm. Like many Staphs the way to be sure of your ID is to dissect out the male genitalia. That can be a bit of a challenge with small beetles like these but I've developed a bit of a technique. After photographing the whole animal I chop off the tip of the abdomen and put it into glycerine. In glycerine it is possible to manipulate and pull apart the abdomen with a couple of setting pins, ideally ones that a a bit bent over at the tip. With a bit of care, and with the glycerine preventing the specimen part being pinged across the room, it is usually possible to get the male bits out.

Stenus clavicornis male genitalia, macro image, cropped.

Stenus clavicornis, male.

With really small things like genitalia I can photograph them down the microscope, by holding the camera to an eyepiece, but the results are usually better using the camera with the 30mm macro and then cropping the image.

With this Stenus ossium, proven with the genitalia, I photographed the dissection down the microscope, but the image is not as clear, although good enough to prove the ID.

Stenus ossium has been recorded in Orkney once before, although not on the NBN. However, I recorded it last year as well I think, but I didn't dissect it on that occasion.

Stenus ossium, male genitalia, microscope image.

Stenus ossium, male, 3.5mm.

Stenus latifrons is supposedly rare in Scotland, again there is a previous record for the county. Both the collected specimens on this occasion were female, so no dissection proof. But it keyed out fairly easily, so I'm confident.

Stenus latifrons

The most intriguing thing in the Cock'sfoot sample was this 2.2mm long parasitic wasp. I should have recognised it, but I didn't, fortunately PV again helped me by telling me the genus. Last year PV helped me with a similar wee beast, Cyrtogaster vulgaris, but this time he thought I had something different. I downloaded a book on the family, and then found a I had a key to the genus already. PV had suggested this one might be C. clavicornis (coincidentally the same specific name as one of the Stenus). And with a bit of careful manipulation of the specimen and observation I eventually found the three criteria which seemed to prove this identification.

There's always a bit of doubt with these things using an old key and with a family that is fairly regularly subject to the finding of new species and genera and taxonomic changes, but for now it will be recorded as Crytogaster clavicornis. 

Crytogaster clavicornis. The wee grooves in the mesoscutum (notauli) run complete to the base so that rules out C.vulgaris, as do the way the hairs are arranged on the forewing. The notauli were well seen in the end with a change of angle and lighting this morning, in the image above they are very tricky to see.

It's not hard to spend a whole day trying to identify an animal like this. With beetles the keys are usually pretty good, and folk are producing new ones, improving keys at a fairly regular rate. And on the whole the taxonomy is stable and there are not many "new to science" species popping up. With Hymenoptera, and especially with Chalcidae, and this family, Pteromalidae everything is in flux, the keys may be unreliable, or not include all the species. With a bit of determination and a pocket bar-coding kit I suspect finding a species new to science would be possible pretty much anywhere. It's easy to get drawn in to spending a lot of time and then still not getting an ID with these though. I found an Ichneumon the other day from the genus Gelis (probably). These are very, very difficult and I should just leave it as Gelis sp; but I've already spent a bit of time asking for help and looking at keys. With a fridge full of last year's Ichneumons still to look at I should just leave the Gelis be.

Gelis sp, wingless (apterous) female, best leave it at that...

Not much on the bird front although there were two Shelduck sightings in January, and four Coot on The Shunan on Tuesday, the earliest of both in 14 years. The Great White Egret(s) seem to have disappeared and nothing much else going on, a couple of Woodcock sightings being the highlight. Redwings and Fieldfares have pretty much disappeared since the snow. I should deploy the camera trap to see if there's a Water Rail about. Hoodies and Ravens are sorting out territories and nest sites, and the Rooks are eyeing the rookery on fine days.

Hooded Crow with something dead.

Just a very few nests have survived the winter.

The grass clump from the Wee Wood had a few other beasts within, best of which was this Tachporus obtusus, another Staphy, quite a smart one.

Tachyporus obtusus.

There were a couple of Micrambe ulicis in the grass as well, a bit of a way from the Gorse. A single Trichoiscus pusillus, a very small, but very common woodlouse was also in there.

In amongst my vegetation collecting were some samples of moss and lichen from the Hawthorn hedge. There were a few collembola in there, yet to be examined, a egg or two in the moss Ulota phyllantha, and on the bare wood, what I thought was a lichen but is a fungi (thanks BH), Lachnella alboviolascens maybe.

Lachnella alboviolascens maybe.

 

I've just received another suggestion for this one of Lachnum bicolor, so I'll follow that up.

Rabbit photos, the Rabbits were "hiding" from us under this piece of Gorse which had been blown into the field.

Rabbit.

Now follows various scenic pix.

Scene at Marwick, taken with my "new" Pixel 7.

I decided to upgrade my phone. A tad extravagant but I wanted something with a decent camera in it. I had a look around on various websites, but in the end found idoodirect on eBay who seem to have a good reliability score, they answer any criticism, and with eBay there is that bit of added protection, especially for the buyer.

The phone that arrived is like new, battery good etc etc. And the camera has lived up to expectations. So pleased that Louise decided to upgrade her iPhone SE, the iPhone 12 that arrived is also just like new. The cost a fraction of new phones, thus the recommendation above.

I've been playing around with the Pixel camera quite a bit, I find it a bit strange to use, as I'm used to a "real" camera, holding it still is not so easy, but the results are getting better.

Waves a bit burnt out here.

Once the snow melted there are many Orkney Vole runs visible.

The Old Man from Marwick, with a proper camera - E-M1 Mk11 with Oly 75-300mm.