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21/Apr/25 - Week 15 of 52
Oh my goddddd I'm so late to this week's entry!
Sorry, I'm here now, getting shit done. The past two weeks have been pretty busy, so now I'm almost a week out of my posting schedule, so maybe expect another entry for Thursday or so...
The sun has been surprisingly compliant as of late, though I can't say the same for the next 7 days. I'm not too displeased with that though, hopefully it'll mean some more springtails and other assorted mesofauna for the weekend! Speaking of, I have a little bit of an event planned for Sunday, so keep watch in Week 17's entry for a little more on that.
And since I think this routine of adding a song to the introduction has become a part of these posts now, so I'll try and fit one in all the time from now on
Notable Observations
Total Observations: 182
Most numerous species: Tapered Drone Fly (10 observations)
Individual Interesting Observations
Stonefly Nymph (Leuctra sp.)
Monday (Apr 7th)
Took me a good minute to figure out what this was! Looks very different to the adults, like this one. Also seemingly quite marine creatures, this was on the underside of a rock in a stream.
Dark Edged Bee Fly (Bombylius major)
Tuesday (Apr 8th)
One of my favourites! Look at the proboscis on this lad (You can tell sex of these by the eyes - they touch in the males, and are separate in the females, e.g. in my other photo of this specimen).
Entomobrya nicoleti
Tuesday (Apr 8th)
Seemingly a very boring springtail, though it's quite a bit of a milestone for me, as it marks the last major species of Entomobrya in this country for me to find! Not to say I've found all of the species for this country, there are still two or three rarer ones, but I'll save those for another day, maybe I'll drop by a site that one of them was described from some day...
Sminthurinus aureus forma fuscus
Wednesday (April 9th)
A very tiny globular springtail, which caused me a bit of confusion at first. But on close inspection, the pattern of 'eyebrows' on the top of the head, and the very pale legs and head reminded me of Sminthurinus aureus. And lo and behold, with the aid of the amazing collembola.org, I managed to crack it down to S. aureus f. fuscus. Never knew they could look like that!
Mayfly Nymph (Ecdyonurus sp.)
Thursday (April 10th)
Another odd one! Though a little blurry in this image, you can tell this is a mayfly from the three-pronged tail at the back, which is retained all the way to adulthood. Very curious marine invert!
Pseudosinella alba
Thursday (April 10th)
Not much to say about this one, very nice little pearlescent springtail :)
Cyphoderus sp.
Thursday (April 10th)
Quite similar looking, but one I find quite curious, and which I've been searching for since I started learning about springtails! These tiny little broad-shouldered, blind creatures are actually myrmecophiles, literally 'ant-lovers' - and sure enough, this was found right amongst a large amount of Lasius sp. ants! The relationship is quite mutual, the springtails getting a food source from waste in the nest as well as protection from predatory mites, whilst the ants have their own cleaning service to prevent rot and fungal growth in their nest. If you ever accidentally uncover an ants nest, maybe take a second to look for some other tiny Myrmecophiles running around. Not just springtails, but also woodlice, aphids, spiders, even ladybirds!
Thursday (Apr 10th)
Sorry, did I forget to say? Managed a real star find here! This is a prime example of fasciation, a rare mutation in which a flower grows abnormally due to an elongated meristem (The cells from which growth occurs, like human stem cells). Absolutely buzzing to have found this! I've been looking at every daisy and daffodil I see since, but no more yet...
Bryobia sp.
Friday (Apr 11th)
The shield on the back of this mite is rather cool to me, very intricate!
c.f. Microterys tesselatus
Friday (Apr 11th)
One of the most beautiful wasps I've seen so far this year! Check out the striking green eyes there.
Least Pygmy Woodlouse (Trichoniscus pygmaeus)
Friday (Apr 11th)
A new woodlouse species for me, and the second Pygmy Woodlouse species as well. According to a bit of a rule of thumb I've heard, this would make my garden quite a healthy site, as it makes 5 species of isopod recorded here! If you'd like a bit of a challenge, go out to your garden or wider local area and see if you can find 5 isopod species, and make sure you upload to iNaturalist to record them and get help with ID if needed!
Australian Flatworm (Australoplana sanguinea)
Saturday (Apr 12th)
Uh oh. If you read these blogs regularly, you'll know that a few weeks back, I had also found this same species in my local area. These flatworms are horrifically invasive to the UK, and I can't say I'm happy that I'm seeing more of them. Unfortunately, these are just one of the animals that you have to kill, since the alternative is allowing it to reproduce en masse completely by itself, chomping through earthworm after earthworm :(
Make sure you're familiar with your own local invasive species, and up to date advice on how to record and minimise the damage caused by them!!!
Green Dock Beetle (Gastrophysa viridula)Tuesday (Apr 8th)
Finally seeing these girls! They're quite common around me on dock, as the name suggests. And no, she's not fat, she's preggers. A very descriptive latin name too:
gastro-: 'stomach'
-physa: 'swollen'
viridula: 'green'
Breakdown
Goal Progress
All Spp. (368/1000) ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱
Bird Spp. (53/100) ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱
I've given you enough of an education in latin today, now go do some nerd stuff for homework and report back to me if you can! To to see all my observations for this week logged on iNaturalist, click here.
To see all of my observations for the year to date, click here.
What did you see this week? Let me know in the comments!
Comments
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Erah Mar
Great to see you back! Hope moving has gone well!
Lots of fresh insects to see, which is fun. Glad you're enjoying spring, and all the bounties of your new area. =D
I love seeing fasciated flowers, they're always fun little mutants to brighten a day. I work at a garden shop and sometimes we get in flowers or veg that have it, and those almost always get snapped up by one of us employees.
Bummer to see the flatworms, though. I've run across an unfortunate hitchiker at my work, the hammerhead worm. (ಠ︵ಠ) I disposed of him in a plastic baggie, I was very upset.
Well, I await next week, and your wonderful new observations! Be well!