After yesterday's high jinks and shenanigans finding Black Fern Aphid in the wild (not something that's supposed to happen in Britain), I simply had to go back and do a full survey of all the Hart's-tongue Ferns I could reach. Coz yeah, quite a few of them grow halfway up wet cliff faces and are simply beyond my abilities to reach. Plus I had that nagging memory of seeing a cluster of pale aphids on a frond, potentially being the second species known to occur on Aspleniums. I had to check.
First up though, I spent a pleasant couple of hours sweep-netting through the undergrowth in Shore Woods, interspersed with staring at the sunlit trunk of a large Silver Fir - a veritable magnet for sunbathing flies. Still several Gymnocheta viridis very much in evidence, though looking decidedly brassy-coloured rather than fresh green. It was whilst staring at the tree trunk that I spotted movement
 |
| Loensia fasciata - a magnificently patterned psocid (or barkfly, if you prefer) |
Well that was a nice start, I've not seen Loensia fasciata before, it's a huge brute of a beast too. I swept a number of empid flies that were either dancing in midair (males) or sitting on fenceposts (females). I'm looking forward to keying them through; they're a new family for me, whatever they are. Brilliant looking things up close. I probably should have taken a few pics, ho hum.
What I did take a pic of was the arse-end of a lacewing that I netted and then keyed through today. It keyed through like a dream, the confirmatory feature in males (this was a male) being what the text describes as "cat's claws" on the underside of the final abdominal segment. I think I actually grinned when I saw them for myself - poor pic below. Look like cat's claws to you?
 |
| Micromus paganus - maybe the Devil's Claws rather than a cat's? |
I also netted a second Micromus paganus, which almost caught me out by exhibiting one wing with just four (instead of five) branches on the radial vein. That would lead to Micromus angulatus, a species that doesn't occur in Scotland. Lacewings are well-known for having 'missing' veins, so it's always a good idea to check all four wings when keying them through. This second individual was female, hence lacking the diagnostic cat's claws of the male. I had to divide the length of the wing by its width and take into account the roundedness of the wing apex to convince myself that it really was an aberrant M.paganus rather than an out-of-range M.angulatus. This too was a lifer for me.
I spotted my first Rhagio scolopaceus of the year, a common and distinctive fly around here with a habit of resting head-down on vertical surfaces. Usually a tree trunk or fencepost, but also my legs from time to time. Shy they ain't!
 |
| A sure sign that summertime is about to begin |
After yesterday's Beris chalybata, a small but perfectly formed species of soldierfly, I was pleasantly surprised to find several more sitting on leaves in the dappled shade beneath the large Wych Elms that grow here. Best of all, I even found a pair in cop!
 |
| Beris chalybata - female (small eyes, wide frons) on left, male (huge eyes) on right |
I quickly returned to the hotel to disgorge various tubes and pots from my pockets, did a quick bit of pinning/carding and, after lunch, headed straight back out to survey the Hart's-tongues for aphids. Within fifteen minutes, I was clambering over rocks in the river to reach the area in question. Five minutes later and I found aphids - pale ones!
 |
| Stunning, right...? |
Here's a wider angle showing the plant in situ on the rockface. If you look very closely, you can see the aphids sitting on the upperside of a frond. Of note, maybe, the Black Fern Aphids were on the underside of a frond.
 |
| I've certainly seen healthier bits of Hart's-tongue, it has to be said |
A quick scan of surrounding ferns revealed these pale aphids to be present at low frequency throughout the ravine. I took a few home with me and managed a series of awful images/vid clips. Believe it or not, these are the 'good' ones...
 |
| This is an adult on the leaf surface |
 |
| Whilst this one was wandering around the pot I popped it into |
Very obviously, these are a different species to yesterday's oval black jobbies with rows of white hairs across the body. These are Amphorophora ampullata, which I hereby dub the Pale Fern Aphid as opposed to yesterday's Black Fern Aphid (a name already in usage). Also seemingly new to Scotland, at least there are no records on NBN. For what that's worth. But they are at least known to occur outdoors in Britain, unlike the Black Fern Aphid. My RES Handbook to Aphids states that the species is widespread in Britain, but that "populations occurring on Lady-fern have a different chromosome number (2n = 10 as opposed to 2n = 12 on other ferns) and hence are probably a biologically distinct but morphologically very similar taxon." One to look out for!
Buoyed with success at finding the second fern-feeding aphid, though this being somewhat tempered by the fact that I utterly failed to find any new Black Fern Aphids, I ascended the south face of The Chasm of Doom, didn't fall to my death, and tried to ID some lichens for when The Telf and The Rylands arrive next week. Ooof, you know I was mentioning the lack of rain for the past few weeks? Well, everything has reduced to crisp patches on trunks. I tried to string a patch of Pannaria rubiginosa for Protopannaria pezizoides, but had to admit it was merely desiccated and unhappy rather than being a lifer
 |
| Pannaria rubiginosa enjoying the "rainforest" habitat. Not. |
I have a cheap mist spray bottle that I picked up in Boots a couple of years back. It's very useful for bringing dried up bryophytes back to life in the warmer summer months. I could try it on the lichens too, I guess. Then again, if it continues like this for much longer, I think a Kärcher pressure-washer might be more appropriate.
You may be wondering why the blog title. You remember that scene from Aliens, the one near the end of the film where the queen alien has snuck aboard the shuttle craft and is now in the main spaceship, gleefully chasing the little girl around the hangar? Well today I netted a queen wasp, a huge booger. I'm fully aware that this means I've deprived an entire colony from even starting, but I saw others in the woods - they aren't exactly uncommon up here. At lunchtime I gave it the ethyl acetate treatment, pinned it and labelled it all up. This afternoon I noticed it had moved diagonally across its plastazote strip, she was still alive. I popped her back in the killing jar for a second dose of death. Tonight she came back to life yet again! So now she is back in the killing jar (for her third time today!) and she's staying there overnight. If she's still alive in the morning, I swear I'm gonna jettison her out the airlock a la Ripley style!
Edit - the wasp, Vespula rufa, stayed dead third time around. No face-huggers seen either, all good.
No comments:
Post a Comment