While searching for beetles in the leaf litter/tussocks/moss in the Cullaloe Hills I spotted something unusual in the corner of the sorting tray. Shaken from a clump of Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus moss, the creature jumped and fortunately still landed in the tray. Luckily the next jump was into a pot I just managed to place over it.
I'd always hoped to see a snow flea, but expected it would be on snow somewhere, rather than from moss where they develop as youngsters. Maybe a targetted search of moss clumps in December would uncover more of its distribution. There aren't many records in Fife. In fact from NBN it seems like the only near record is VC85 but not actually Fife.
Well jel, I had no idea they were in Scotland! May have to try a bit of sieving moss here too. I'd have to wring it out over a bucket first, but could still be worth a try.
ReplyDelete