Insects 2016

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks for the gear photo's James. Now I know why your shots look so nice all the time.

[rudi]

Some from last week..a honeybee, or shall we call it a 'bluebee' or a 'BlIZZIEbee'

Feel free to correct me iff I am wrong.

1:


2:A BIF, a bit better than the first I posted

[rudi]

#3 -- the little spider looks so lonely in that while background...

It was on a lit and playing peek-a-boo with me ...
Could have cropped it more, but I was afraid to scare you off

[IzzieK]

I am having a hard time just trying to keep up with this post...I am gone living my own life for half a day and already many postings since...so I just clicked the Like button.

Anyway, James -- your insects are very nicely done...I am just wondering about #4 St. Mark's fly. While the rest are hanging on to something, he looks so relax having the time of its life lying splat on top of the leaf. That pose made me smile...
The scorpion fly, are they poisonous like real scorpion sting? Just curious...

Rudi -- another excellent set. Like the bluebells as well as the bees...now let me tell you about thpse flying bees that made me regret not having my camera...but that is another story I am still kicking myself about.

[James G]

Hi Geoff, thanks for the feedback.... I now know why I was a chemist/biochemist

you hav two species there.......Was the second one on boggy ground?

I was looking around Barston Lakes a green-belt area between Birmingham and Coventry
It's a country park/nature reserve with a mixed woodland, lakes (old marl pits for fishing), and some natural pools and associated boggy areas. The river Blythe runs through. The crane flies were very active and captured in the same general but quite a distance apart. The second crane-fly was on the margin of a large boggy area.

Is your Groundhopper the Slender version, the wings seem well beyond the knees.

Yes, and I was being stupid! I confused myself... identified it correctly from my guide (The Brock guide you recommended last year), and then wrote down the wrong name

The Scorpionfly seems very pale, I wonder if it was newly emerged?

It is the first I have seen this year so maybe. It was in very a very bright spot when I captured the image, so may be a little washed out by the backlight.

Not completely sure about that bug either. Possibly one of the variations of Liocoris tripustulatus. Was it small, around 5 mm body length or a little bigger (about 8 mm).

It was smaller at about 3-4mm and very active running up and down the plant it was on. I think it was a nettle. Very much grab shots I'm afraid. I'd seen something similar the dat before, of a similar size but failed to get a decent shot, just too fast. I dismissed the tripustulatus because the image in my guide was distinctly green and to be truthful I have never seen this bug before. (On the positive side, I might be getting a little better at identification because there is no way I'd have known 'capsid' last year )

[James G]

Sorry Izzie, it was raining so I spent most of the day and evening processing, identifying (not very well ), and then posting.

am just wondering about #4 St. Mark's fly. While the rest are hanging on to something, he looks so relax having the time of its life lying splat on top of the leaf. That pose made me smile...

They seem to be quite lazy and slow, though in this case I think it was probably basking to warm up. Their common name comes from the fact that the adults usually emerge around St Mark's Day, 25 April.

The scorpion fly, are they poisonous like real scorpion sting? Just curious...

They look fearsome and are predators, but mostly by stealth I believe, because they are not too fast.
The 'sting' is actually the male's genitalia and the 'stingers' are claspers and harmless. (Which may or may not be the female's opinion! )

[Geoff F]

If you are a small insect or caterpillar a Scorpionfly is a fearsome predator where that downward pointing dagger like mouth is used to devastating effect; but harmless to humans.

James, looking again at your second cranefly in better light; it does appear to match my image of Tipula lunata so I suspect that is likely to be the answer. The check is to find a tab of golden hair under the abdomen. Sometimes just visible from a side view.

Craneflies are particularly difficult to identify. For most bugs, this is an excellent site for checking identification:

http://britishbugs.org.uk/gallery.html

And now a few more craneflies from me.

Tipula (Acutipula) luna. Rather similar to the Lunatipula lunata species, but it has a grey abdomen; and this specimen is particularly dark.



This one also has a tab of golden hair under the abdomen.



Another different looking cranefly. Phylidorea longicornis.



A fly which I think might be Graphomya maculata

[Geoff F]

Why are the rare species so difficult to photograph.

I found one of these uncommon Bee Flies in my garden about 10 years ago and have been checking out all the commoner species since then in the hope of finding another. Well today I finally got my chance, and this very rough quick shot was all I could manage.



Still, at least I got a reasonable view of the wings which prove it was the rare species.

Another struggle today was this little hoverfly where I had to show the unusual shaped hind femur for a positive identification. I tried all I could to work myself into a suitable position without scaring it away. Finally managed this image. Definitely not a prizewinning shot but all the 'better' images never showed the critical area.



Tropida scita. Not exactly rare but uncommon to find them this far west.

[James G]

Definitely not a prizewinning shot but all the 'better' images never showed the critical area.

It's a bit like Alice believing in 3 impossible things before breakfast. We 'want' an image that can be used for identification, but we also want an aesthetically pleasing image. When both come together it is rare.
I'm reminded that I have never seen a 'good' passport photo or police 'mugshot'. And for the third 'impossible' thing.... an easily recognisable ccTV image!

[rtbaum]

So.....There I was peacefully taking pictures of the lovely lilac flowers, when this bully of a bumblebee photo bombs me.....If you look you will see it is giving me a raspberry!!!

[rtbaum]

The worst part........






The butterflies were in on it!!

[Geoff F]

Another struggle to find a suitable angle for identification with a bee that was rushing about in the grass and wouldn't stop long enough for me to obtain a focus. Bombus vestalis queen. They are cuckoo bees which lay eggs in the nests of the common Bombus terrestris.



We had a bit of a discussion recently about Slender Groundhoppers. Well here is the similar Common Groundhopper (Tetrix undulata) with wings shorter than the hind knees.



This is the first Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedermera nobilis) that I have seen this year. Always tricky to photograph due to the shiny surface.



Another species which I always struggle to photograph due to reflection is the Hazel Leaf Roller (Apoderus coryli). Even in shade they have 'hot spots'.

[DickyOZ]

A couple of dragonflies.

[rudi]

Some from last week, a wasp on an old nest. I think it had been entangled in a spider web, not much web to see in this picture though....
1.: 3 shots merged to increase the DOF.


2.:....and was now in a kind off 'demolition' mode...( at 2x magnif)

[Geoff F]

I suspect, Rudi, it might not have been accidentally entangled in a web. I have seen them raiding spider's webs. Small spiders run away, or risk being attacked; then the wasp steals any prey which was in the web by simply biting through the strands.

Good shots of what looks like a German Wasp to me.

[IzzieK]

Rudi, your wasp in #1 looks like an alien. This must be where those storyboarders get the shapes and forms in their movies. I like the expression very much. Makes me smile...

[Geoff F]

Things were starting to warm up and insects were appearing in reasonable numbers two days ago; then came the cloud and drizzle of today.

So a few first of the year hoverflies from those sunny 3 hours yesterday.

Dasysyrphus tricinctus



Melangyna labiatarum. This one had me thinking about its identity, but it finally keyed out OK.



Not sure about this one but it could be a female Devil's Coach Horse



Some Sawflies, Tenthredo celtica



And a fairly similar Tenthredo mesomela

[marlunn]

Nice Geoff, envious of the Hovers, nowt outside the norm here at the moment - well not that I have seen !

[Geoff F]

It was a reasonable day on Sunday but these images came from the two sunny hours on Monday. But back to dull, drizzle and cool today. Never mind, it gave me a chance to catch up on identification.

Maybe tomorrow . . .

[rudi]

I suspect, Rudi, it might not have been accidentally entangled in a web. I have seen them raiding spider's webs. Small spiders run away, or risk being attacked; then the wasp steals any prey which was in the web by simply biting through the strands.

Good shots of what looks like a German Wasp to me.

Thanks Geoff. I read about this behaviour, but never seen it so far. Once I saw a wasp entangled in a web, though it was a fairly big spider it didn't attack the wasp, biting itself free in no time....

Not seen much hovers over here for now.