End of February - 194 invertebrates (195, but really, that's it... honest)

 Amazingly, there are more beetles every day it seems. 

2021 beetle #69 - Helophorus aequalis, pond-dipped filter beds

2021 Beetle #70 - Bolitobius castaneus, Deschampsia tussock in orchid meadow/sheep enclosure/Deschampsia jungle.

2021 Beetle, #71. Orange Ladybird. Deschampsia tussock, no pic

In 2019, when I tried to record over 1k species on the reserve (final total, October, 1146), I recorded 606 species of invertebrates. End of Feb in 2019 I had 174 invert spp., which wasn't bad at all. This year, end 28th February, I've recorded 194. Somehow I managed to only record 99 species of beetle in the whole of 2019. I suspect the total will be higher this year.

It must have been a warmer start to the year as I had 13 moth species rather than my current 2 and some were on open Willow catkins. There aren't any open Willow catkins right now (I think). I was running the moth trap very regularly though, leaving it in situ and only re-charging the battery. I also had way more molluscs (20, versus 7) by end of Feb 2019. That's an area that needs addressing, for sure.

Moth #2 (!) - Dotted Border

A late run to pick up a carrion-baited bottle trap picked up another 4 species (5, if you count one that's not identified yet - which turned out to be Drosophila subobscura in a shock return to the study).

Tephrochlaena oraria, a heleomyzid

Gnashers

Managed two visits yesterday - a "routine" visit during the day and an evening session to put out the moth trap (to no avail, it turned out).

The evening first - an interesting one, despite the dropping temperature, and there was plenty to see on tree trunks. Tree slugs, earwigs and woodlice were more evident, allowing me to round out my standard woodlouse list with Oniscus asellus. 

Also another Dromius quadrimaculatus, the arboreal and nocturnal ground beetle which I always expect to see on a tree trunk somewhere.

The first moth of the year, at last, was this Chestnut low down on a tree trunk

A routine find on vertical surfaces, especially trees, is the harvestman Oligolophus hanseni. This is a fairly recent addition but I've found it during the early months in various places now.

More of a  surprise was this Hawthorn Shieldbug

The best for me of yesterday was during the day, though, with this Pachygnathus clercki. This isn't new to the reserve, but it was new for me. Cracking set of gnashers

With February coming to a close the invert list is now at 181, with some material still to examine. The spider list now looks like this:

1	spider	Agroeca proxima	A Spider
2	spider	Amaurobius fenestralis	Lace-webbed Spider
3	spider	Amaurobius similis	A laceweb spider
4	spider	Bathyphantes approximatus	A Linyphid spider
5	spider	Bathyphantes nigrinus	A Linyphiid spider
6	spider	Centromerita bicolor	A money spider
7	spider	Clubiona comta	A Clubionid spider
8	spider	Drapetisca socialis	A Linyphiid spider
9	spider	Drassodes cupreus	A ground spider
10	spider	Gnathonarium dentatum	A money spider
11	spider	Helophora insignis	A money spider
12	spider	Larinioides cornutus	An orb weaver
13	spider	Macrargus rufus	A money spider
14	spider	Metellina mengei	An Orb Weavng Spider
15	spider	Monocephalus fuscipes	A money spider
16	spider	Neriene clathrata	Herb Hammock Spider
17	spider	Neriene montana	A money spider
18	spider	Neriene peltata	A money spider
19	spider	Nuctenea umbratica	An orb weaver
20	spider	Ozyptilus trux	Crab Spider
21	spider	Pachygnatha clercki	A spider
22	spider	Pachygnatha degeeri	A Long-jawed Orb Weaver
23	spider	Tenuiphantes cristatus	A money spider
24	spider	Tenuiphantes mengei	A money spider
25	spider	Tibellus maritimus	A spider
26	spider	Xysticus cristatus	Crab Spider

Giving me the ich - Scambus elegans

On a nocturnal visit to Cullaloe this week I spotted what I thought was a spider dangling from a Willow branch. Slipping the rim of the net under it I scooped it - only to find a female ichneumonid wasp in the net. No spider, though there could have been one which has been saved from a sticky end.

Early investigations made me head for Pimplinae and - yippee! - I have a key. It has literally taken me all day on and off to unpack the vagaries of wasp key glossary madness (errr, I mean I was working from home). I ended up at Scambus elegans, and, unbelievably, this seems to be correct. There are 4 records on NBN. If it's univoltine and mature in February that's no wonder, though. What kind of idiot's looking for Ichneumons in February?

This happy idiot :)

Spot the yellow stigmata

Shiny posterior to tergites are typically pimpline

Subtle elegans-ness

Short numbers note: despite spending years looking at Cullaloe and a whole year hammering it for a 1K challenge only two years ago I've seen in the first 7 weeks of 2021: 14 new diptera, 4 new spiders, 23 new beetles, 8 new bugs and a new wasp. This has to be, in part, from ignoring everything that isn't an invertebrate. There must be some sort of lesson there.

Here's some old wasp

Buggin

A nocturnal visit (well, 7pm anyway)  added a few species to the year list, but also this Nabis ferus to the reserve list as bug #80. Interestingly this is the 2nd species I've added this year which I found in the Cullaloe Hills in February of last year. I can't explain why in all the sweeping of the same area during spring-autumn I've never knowingly seen this one before. However, this is the first year the "flower meadow" hasn't been mown. not sure that will be good for the botanical site monitoring later. Be interesting to see how the area responds to not being mown.

2021 bug #13, 2021 new bug #8 (!)

Reserve bug #80

More spots

A species I always go looking for when the nights get milder. Can almost always find one after head-torching a few tree trunks

2021 beetle #66, Dromius quadrimaculatus

Already listed, but amazing to see the Triplex aenea out to play on the dead Horse Chestnut and associated fungi

No apparent damage - spore feeders?

A quick tap over the sweep net

Spotty Stenus

Stenus bimaculatus is a beetle I found in the Cullaloe Hills last February, but it was nice to see it show up on the reserve as the 65th beetle species of the year. It's the 11th species of Stenus for the reserve and the 6th this year. I knew it was going to be new because none of the other 10 species are spotty.

It was in the eternally-giving grass pile near the car park. If I had only skimmed the top layer of that pile today, now that it's warmed up. I could probably have half the species re-recorded! It was tempting to take a video of how much movement there was in the tray.

The mega grass pile in all its glory

2021 beetlle #65 - Stenus bimaculatus

Nymph-tastic

Easy, tiger. Went pond dipping with the boy at lunchtime and we didn't fare very well in diversity. However, spying a couple of nymphs with three tails had me reaching for a pot, and excitedly hauling the brand new "Pictorial Guide to British Ephemeroptera" from the shelves. I had only just noticed that nymphs were keyed too, so I was hopeful this might just work.

Unlike many other things that I thought were difficult (and they were) this turned out to be easier than expected. Beginner's luck, no doubt. Gills at the side of the body, streamlined body, antennae relatively long -> Baetidae. Lovely. "Tails" unbanded, centre one shorter -> 5 spp. of Baetis. O.K....

Couple of species out of range; check the others. Baetis rhodani ... gill 1 and 7 same size - yup, gill edge with spines as well as hairs - yup. Spines separate B.rhodani from all other Baetis. Awesome! And habitat is spot on in stony-bottomed fast moving stream. My first ever mayfly keying, and it's only February. Happy days.

Baetis rhodani is the 48th new species for the reserve this year and the 32nd new species for me (from here)

New Fife beetle

On a random whim today I headed for leaf litter sieving in the woods. The ground's been a bit warmer and, honestly, I was hoping to pick up a spider or two. Of course when you start throwing leaf litter around anything's possible.

What I didn't expect, I think reasonably, was a big shiny dollop of histerid beetle to gleam from the gathering humus layer in my tray. I love these things, but I've only ever seen one species. In two places. I've been dreaming and scheming of baited pitfall traps and bottle traps, of sieving poo etc., in the hopes of seeing maybe one or two. I still am, but nt sure what may be around here. There's certainly no shortage of poo and I'm happy to provide carrion. I guess they are so shiny because they want all that, erm, stuff, to slide off them like a shiny wotsit, as the proverb says.

Anyway, that was a long way for a short cut. This is Margarinotus neglectus, The Lonely Clown (awww). There are no dots in the new Histeridae bookie, so I'm claiming it as new to county. 

2021 beetle #63, Margarinotus neglectus, new to me, new to Cullaloe, new to Fife.

Gleaming underside. Fabulous.

Gleaming upperside, with handy etching

Digging and dipteran larvae munching tools

Pygidium-sh bits (the back end)

Another beetle I grabbed from the filter beds the other day, with a minor sense horror, turned out to be Helophorus obscurus, which I actually thought it might be. However, it had the good graces to be male and to allow me to extract the necessary bits to secure the ID.

2021 beetle #64, Helophorus obscurus

Night time is the right time, incorporating Spider Update

Nocturnal visit to the reserve to stick a moth trap out meant I would inevitably scour the walls and trees for anything sneaking about. "Doing" invertebrates without going at night means shutting yourself off to a fair percentage of animals in the natural activities, catching them only when they're asleep.

You can always rely on a Tree Slug

Slightly more diurnal usually is Trichocera regelationis, its darkened x-vein not shown at all well here:

A couple of earwigs dropped off before I could photo them, naturally.

Nucteana umbratica is spider #23 for the year, following #22 Tibellus maritimus (ad.f. from earlier this week), Neither new, but keeping the numbers ticking over.

Neriene montana, spider #24. Common around footbridges and fences. Total spiders listed 86, though 4 of those have been added this year

.The moth trap turned up precious little. One fungus gnat and another fly which escaped. The light was off when I arrived, though

More water sports

Had a bit of a swish about in the water (filter beds and burn) this lunchtime and uncovered three beetle spp. and a Gammarus (?), to be determined. Somewhat unexpectedly, though I knew there were fish in there, I also snagged a Stickleback. Site first for me, though it's already on the reserve list.

This is Hydroporus palustris, a diving beetle which I found in abundance and which I earlier recorded from another part of the reserve (the spillway). Pretty little thing, although here it had a distinct preference for jamming itself against the side of the dish.

2021 beetle #61

And Agabus bipustulatus, 2021 beetle #62

Thaw

Mercifully, the snow is disappearing to be replaced by a spring-like, exuberant sound of twittering, happy birds, though the pond remains solid. A return to Cullaloe allowed me to follow deer tracks around the place and see that they were the ones digging up the woodland floor, and not badgers, as I previously supposed. Wonder what they were after.

A Dactylis tussock coughed up Mecinus pascuorum, a weevil fond of Ribwort Plantain. Well, there's more than enough of that. Also a Cyphon variabilis, which I found before but didn't identify, and two species - Sepedophilus nigripennis and Tachyporus obtusus - already recorded on the reserve.

2021 Beetle #56 for this year and the 170th beetle on the reserve list.

2021 Beetle #57, 171st beetle Cyphon variabilis

2021 Beetle #58, Sepedophilus nigripennis

2021 beetle #59,  Tachyporus obtusus

Jump up, jump up and get down (Dasypsyllus gallinulae)

The other day, before the ice queen waved her wand over the county, I snatched a plug of moss from underneath the hide, which I fondly imagined might host various tiny beetles and maybe a pupa or two. I shoved it in a yoghurt pot I had in my bag. This was no small yoghurt pot, but neither was it full on Turkish sixe 5L yoghurt pot. It is 500g Tesco Finest Greek Yoghurt. As if! "Yoghurt" is a Turkish word. no such thing as Greek yoghurt! Anyway, enough of that.

I did extract one pupae, which waits patiently to reveal its secrets. Or not. However, when I tipped out the moss ball onto a white tray and began to peruse at close quarters I observed multiple jumping critters, laterally flattened and I ... moved back a bit. Siphonaptera! Whoop! My first attempt at keying a flea since my old buddy Gordon gave me his RES key (and inside that his very own personal key).

When I recalled Seth's struggles I settled in for the long haul, but it quickly ran to Ceratophyllidae and then with the number of spines in its pronotal fringe (loads) to a bird dwelling species. The scientific name for this beast is Dasypsyllus gallinulae, and the English name is Moorhen Flea. It was beside the water so maybe ... however, like many uncommented-on useless scientific names (people only care about bad English names, even if they're directly translated) it really doesn't care. It prefers, actually, "passerines that build nests in low positions" - maybe Wren in this case. The bird species list of hosts is as long as your arm.Anyway, I was delighted to see it, one way or another.

Laterally compressed

Habitus

Heed

5 pr of lateral plantar setae, 3rd pr shifted to plantar surface

Grass Pile

One of the wonders of the reserve in January is any kind of pile of litter that's lying around as a refuge. Sometimes the crew clear away all the cuttings but on this marvellous occasion the grass pile that's left is down beside the burn on a small piece of grassland. On the list of 135 species of invertebrate so far the grass pile has contributed 25 species. 

There have also been lots of other species which were recorded first in other places (tussocks, flood refuse), but which are also in the grass pile. There are others again that have been taken from the grass pile but not determined, and a good many springtails which I haven't even lifted. Add to that all the immatures that are "un-doable" - many spiders, soldier beetle larvae, other larvae of various kinds. There is probably over 100 species just in this pile. I've barely looked at 30% of it and never got to the damp bottom. Maybe an interesting project for another year would be to catalogue just a grass pile.

One thing I've done to see if I can extend its value is to acquire a 20cm bucket and a chip fryer basket. It's currently filled with a clump of mid-level grass and I'm eagerly anticipating what may be in the bottom by now. 

There's usually an inspiration for such ideas and in this case it was Clive Washington's youtube video of a similar method:

And here's the list of species which were first recorded from the grass pile. Other species which were in the grass pile but recorded first elsewhere would probably double this list.

annelid	Satchellius mammalis
coleoptera	Psylliodes napi
coleoptera	Altica palustris
coleoptera	Omalium excavatum
coleoptera	Sciaphilus asperatus
coleoptera	Quedius cinctus
coleoptera	Quedius maurorufus
coleoptera	Philonthus carbonarius
coleoptera	Phratora laticollis
coleoptera	Rhinoncus leucostigma
coleoptera	Coelositona cambricus
coleoptera	Anacaena globulus
coleoptera	Sitona sulcifrons
coleoptera	Sitona suturalis
collembola	Neanura muscorum
diptera	Schwenckfeldina carbonaria
diptera	Leptocera fontinalis
millipede	Tachypodoiulus niger
mollusc	Vitrina pellucida
mollusc	Cochlicopa cf. lubrica
mollusc	Trochulus hispidus
spider	Tenuiphantes cristatus
spider	Centromerita bicolor
spider	Gnathonarium dentatum
tick	Ixodes ricinus

1000 words

 A graphic presentation of how the Cullaloe species list has grown over the last 7 years (and one month).  It's pretty clear to see that invertebrates have made up a good percentage of the species listed, and where the effort's been in certain years. Of course fungi have also barely begun, and will be several times the plant list. Not only do several fungi grow on any given host plant, but they also grow on everything else! Of two fungal species new to Scotland from the reserve one was on a beetle. The most notably lacking groups in numbers are Coleoptera and Hymenoptera. Both should be able to join the other larger groups on over 300, although with Hymenoptera that may take a bit of doing.