Travel / Trip

I had a few days over in the Netherlands last week for some European football (albeit in the new third tier UEFA Europa Conference League, though we're in good company having already put out Rennes and not beating PSV Eindhoven in their home ground, with Roma coming up in the semi-finals). It's the first time I've travelled overseas since our Caribbean cruise in 2018, thanks to health issues and covid. Of course it was also the first post-Brexit experience in a European airport as a non-EU traveller .... Glad I don't have a need to travel for work anymore.

Whilst away the weather turned properly warm and sunny for a few days, though over the couple of nights that I've had the trap out since getting home you'd not think it. Poor catches and not much variety as yet.

Oak-tree Pug

Golden-rod Pug

A typically duff looking individual - abdominal plates checked.

Least Black Arches

Dromius meridionalis

The first non-lep in the trap that I've bothered to point the camera at so far this year

I've got some time off of work next week too, though we'll mainly be planting up our new raised beds and nipping down to Devon for a quick visit.

Not Overdue - Golden-rod Pug

I had one garden record of Golden-rod Pug going way back to August 2000. I am absolutely certain that I have had others since, but given that they are often melanic in the midlands I would of ignored them. I put out my synergetic trap last night with no genuine expectation of anything much, and was not surprised when there were just two Hebrew Characters and a small dark pug. I potted up the pug with the intention of having a better look after work.

Aside from being small and dark, not really much to look at aside from it having strongly evident dark discal spots, a hint of a pale spot on the thorax and faint witnesses of pale tornal spots. As it was clearly a male, I decided to have a go at brushing away the scales and checking the abdominal plates. Male pugs have plates on the ventral surface of the 8th sternite, and the shape of some of these is distinctive enough to confirm species (though a lot look very similar on the illustrations I have).

Anyway, it turned out to be a Golden-rod Pug - some 18 years after the last record (but, again, almost certainly not 18 years since the last one in the garden!).

Golden-rod Pug

Abdominal plate, showing a quirky and deeply forked kink to the left