Cullaloe list booster

This week I discovered a new record source in the form of Bubo Pan-species Listing site. A contributor there had several Cullaloe LNR records which had not been included. I haven't quite finished going through this process but so far we're at 2367 species (see that page for details).

Since I broke through the 2500 at Dalgety Bay last year it only makes sense to turn my attention to rounding out the 2.5k At Cullaloe. Beetles especially are under-represented, and since the Beetles of GB & I is finally complete it would be rude not to concentrate on them.

This is what ten years of accretion looks like:

As can be seen from the second graph almost everything has hit a plateau since I turned my attention elsewhere and got fed up of removing Ticks! Given the mild winter so far I expect that only to be worse in 2025.

Stigmatomeria crassicornis, new to Fife from Cullaloe, March 2019

 This has been languishing on a pin since 2019, waiting for the publication of Peter Chandler's excellent new Fungus Gnats book. A common species across Britain, but as far as I know not recorded in VC85 before.

Stigmatomeria crassicornis

Altica olerace ..... uhhhh. No. Altica palustris at Cullaloe LNR

From a grass pile sieved at lunchtime, and for the first time in the history of the world, I sieved a MALE Altica (Flea beetle, a specialist leaf beetle in the Chrysomelidae).

It would be easy, at last, to see then that this was Altica olerace ..... uhhhh. Not oleracea, then.

It seems to be A.palustris, though since NBN is playing up I'll have to be happy that it's as widespread as the book suggests. This makes it probably the most likely to encounter in Fife (along with oleracea, which this isn't).

This is a cracking site for comparing Altica boy bits: here

And presumably so much more, though I've just found it and haven't explored it yet.

Habitus - distinct humeri ("shoulders")

Bits

Cheilosia chrysocoma, Cullaloe LNR

An unexpected spring surprise basking on the fence in the sun. Already recorded from Fife but new to the reserve and new to me

Parydra quadripunctata

A quick swish of the net over any marshy ground has a chance of scoring some Ephydriidae. This Parydra was taken at Cullaloe LNR. The R vein with a tail/fork on quadripunctata is quite distinctive.

Patch Comparison - Cullaloe LNR versus Dalgety Bay

Cullaloe LNR is a nature reserve that has had years of effort and includes records from more recorders, while Dalgety Bay has two years of 1K efforts to boost it. Many species seen in Dalgety Bay won't have been included here. Dalgety Bay also has the advantage of marine species (see molluscs, algae and annelids), while Cullaloe LNR has more open fresh water.  Broadly speaking the numbers are similar. Looking forward to nudging Dalgety Bay over the 2k mark in future.

Category	CUL	DBY
alga	1	30
Protist other	0	0
slime mould	5	5
lichen	64	64
fungus	310	250
liverwort	16	14
moss	83	53
flowering plant	308	251
conifer	2	3
fern	12	7
cnidarian	0	8
mollusc	30	41
bryozoan	0	2
annelid	6	14
flatworm	1	1
harvestman	11	12
pseudoscorpion	1	2
spider	82	53
gall mite	7	4
tick	1	1
millipede	13	10
centipede	5	5
crustacean	5	17
collembola	11	18
bristletail	0	1
odonata	7	1
dermaptera	1	1
orthoptera	1	0
hemiptera	68	64
coleoptera	149	109
diptera	251	296
lep-moth	364	222
lep-butterfly	18	13
hymenoptera	47	44
insect-other	29	13
tunicate	0	1
echinoderm	0	3
invert-other	0	4
fish	6	5
reptile	1	0
amphibian	3	2
bird	141	132
mammal	15	6
	2075	1782

Paradromius linearis

A common ground beetle which shows up in tussocks and grass piles etc.

This one from Cullaloe LNR