This is the tiny (less than 2 mm!)
Small Heather Weevil Micrelus ericae. The name tells you everything. It's small and it likes heathers. Weevils really are something else under the microscope! We also recorded
Heather Weevil Neliocarus sus, a larger and blacker broad-nosed weevil. We recorded both species by sweeping at Iping on Saturday but this one was so tiny, I had forgotten all about it! Neither of them seem to be scarce but are restricted to areas with the food plants. Right, I'm now on 3922 species, only 78 away from 4000. I have just ordered the '
Handbook of Marine Fauna of North-West Europe' so that will come in handy for getting down with the rock-pooling! But what will the 4000th species be and when will I reach it?...
I went to the staphylinid workshop run by the BENHS at Dinton Pastures today. I got a bit more into dissecting specimens today and it was a great help working through the keys with other people. Below is the 'aedeagus' (the winkie) of a male Stenus flavipes. Whoops, I mean above. That's Chris below. Anyway, it was strikingly easy to identify from this structure alone. I am quite getting into Stenus. The other genus I looked at today was Quedius. I added five staphs to my list today bringing my staphylinid list up to a massive 24 species. Oh well, you gotta start somewhere (I should add that Emus hitrtus IS one of those 24 species but that is another story).
It was also good to see my new/old colleague/friend Chris Bentley (any of the four permutations apply). Look how studious he looks in this photo!
Perhaps the strangest thing I have ever seen on a TV screen. The live extraction of a beetle's johnson (the beetle was dead, the procedure was live). I ended the day on 3790 species. A big thank you to all the people that ran this workshop, it really was a useful day. Now, I expect I may add one more to that tomorrow if the trip to South Wales goes ahead as planned...
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