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Platyhelminth Worms on a Plane
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Friday, 25 March 2016 17:41
I promised to summarise where we are with Pan-species Listing every year on or around the 31st December or 1st January. I've only got round to doing it, three months after I noted down the information on a plane somewhere around Tasmania. Anywhere, First up, here is the top ten as of that date.
| 1 | Jonty Denton | 12240 | |
| 2 | Dave Gibbs | 11110 | |
| 3 | Mark Telfer | 7172 | |
| 4 | The late Eric Philp | 6878 | |
| 5 | Simon Davey | 6513 | |
| 6 | Brian Eversham | 6271 | |
| 7 | Nicola Bacciu | 6074 | |
| 8 | Graeme Lyons | 6029 | |
| 9 | Malcolm Storey | 5915 | |
| 10 | Matt Prince | 5840 |
Only six of the nine active listers here have updated this year. I'm on 6123 now out of interest.
Anyway, I also added the 100th lister to this, who was Rowan Alder on 903. It's now Jerry Lanfear on 961. There are only two people in the top 100 who are under a 1000 species. Our youngest lister is 12 and our oldest 63. I know we have some people older than 63 but that's just the ages people have put on the website. Actually 41 of the 162 people on the rankings have put their age down (42 if you count the 0 year old but I reckon that's a typo!) The average age therefore of the PSLer who is prepared to admit their age is 38!
So there were 154 on rankings in the new year and 300 people signed up to the website. I didn't check the Facebook group but there are 261 as of right now. Not bad going at all considering we had to start from scratch with the Facebook group this time last year.
Here are the top ten sites as of the new year
.
| 1 | Wicken Fen | 8674 | |
| 2 | Esher Commons | 7945 | |
| 3 | RSPB Minsmere | 5928 | |
| 4 | Thorn Moors | 5052 | |
| 5 | RSPB Abernethy | 4735 | |
| 6 | RSPB The Lodge | 4290 | |
| 7 | Hatfield Forest | 4184 | |
| 8 | Sussex Wildlife Trust Rye Harbour | 3540 | |
| 9 | Northwich Community Woodlands | 3118 | |
| 10 | Sussex Wildlife Trust Iping & Stedham | 2800 |
No changes have occurred here in the last three months. I don't think this part of the website works very well without taxa breakdowns on the location rankings. I hope this can be added but it's beyond my abilities and I have asked BRC if we can have this added but I'm still waiting for a reply. I think this could make site managers competitive and would really add to our understanding of sites.
Now for the taxa breakdowns as of the new year.
| Algae | Jony Denton | 288 | |
| Slime Moulds | Malcolm Storey | 51 | |
| Protists | Jony Denton | 24 | |
| Lichens | Simon Davey | 1195 | |
| Fungi | Malcom Storey | 1391 | |
| Bryophytes | Simon Davey | 467 | |
| Vascular Plants | John Martin | 2205 | |
| Sponges | Jonty Denton | 8 | |
| Comb-jellies | Jeff Blincow, Richard Comont, Jerry Lanfear, James Harding-Morris, Lee Johnson |
2 | |
| Cnidarians | Richard Comont | 37 | |
| Molluscs | Jonty Denton | 216 | |
| Bryozoans | Richard Comont | 23 | |
| Annelids | Richard Comont | 48 | |
| Platyhelminth worms | Brian Eversham | 17 | |
| Sea-spiders | Richard Comont | 4 | |
| Arachnids | Jonty Denton | 492 | |
| Myriapods | Keith Lugg | 71 | |
| Crustaceans | Brian Eversham | 98 | |
| Springtails | Richard Comont | 35 | |
| 3-tailed Bristletails | Matt Princve, Nicola Bacciu, Jony Denton, Brian Eversham |
6 | |
| Odonata | Mark Telfer, Dave Gibbs | 48 | |
| Orthopteroids | Mark Telfer | 41 | |
| Hemipteroids | Jonty Denton | 850 | |
| Hymenoptera | Dave Gibbs | 792 | |
| Coleoptera | Mark Telfer | 2562 | |
| Diptera | Dave Gibbs | 3123 | |
| Butterflies | Seth Gibson | 62 | |
| Moths | Tony Davis | 1617 | |
| Remaining
small insect orders |
Jonty Denton | 194 | |
| Echinoderms | Richard Comont | 19 | |
| Tunicates | Richard Comont | 17 | |
| Fish | Richard Comont | 95 | |
| Reptiles | Dave Gibbs, Seth Gibson, Paul Clack |
9 | |
| Amphibians | Jonty Denton | 13 | |
| Birds | Dave Gibbs | 519 | |
| Mammals | Mark Telfer | 64 | |
| Other animals | Jonty Denton | 36 |
A total of 16739 species! Every time this is updated, a new record has been broken. I was pleased to see that new records now stand for comb-jellies, cnidarians, myriapods, springtails, beetles and birds since I captured this info. The beetle record is already 70 species higher than this since Mark updated. I'd love it if that whenever anyone updates this list and makes a new record, that it shows on the front page of the website as these are significant events and will only reduce in frequency as times goes on and the records get harder and harder to beat. I've still not managed to get on this list again after briefly being joint top fish lister. I'm not even second now. I did have all sorts of plans about going out on fishing boats but I'm always too busy these days. My tactic is to outlive everyone else through extreme exercise and healthy eating. Marginal gains.
With people finding species new to Britain, new to science and a new generation of youngsters getting on board, PSL is really finding its feet. I have already started getting going with my first survey last week where I had a number of new beetles and spiders at Ebernoe Common. I have lots and lots of surveys planned for 2016 and my new battery powered suction sampler just turned up too, meaning I'll always have one in the car ALL THE TIME. Here is to a great 2016, happy listing!
Posted in
Hi Graeme. Does above list mean Keith Lugg holds record for Myriapods (71 species) for a PSLer? Surely several others must have seen over 100! Cheeers, Steve Gregory.