Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Friday 28 February 2020

Retro Sussex Beetles

Some nostalgic photos that have never been aired for one reason or another. These relate way back to the first ever PSL meet-up down at Parham Park in Sussex in May 2012. They are also of questionable quality, I'd literally only had the Raynox for a short while before this trip and hadn't quite got the hang of it.

Probably the most unexpected and interesting beetle over the weekend was this lumpy weevil that Graeme Lyons swept from bracken ....

Syagrius intrudens

This genus is endemic to Eastern Australia, but so far this species is uknown from there and may be extinct in it's native range. It is assumed to be adventive, and as such has no conservation status, but the UK sites holding it are likely to be of critical importance.

Later in the evening after dark, this smart carabid tenebrionid was quite easy to find on oak trees ....

Helops caeruleus

And one from Heyshott Down the following day ....

Cryptocephalus aureolus

3 comments:

martinf said...

Seen none of these. The Helops is a tenebrioid that looks carabid-ish

Skev said...

Doh - my bad, it was late etc etc

Actually, of all the beetle families I find the Tenebrionidae difficult to place. They are so varied in size and structure, and often look like they should be something else.

Gibster said...

Massively gripped! I simply couldn't make this trip (walking Land's End to John O'Groats...) but would have LOVED to have see that lumpy bumpy weevil. Darnit.