The Lyons Share

Oli and I went to Beachy Head to look for Small Hare's-ear. We failed. But we did see a few other things. What I originally thought was going to be the common Summer Chafer I am now starting to believe is the much scarcer (Na) and very similar looking cousin Amphimallon ochraceum. There were several flying around the cliff tops in the mid day sun. Does anyone out there know if this and the photo is enough to clinch the ID? The key was very comparative and I only have a very bald specimen of Summer Chafer to compare the photo to. We also spotted several of these strange tenebrionids which I had never even heard of, Sulphur Beetle Cteniopus sulphureus. 06/07/11 UPDATE: Mark Telfer and Matt Shardlow both thought that the chafer is likely to be just Summer Chafer based upon the relatively large size of the antennal club.

I also spotted this ground bug running between the Buckshorn Plantain (actually its food plant). It's Henestaris laticeps look how wide its eye are! A frustrating day but hopefully if the scarce chafer ID is correct not a complete waste of time! I end the day on 3525 species.