Went big-game hunting today down by the seaside and added a few new beetle species to the year list. I haven't been looking at them during January, for fear of repeating last year's results and boring myself. No such fear should have been entertained - out of 20 beetle species this year 5 of them have been new to me.
Today's haul included Rugilus orbiculatus (2), Coccidula rufa, Aepus marinus (2) under a rock as usual, Paradromius linearis, Calodromius spilotus, Tachyporus chryomelinus, two un-named as yet Stenus and some seaweed specialist flies (Thoracochaete zosterae) - 1.5 of them featured here. Aepus is always good to see - there aren't many ground beetles smaller than the abdomen of a Stenus! I still haven't found the other Aepus species, though it has been recorded from the area. Maybe it inhabits a different niche and I keep looking in the marinus one.
The Calodromius was new to me, and wasn't featured in the 2006 Fife beetle list. It does, however, appear on NBN, so must have been found subsequent to 2006.
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| Paradromius and Calodromius |
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| Aepus |
The five species new to me have come from only 26 records of 20 species, so a remarkable hit rate. Maybe the benefit of spreading myself out a bit rather than sticking to the same places. Here's the spread so far:
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