The Lyons Share

I just keyed out my first staphylind beetle, which has presented a mental barrier to me for some time. It landed on my Weatherwriter on Tuesday as I was heading out into the field in the Woods Mill car park. I thought I would have a go at identifying it. Actually it was really easy, probably because it's the only species in the genus. It's Coprophilus striatulus and is a wetland specialist apparently. The ridges on the elytra and grooves on the pronotum are pretty distinctive and it's just over 6 mm long.

I also had a go at this acrocarpous moss growing on the wall by the moth trap outside my office window. It's the incredibly common Tortula muralis. Most of the 103 mosses I have seen are the pleurocarps so I am having to try and branch into the acrocarps to get more species which I find much more difficult. Hell of a lot easier when they are fruiting though! I might do a thorough survey of the wall one lunch time.

My pan-species list is currently 3155, I'll post a more thorough update on my list on the 1st April but  it won't be long before I have seen more beetles than I have birds.