This is the penultimate day of National Insect Week, time to look at one of our more dramatic beetles: the golden-bloomed longhorn beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens), first identified and photographed in the reserve by our wildlife photographer, Simon Knight, in the summer of 2020.
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Ian has sent us a picture of a red headed cardinal beetle, whose scientific name, Pyrochroa serraticornis, translates roughly but appropriately as fiery-shelled thing with serrated antennae.
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by Ian Bushell
This is a Common Cockchafer – Melolontha melolontha – photographed in the reserve last week. It is also called Maybug, Maybeetle or Doodlebug.
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A dandelion crammed with tiny bronze-black beetles.
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On one of our forays into of our invertebrate species list, we just noticed this: a common malachite beetle, Malachius bipustulatus.
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This year, 2023, was a good year for our species lists, particularly the invertebrates list.
Continue reading “The year’s finds”
Coccinella septempunctata is the rather grand scientific name of the most common of our native ladybirds, the seven spot.
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A bloody nosed beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) found in the short grass where the rabbits graze at the end of Sleepers Field.
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by Ian Bushell
This is a Dor Beetle and I am almost certain it is a Common Dumbledore Beetle – Geotrupes spiniger. This is the first time it has been identified in the reserve and I have added it to our lists.
Continue reading “Dumbledore!”
An iridescent green, female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the reserve last year. It is the male (see below) that has the strangely shaped hind legs for which the species is named
[1] by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0) flickr.com; [2] © Hans Hillewaert (CC BY-SA 4.0) wikimedia.org
Just a few of the reserve’s coleoptera.
[1] golden bloomed longhorn beetle [2] bloody nosed beetle [3] sailor beetle [4] lily beetle [5] cockchafer (May bug) [6] seven spot ladybird [7] sixteen spot ladybird [8] thick legged flower beetle; Header image: Red headed cardinal beetle by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0) wikimedia.com
Whirligig beetles are actually a whole family of water beetles called Gyrinidae, almost 700 different species globally, most of them very much alike and extremely difficult to tell apart. We have no idea what particular species live in the pond upstream of the wooden bridge but all the Gyrinidae share some fascinating features.
Read on for details and a short video
A further dive into the depths of our species lists has dredged up a black snail beetle (Phosphuga atrata).
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On the winter’s coldest day so far, let’s look back to the summer for a while: here is Simon Knight’s picture of a golden-bloomed longhorn beetle sunbathing among the grass stems.
Just a few of the reserve’s coleoptera.
Header image: Red headed cardinal beetle by Gail Hampshire (CC BY 2.0) wikimedia.com
There are forty one species of Cantharidae in Britain and almost all go by the common names of soldier or sailor beetle.
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Occasionally, we delve into our species lists for a closer look at some of the reserve’s more unobtrusive and less fluffy residents. Today it’s the turn of the golden-bloomed longhorn beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens), first identified and photographed by our wildlife photographer, Simon Knight, in the summer of 2020.
Continue reading “Golden-bloomed longhorn beetle”
A dandelion crammed with tiny bronze-black beetles. Our favourite entomologist emailed us:
They’re pollen beetles. Getting a positive ID is going to be impossible without sending me a specimen (and they’re too small!) but this time of year the most common species is the Common Pollen Beetle Meligethes aeneus.
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There are pond skaters (Gerris lacustris) on the little pond under the wooden bridge at Lambrok Meadow end of the tributary stream.
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The cockchafers, more familiarly known as maybugs, are out and about early this year.
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The ladybirds are leaving hibernation.
First published April 2020
Continue reading “Sixteen spot ladybird”
A Devil’s coach horse (Ocypus olens) was found and identified in Kestrel Field yesterday by Sarah Gould. Ocypus olens is a swiftly-moving ground beetle species and this one was moving so swiftly that Sarah was unable to get anything more than a blurred, but perfectly identifiable, picture which we sent to Ian for confirmation. This is a new species for the reserve’s comprehensive lists
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 