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First Blood
Posted by Graeme Lyons , Sunday, 19 August 2018 12:00
I've had a very enjoyable couple of days freelancing in Surrey and Kent and quite a few lifers. But first I finally caught up with my first adult Rambur's Pied Shieldbugs. My first reaction was how much blacker they were, in fact it looked more like a black bug with white bits on than a pied one. These were in Kent. This bug has yet to reach Sussex but look for it on Black Horehound in the north east of East Sussex, it's only a matter of time!
Back in Surrey we saw quite a few Raglius alboacuminatus, also on Black Horehound and also not yet in Sussex. This is a striking ground bug that I found mainly with the suction sampler by sampling in litter beneath or near to the foodplant.
Here are all the lifers from the last two days:
Raglius alboacuminatus
Cheilosia soror
Leopoldius strigatus
Tapinopa longidens
Creophilus maxillosus (at long last, what a beast!)
Scymnus femoralis
Stethorus punctillum (the UK's smallest ladybird at less than 1.5 mm!)
In fact, it was a great couple of days for ladybirds, the full list is here and includes the two lifers at the top. A total of 17 species not bad for two days. This is mostly down to using the suction sampler and picking up some of the smaller ones.
Stethorus punctillum
Platynapsis luteorubra
Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata
Propylea quattuordecimpunctata
Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata
Hippodamia variegata
Coccinella septempunctata
Harmonia axyridis
Harmoia quadripunctata
Subcoccinella vigintiquattuorpunctata
Rhyzobius chrysomeloides/litura
Rhyzobius lophanthae
Scymnus suturalis
Scymnus interruptus
Nephus redtenbacheri
Nephus quadrimaculatus
And I bought some new art equipment so the next installment of "Fussy Eaters" is coming soon...
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