A couple of catch-up bits first. I've managed to sort another of the sawflies from Ketton Quarry on 17/05 - or rather confirm from the key that the suggested ID on UK Sawflies was right. It is Cytisogaster chambersi, based on the facial markings which separate it from two other spp.
And I've also sorted a couple of small black hoverflies from the garden on Monday: one was another Pipizella viduata, but the other was new for me - Eumerus funeralis. It's not much of a looker, and only c5mm long so not exactly the most exciting hoverfly but good to sort it properly based on ocelli position and underside of hind femora.
Rear pair of ocelli positioned close to the 'baseline' of the eyes than E. ornatus
Shiny bare patch on hind femora
Another new one for the garden was a surprise, given that the one I swept at Countesthorpe Meadows on 16/05 was on the fourth or so record for the county ....
Empis scutellata - just about to escape from the moth trap it came to
I've got a few bits to pin and check later tonight, including a yello-faced bee from the garden today and a weird shaped small thin sawfly.
Here's a couple more from Huncote Embankment yesterday:
Graphomya macualata - female
Graphomya maculata - male
Helophilus pendulus
A here's a few more from the garden trap ...
Campion - only second garden record
Buff-tip
Coxcomb Prominent
"I made a god out of blood, not superiority,
I killed the king of deceit, now I sleep in anarchy"
Busy day, and been out for a walk this evening which will have to wait. But for now a bit of a catch up .....
The Empis sp. I swept on Saturday at Countesthorpe Meadows is Empis scutellata - only x3 VC55 records prior to this year, though I see at least one recorded a week or so before mine. A new one for me.
Axilliary excision of forewing 90deg to obtuse, not acute
First antennal segment not clearly longer than second
Back to the sawflies I posted yesterday. Today I re-joined the British and Irish Sawflies Fb group - it's one (like hoverflies, hemiptera ..) that I was a member of and left last year when I found my timeline being swamped at a time when I was not bothered/able to enjoy anything. Anyway I posted the photos with the proposed IDs except for one that I revised completely after finding a nicely illustrated and helpful guide to British Tenthredo spp.
My Tenthredo arcuata sl was revised to Tenthredo zona and confirmed as such - great stuff. New for me and possibly VC55 (unknown as yet). Tenthredo mesomela confirmed - again new for me. The Macrophya annulata is definitely Macrophya, needs checking further to confirm M. annulata or M. blanda but half way there. And then the others were way off ... The 'Rhadogaster viridis' is actually one of two Cytisogaster spp, probably Cytisogaster chambersi, and the 'Aglaostigma fulvipes' is probably a Tenthredopsis sp. So starting from scratch I got 1.5/5 right at the first go, and after revising one before asking I was at 2.5/5 right. I'll take that! I'll update the post accordingly.
Here's the small fly I mentioned from KQ on Sunday ...
I think this is one of the pair Limnia unguicornis/paludicola (not a Dichetophora sp.). I'll see if I can get a view on Uk Diptera but I expect the answer will be to check the genitalia.
And I also mentioned this bug from KQ ..
Denticulate Leatherbug
One I would like confirming is this aphid from the garden ...
I found loads of these along the mid-ribs on the underside of leaves on my oak sapling. I am sure it is Thelaxes dryophila.
Here's a couple of other bits from the garden.
My Snake's-head Fritillaries are taking a grubby battering from Scarlet Lily Beetles
and I finally caught a Merodon equestris on the camera sensor today ..
The garden moth trap has been picking up, so I have a few bits to share separately and I'm hoping it will properly ramp up later in the week.
