29 Monday Jun 2020
Posted in insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
beetle, British beetles, Rutpela maculata, Spotted longhorn beetle, umbellifer flowers, umbellifers
This Spotted longhorn (Rutpela maculata) was happily minding its own business, feeding on the umbellifer flowers growing along the edge of a woodland ride, as is its wont, when …
Incoming!
And so the necessity of life as a beetle takes over, the need to reproduce, to continue the species. Lunch might have to wait.
15 Monday Jun 2020
I don’t see many beetles, perhaps because I don’t spend enough time looking for them, but I could hardly miss these ones, because there were hundreds of them.
I’m not entirely sure what they are and there are many species of leaf beetle that look very similar but, as these were munching on umbellifer leaves – possibly hogweed (I’m not good at identifying umbellifers either!), I think they might be Celery leaf beetles (Phaedon tumidulus).
As well as munching on the correct type of leaf, these beetles were about the right size (tiny, just 3-4mm), and, although they have lines of dimples on the elytron (the wing covers on the abdomen), they don’t have any on the centre of the pronotum (the thorax), which also fits with Phaedon tumidulus. However, I may have got the ID wrong, so do let me know in the comments box if you can positively identify these hungry creatures.
02 Saturday May 2020
Tags
beetles, beetles on dock plants, British beetles, dock beetles, Gastrophysa viridula, Green dock beetle
Iridescent Green dock beetles are out in force now on the Dock plants in one of my local parks. I’ve blogged about these gorgeous mini-beasties before (Green dock beetles, May 2016) so today I’m just going to share a few photos. Keep an eye out for these on your exercise walks, and don’t forget to check carefully under the holey leaves for eggs and their little grey grubs.
24 Wednesday Jul 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature
Tags
#365DaysWild, British beetles, Longhorn beetles, Rutpela maculata, Slade Wood, Spotted longhorn beetle
I thought I’d found a new variety of longhorn beetle when I spotted these creatures at Slade Wood on Monday but no. It turns out the yellow-and-black markings of Spotted longhorn beetles (Rutpela maculata) are quite changeable and these were just variations on a theme.
As their larvae inhabit rotten wood, the adult beetles can usually be found near woody areas, on hedgerows and along woodland rides, where they enjoy nectaring on umbellifer flowers.
I’ve just been reading that the adults only live for a few weeks between May and August so eyes peeled – you haven’t got long to spot these little stunners.
27 Saturday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, seaside
Storm Hannah has been making her presence felt since yesterday evening and, though the sun came out late morning, the wind is still blowing a gale. I headed down to Cardiff Bay to see if the storm had blown any interesting birds in but found nothing unusual – in fact, very few birds at all were braving the weather. So, I tootled along to the beach at the base of Penarth Head cliffs, where it was a little more sheltered, and there I found a new fossil – always a bonus! – and this cute little ground beetle plodding purposefully along amongst the detritus, not at all interested in having its photo taken.
17 Tuesday Jul 2018
Tags
British beetles, British insects, Longhorn beetles, longhorns, Rutpela maculata, Spotted longhorn beetle
I’ve been seeing quite a few of these handsome mini-beasties recently, the Spotted longhorn beetles (Rutpela maculata).
Though the pattern of their black-and-yellow markings can vary a bit, they’re really quite unmistakeable.
They’re large beetles and look quite fierce, but they’re harmless.
Spotted longhorns are most often found feasting on the pollen of the umbellifer and other flowers that grow in hedgerows and alongside woodland paths.
Their larvae overwinter in rotten wood, then emerge as adults in late Spring, so these lovely longhorns can be seen from May through till around the end of August.
09 Monday Jul 2018
Tags
bonking beetle, British beetles, British insects, Common red soldier beetle, Hogweed bonking beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, soldier beetle
Officially, this is Rhagonycha fulva, the Common red soldier beetle, but I think you can see why it is known throughout Britain as the Hogweed bonking beetle. Out now on a Hogweed near you!
19 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
#30DaysWild, 30 Days Wild, British beetles, British insects, Common spotted orchid, National Insect Week, Oedemera nobilis, Swollen-thighed beetle
Not only is this day 19 of #30DaysWild, but today is also the second day of National Insect Week. To celebrate, here is one of my favourite British insects, the Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis). I see these little guys on almost every type of flower at this time of year – this one’s on a Common spotted-orchid – and they always make me smile. It’s the male beetles that have those fat thighs – I haven’t been able to find out why, so if you know, please do tell.
20 Monday Mar 2017
Posted in insects, nature, nature photography
Tags
British beetles, Oedemera, Oedemera (Oncomera) femoralis, Oedemera femoralis, Swollen-thighed beetle, Thick-legged beetle, Thick-legged flower beetle
From the kingdom of Animalia, the phylum of Arthropoda, the class Insecta, the order Coleoptera, the family Oedemeridae and the genus Oedemera, may I present my first beetle sighting of 2017 – and a new beetle for me to boot – a stunning example of the species Oedemera (Oncomera) femoralis. There are only 4 species of Oedemera in Britain (here’s another) and only 1 – this one – in the subgenera Oncomera. In layman’s words, she is one of the thick-legged (some people say swollen-thighed) flower beetles and I know it’s a female precisely because she does not have those swollen thighs.
I was lucky to find her as her species is nocturnal, feeding at night on the pollen and nectar of ivy and willow. During the day, they lurk under twigs and branches, which is how I found her, by picking up twigs and branches looking at lichen and searching for slime moulds. These insects grow to between 13 and 20mm long, and can be found in the more southerly counties of England and Wales, though they are not often recorded – there are just 278 recorded sightings in the NBN database (see map above), of which 65 are in Wales. I count myself amongst those fortunate to have seen such a beautiful little creature!
If you’re an insect geek (and I do not use that word disparagingly), you can see the full details of this species on the website of the Watford Coleoptera Group.
20 Tuesday Sep 2016
Tags
Bishop's mitre, British beetles, British bugs, Click beetle, Mint Leaf beetle, Potato capsid, Red lily beetle, Wasp beetle
Sorry, this has nothing to do with the Fab Four and, in fact, includes bugs as well as beetles but, as many of these cute little mini-beasties will soon disappear for the winter, I wanted to celebrate all those that have entertained me through the summer months but haven’t yet had their very own blog post (not because they’re boring, simply because I haven’t gathered enough good photos of them scurrying about their business in the flowers and bushes).
Little bugs and beetles, your time will come … but not till next year!
These have not all been identified to species but my list to date is: Bishop’s Mitre (Aelia acuminata); Click beetle (Elateridae family); Deraeocoris flavilinea; Heterotoma planicornis; Mint Leaf beetle (Chrysolina herbacea); Potato Capsid (Closterotomus norwegicus); Red lily beetle (Lilioceris lilii); four little unknowns; and, to finish, a Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis).
