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

Limnellia fallax(Ephydridae) new to county from Cullaloe LNR

 After a 5 day campaign of tussocking and a (very small) bit of sieving of leaf litter and grass-piles my first new to county fly for 2021 is the delightful Limnellia fallax. Naturally, it's also new to Cullaloe LNR and to me.

Bembidion mannerheimii

 Bembidion mannerheimii is very close to Bembidion guttula. Closer, in fact, than traditional keys suggest, with recent publication indicating whether a specimen is winged or not is not 100% surefire way to separate the two - including in the same locations. This, from yesterday, I am taking to be mannerheimii until I can find the relevant article. It has two things which are separating it from B.guttula.

A new one for Cullaloe, but not for me.

Lacking two subterminal spots on elytrae

Wingless

On finding the Coleopterist article it seems that short-winged guttula nevertheless does still have more wing. I'm still happy with this as mannerheimii

Pt. II - Coleopterophilia

Most of the year has been spent actually looking for beetles, although it's a given that leaf litter sieving, tussocking and beating gorse and conifers will produce plenty of other inverts.

I've only found two Stenus species so far this year though there are 8 on the reserve list. The one below, S.juno, is more or less identifiable from this picture - all black legs, keeled tergites, ridge on the head with channels either side and the relative lengths of back leg bits. That's one of two beetle additions to the list so far, the other being Carabus problematicus (I actually thought both of these were already on the list). You can almost always get more than one species of Stenus out of a tussock and depending on the location (woodland/pondside) the species make up will differ. Maybe a worthwhile study if I ever stopped racing about trying to look at everything (so probably never, then).

Stenus juno

The beetles so far

Arachnophilia

 A couple of early year sessions at Cullaloe spent mostly tussocking and sieving leaf litter was bound to throw up a good variety of invertebrate specimens, but grabbing the limelight quickly have been the arachnids. Numerically it was always going to be the beetles, both in number and variety, and that's held true. However spiders, harvestmen and pseudoscorpions were quick in on the act (and mites, to be fair, but I can't do nowt with 'em). This shelf has been getting a bit of action (might resemble a different view of another blog not so far away).

A special find today was this female Drassodes cuprea, not new to reserve but new to me, which has a bonus guest. With a bit of luck, the guest may also be identified. Well, maybe a lot of luck, though I have a nice paper on wasps and their spider hosts that might help.

This is what "leisure time" means for me in January!

dry-ish leaf pile in the corner of the hide

Deschampsia tussock in the woods - one of 1000s

I had originally hoped I would have ten spider species by end of January, but it's probably reasonable to expect over 20. I haven't even rooted around for a grass pile yet or dropped a single pitfall trap.

2021 arachnid list at 3/1

What on earth ...

Me and the man child have been bingeing Star Wars (and spin offs) over the Xmas break. This would have fit right along. What a crazy looking thing, especially for a land animal. I took it for a seed at first, but that's what they want you to think ...

I can't see past it being Eupelix cuspidata right now, but if that changes I'll post an edit

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/homoptera/Cicadellidae/Eupelix_cuspidata.html

This was picked up today in a serious win for bone-headed stubborn invert searching in the snow at Cullaloe LNR.

And they're off ... Crumomyia roserii new to Cullaloe LNR

Crumomyia roserii ("Yellow-socks Lesser Dung Fly", Sphaeroceridae) - first addition to Cullaloe list in 2021! 

So begins a quest to record 1000 invertebrates at Cullaloe during 2021. The fly list is now way behind Dalgety Bay (c.80 spp.) and the dipteran fauna have been somewhat neglected.

The yellow tarsi of C.roserii are a common sight in leaf litter, but this is the first one recorded here,

The invert total so far (IDs in progress) ...

Jan 1st