A Tenuous Case

I made use of a couple of free hours this afternoon. First off, I headed to Swithland Reservoir in glorious sunshine. I'd only just got out of the car when I noticed a few ducks close to the dam by the overflow, including two of my favourite species beginning with G ....

Gadwalls were preening and having a drink in between bouts of courtship ...

No such luck for this lone drake Goldeneye.

After grabbing a few snaps, I set about my main purpose. Staring at walls. It didn't take long to find the expected Psychidae.

Luffia lapidella f. ferchaultella

Dahlica sp. - found a good number of cases in a slightly different section of the boundary wall to where I usually look. All looked to be D. lichenella, no potential D. triquetrella.

I noticed one moving about, surprisingly. They overwinter as full-fed larvae and should be pupating by now. When I got my hand lens out to have a good look at this one I noticed something else very close by .....

Bristly Millipede - never ceases to amaze me how these are invisible when you are actually looking for them.

Whilst I was enjoying these wall-dwellers, they were not what I was actually looking for. News came through during the week that Keith Tailby and Mark Hammond had found putative silk-tube cases of Infurcitinea argentimaculella. The photos seemed compelling, if a little inconspicuous. They'd been found at Ulverscroft and along the Swithland Res walls, but I was seeing nothing. After a quick call to Keith, I decided to head over to Ulverscoft and try there.

I was soon looking at a much more promising habitat, with the dry stone wall covered in a powdery blue-grey lichen (Lepraria sp.). If you think looking for larval cases of Psychidae is tenuous, you ought to try this .....

This is likely to overwinter as a small larva, but should be starting to become active again in spring, so it seems likely that bigger cases are old and vacated. I've collected a couple to have a look at, but definitely this is one to make an effort to return to in a couple of months. With lichens generally doing better now, and with eg the spread of lichen-feeding footmen spp., seems likely that this has also done well in the last decade or so and could well be wide-spread. After all, even when it's on your radar (which it wasn't) it is not exactly jumping out at you!

Just before getting back in the car, I had a quick look at the outer wall and quickly found more Psychids.

Narycia duplicella

Defeated by Parthenogenesis

First up, a revelation. Remember the psychid case that I found at Ketton Quarry, and which I then through a process of elimination identified as a Dahlica sp., either lichenella or inconspicuella with all my money going on the latter? Well if I'd placed my bets I would be homeless and pennyless.

When I got home on Saturday I had a quick squint at my various larval rearing tubs as you do, and noticed a number of tiny specks of dust around the psychid case that weren't there in the morning. I feared the worst, and sure enough when getting my eyeglass on them I could see that they were living moving and definitely parthenogenetic larvae. Bugger.

So unless there is suddenly a parthenogenetic form of D. inconspicuella in the UK, then this is in fact Dahlica lichenella. This is not all bad, as although not new for me it is very definitely a new VC55 site and miles away from the other known area. The larvae are now on a lichen/algae covered rock from my garden in a large tub, and they are actively building cases and mooching about which I'll try and capture another day. Here's a couple of rough shots of the very tiny case-less larvae.

I had the garden trap out last night for the first time in a week or so, and picked up a couple of NFY - Brimstone Moth and Purple Thorn. I tried and failed to get a compliant individual of the former to sit for a photo, and frankly I couldn't be arsed to even try with the latter so just poked my phone camera at it this morning on the egg boxes.

Purple Thorn - NFY

Muslin Moth - not NFY

And whilst I'm at it, here's a couple that will need gen det.

Cork Moth - probably, from Devon on 24/04/2019

Heliozela sp. - probably sericella, from Burrow Wood on 26/04/2019

Larval Life

A bit of a catch up from the last week or so. No garden trapping as the weather has been absolute pants, and I had a long weekend away with family to celebrate my wife's big birthday. Around that, and in lieu of any trap action, I've been looking for larval life.

After the long weekend, I had the Monday off with Nichola and we headed out to Swithland Res and Bradgate Park for some fresh air in relatively decent spring weather. Whilst walking about, I had a quick look at the dry-stone walls and found plenty of psychidae and a couple of larvae ...

Luffia ferchaultella, Bradgate Park 26/03/2018

Narycia duplicella, Bradgate Park 26/03/2018

Dahlica lichenella, Swithland Res 26/03/2018

Taleporia tubulosa (with Bristly Millipede getting in on the action)

Swithland Res 26/03/2018

Psyche casta, Bradgate Park 26/03/2018

Common Footman, Bradgate Park 26/03/2018

Believe this is a Large White chrysalis, Swithland Res 26/03/2018

Believe this is a Green-veined White chrysalis, Swithland Res 26/03/2018

Back on 15/03/2018 I found a few noctuid larvae in the garden. Amongst them was an early-instar that I didn't recognise at all with obvious setae that seemed odd for a noctuid. Anyway I've been feeding it up on dandelion etc and it is growing, but it is the most docile larvae I've ever reared. I've not seen it crawl about at all, and it just curls up into a tight coil if disturbed. I think I've sussed what it may be but I'm going to have to try and rear to adult to confirm.

Believe this is a Hoplodrina spp, either an Uncertain or a Rustic.

I've also made an earlier start than last year on looking for leaf-miners. I checked out a known Holm Oak just a few miles down the road at Sapcote on 30/03/2018 hoping to fine a few mines. Hadn't realised how easy it would be - the whole tree was heavily infested and it was obvious as I passed the tree before parking up.

Pretty much every leaf had numerous mines with at least two species involved

Ectoedemia heringella, vacated mines

Ectoedemia heringella, tenanted mines

Ectoedemia heringella tenanted and vacated mines, and Phyllonorycter messaniella vacated mine

Phyllonorycter messaniella vacated mine, upperside

Phyllonorycter messaniella vacated mine, underside