The Lyons Share

On Monday I went up to see Mark Telfer about buying a microscope off him after discovering quite by chance he was selling one. No point driving 100 miles to see an old friend without some natural history though, so we were soon heading over to Whipsnade Zoo. A month after the Black-throated Thrush was first seen there. I like to think of this as 'danger twitching', waiting as long as you possibly can before going for the bird. It was an effortless twitch and I took this absolutely stunning photo. My first new British bird since the Elegant Tern in 2016. This is a really awesome bird and deserves more than this but this just isn't his story.

Then we went into the butterfly house. Now I have done very little in hothouses, my only attempt was at the BMIG excursion to Wisley Garden Centre. I was a little bewildered by how many species Mark was finding, such as these impressive molluscs which Mark identified as Subulina octona. My completely steamed up camera and hand lens were making me feel out of my depth.

The spiders seemed a bit more do-able. A single large Ulobrous plumipes and dozens of Achaearanea tepidariorum (with some adults of both sexes) were present along with a few familiar Pholcus phalangiodes. Mark picked up a couple of little orange things that looked very like Oonops which I suggested they were. I couldn't find one beyond a very small immature. Then I noticed something scrambling around in the leaf litter. Possibly a parasitic wasp, I just about got it into a tube to see it was a tiny ant mimic type thing that was clearly an adult male. I vaguely remembered there being something of this shape in the new book and a quick look through and I thought I wouldn't be far off calling this Coleosoma floridanum.

I was very excited to get home and see it hadn't been seen since 2005. What a strange beast, hard to believe it's a theridiid. This animal was just over 2 mm long. It has a strange peg on the underside of the abdomen, two serrated projections at the front of the abdomen, a strange cleft in the top and two undulations underneath. 

Yet the fun didn't stop there, turns out the Oonops type things were not one of our two Oonops. Mark thinks it could possibly be Triaeris stenaspis. The really odd looking abdomen and long patella of the first leg would add up. It's turned up in hothouses in Europe and apparently at some point in the UK. Thanks to Mark for this research, image and an awesome day! I do think it would be great if the SRS had distribution maps for all spiders that are surviving in places like this in the UK. They might not be able to survive outside but they are very much breeding here and not under anyone's control (i.e. they are not pets). Are they really any different to Uloborus plumipes? I can see the appeal now and I think I will be doing some more hothouses soon!

Which leaves one question: Hypothetically speaking, if one was year-listing spiders, would this species count on one's list? Hypothetically speaking obviously.

(One is on 38 species).

What a weekend! What a line up. It's been a long time since I invested in some training, this weekend being the British Myriapod and Isopod Group's recording event in the south east. I couldn't miss it and a big thanks to Paul Lee for organising. Now, I've already blogged about the beetle highlight for me being the second record for Sussex of Mesosa nebulosa. So here I am gonna talk about myriapods and isopods.

Myriapods predominantly include the millipedes and centipedes. Here is a huge, greenish, rapidly-tapering centipede we found in a compost heap at Wisley RHS. This is Henia vesuviana. Even though I saw more millipedes, it was the centipedes I was more into, as many of them were identifiable in the field.

Such as this one that is often found under pine bark being Geophilus carpophagus.

There are around 60 species and there is a good key by FSC. Now, I saw lot of millipedes but didn't manage a photo beyond a blurred shot of the species we came to know as 'Millipede X' (no one was sure what this was exactly - you see we have quite a few alien species). There are about 60 species of these too but new alien synathropic species are being discovered so I can't be sure on this. You can find out more about identifying myriapods and isopods here. I learnt  a great way to tell Tachypoidulus niger in the field and how easy it is to see and adult male 

in the field.

Now thanks to Steve Gregory I saw two new woodlice (Trichoniscoides albidus & Ligidium hypnorum) but photographed neither. There are around 40 species with only relatively few very common ones. This is Porcellionides cingendus. I see it now and again (including today in the suction sampler) in rush litter at Woods Mill.

I also had a few other interesting species, such as this Green Celar Slug Limacus maculatus. Although due to its camo-pattern, I refer Combat or Battle Slug. 

And good old Staphylinus dimidiaticornis put in a show too.

A massive thank you to all the people who helped but particularly Paul Lee, Steve Gregory and Keith Lugg. I've already put into practice what I learned and I'm looking forward to finding some more myriapods and isopods sometime soon! I have three fairly common woodlice on my wish list to look out for now too...