BUCKS INVERTEBRATE GROUP BULLETIN Number 22 Contents The BIG identification and recording questionnaire: Pages 2 - 5 Martin Harvey Highlights of the season: Loosley Row: Nigel Partridge Pages 6 - 7 Highlights of the season: Ballinger Common: Peter Hall Page 7 Crossocerus congener. A new digger wasp for Bucks: Page 7 - 8 Martin Albertini A parasitoid of cockroach eggs and other Hymenoptera from Pages 8 - 9 Stoke Common: Martin Albertini 2011 A busy mothing year: David Wilton Pages 8 – 18 Sphinginus lobatus. A rare malachite beetle new to Bucks: Page 18 Martin Harvey 2011 Moth Review: Martin Albertini Pages 18 – 23 Field Reports 2011 Pages 23 – 32 Note of Thanks: Peter Hall Page 32 BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] The BIG identification and recording questionnaire Martin Harvey At the end of 2011, BMERC and BIG wanted to find out a bit more about invertebrate recording among members of BIG: who records what, where do the records go and can we encourage more recording? Many thanks to the 41 members who completed the questionnaire, the results of which are summarised below. The questions were compiled by Martin Harvey, Martin Albertini of BIG and Laura Fennell of BMERC. With hindsight some of the questions could have been made clearer and some of the answers were rather hard to analyse. However, the responses have been interesting and useful. Which invertebrate groups do you feel confident about identifying? Unsurprisingly butterflies and moths were the clear front-runners, but for many other groups members are happy identifying at least some species. There was also an “Other invertebrates” category that included woodlice, millipedes and centipedes, aquatic invertebrates, nocturnal parasitic Hymenoptera, lacewings and rotifers. Which invertebrate groups do you record in Buckinghamshire? ~ 2 ~ BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] Butterflies and moths are again the clear winners, but a wide range of other groups get recorded to a lesser extent. This question also asked which groups people took photos of and/or kept voucher specimens (but it is not clear from our question how many of these represent sightings that are photographed but not made into biological records): Looking at these first two questions, there is some drop from the number of people who can identify the various groups to the number that record them: ~ 3 ~ BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] How do you store your records? Most people (almost 70%) use a notebook but nearly 60% use a computer database and nearly 40% use a spreadsheet (you could tick more than one box here and some use all three). Of the people using databases MapMate is the most widely used, but Recorder and Levana were also mentioned by more than one person. What happens to your records? ~ 4 ~ BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] This question is complicated by the fact that many people send their records to more than one place, but it is clear that BMERC is playing an important role in collecting records for groups that have no county recording scheme and in many cases receiving records that are not otherwise being passed on to national recording schemes. We had hoped to get an idea of how many records are being made that are not passed on to any recording scheme but our questionnaire design didn’t really achieve that. However, it is encouraging to see that the total number of people passing on records for each group is close to the total number of people who record that group, Would any of the following help you record more, or encourage you to start? Targeted surveys are clearly an attractive idea for members of BIG and that’s certainly something we can try to develop in the future – if anyone has any ideas or would like to take on a targeted survey please do get in touch. With BMERC’s help, we have occasionally run identification training courses in the past and that is also something we can try to do again. As for field meetings, we already do quite a lot of those, so if you are one of the people who said that these would help you record more please do come along to as many field meetings as you wish! As ever, ideas for future field meetings and offers to lead them are welcome. Among the “other comments” for this question, a large proportion of respondents said that the main thing that constrains their recording activity is simply lack of time. I’m not sure BIG can do much to remove that constraint, but it is good to know that recording invertebrates is something people would like to do more of if they could! ~ 5 ~ BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] Highlights of the season: Loosley Row Nigel Partridge The number of moth species found in my garden broke through the 500 mark this year, including the 34 new additions listed below. B&F # Species Name 2011 Date 0125 Emmetia marginea 27th June 0332a Phyllonorycter 29th May leucographella 0409a Argyresthia trifasciata 10th June 0422 Argyresthia albistria 19th June 0451 Ypsolopha mucronella 24th Feb 0765 Teleiodes vulgella 26th June 0779 Bryotropha affinis 29th May 0861 Acompsia schmidtiellus 1st Aug 0905 Blastodacna hellerella 26th June 0936 Cochylimorpha 8th May straminea 0946 Aethes rubigana 10th July 0964 Cochylis dubitana 14th July 0987 Ptycholomoides 26th June aeriferanus 1134 Epinotia ramella 12th Aug Acompsia schmidtiellus (Photo: © Nigel Partridge) 1245 Grapholita janthinana 27th July 1273 Dichrorampha petiverella 11th July 1358 Evergestis pallidata 30th July 1365 Pyrausta despicata 2nd Sept 1398 Nomophila noctuella 15th Sept 1425 Galleria mellonella 2nd Sept 1465 Nephopterix angustella 30th Sept 1474 Ephestia parasitella 13th June 1659 Yellow Horned 21st March 1790 The Tissue 8th April 1840 Shaded Pug 29th May 1857 Dwarf Pug 22nd April 1997 Sallow Kitten 30th April 2105 Dotted Rustic 2nd June 2131 Square-spotted Clay 12th Aug 2171 Marbled Coronet 11th June 2179 Pine Beauty 28th March 2305 Small Angle Shades 29th June 2345 Small Dotted Buff 13th july 2375 Large Wainscot 4th Oct I recorded five examples of Dichrorampha petiverella, all of which were found on, or around a small patch of Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in the late afternoon. It is Dotted Rustic (Photo: © Nigel Partridge) obviously a plant to keep an eye on. Further noteworthy site records included the The single Acompsia schmidtiellus was following: attracted to the outside light, as were another • 1 Cream Wave – 8th May six of the new additions to the garden list. The • 2 Blue-bordered Carpets – 13 and 29 June others were caught in a Skinner actinic trap. ~ 6 ~ BIG News Number 22 Editor: Peter Hall, Melanthia, Chiltern Rd., Ballinger Common, Bucks HP16 9LH e-mail [email protected] • 1 Scarlet Tiger – 15 June (found inside the Pseudatemelia josephinae, Depressaria sordidatella, shed) Scrobipalpa acuminatella, Batrachedra • 1 Aglossa pinguinalis – 11 July praeangustana, Blastodacna atra, Archips • 1 Toadflax Pug – 19 July crataegana, Capua vulgana, Cydia funebrana, • 1 Ypsolopha nemorella – 24 July Eudonia angustea, Lappet, May Highflyer and Large Wainscot. This brings the grand total of moth • 3 Waved Blacks – 29 July, 31 July and 5 species for the garden to 724. August • 1 Beech-green Carpet – 17 August Macro species that had a particularly good year were Brown-spot Pinion, Double Square-spot, Feathered Gothic, Heart and Dart, Large Nutmeg, Lunar Underwing, Riband Wave and Small Quaker. The micros Agriphila geniculea and Pseudargyrotoza conwagana were noticeably more numerous than in previous years. Depressaria sordidatella male genitalia (Photo: © Peter Hall) However, species that were sadly missing altogether were Dusky Sallow, Lime Hawk- moth, Red Chestnut, Small Square-spot, Small Crossocerus congener (Dahlbom, 1845): Waved Umber, Spectacle and White-spotted a new digger wasp for Bucks Pug. Although I have never recorded large numbers of any of these, I usually see a few of Martin Albertini each. This species was added to the British list Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was my last following the discovery of a specimen at record for the year on New Year’s Eve, when I Croxley Common, Rickmansworth, Herts discovered a Large Nutmeg below the outside (TQ09) by Raymond Uffen in 1999. It was with light. I couldn’t quite believe it because the the common Crossocerus podagricus entering normal flight time is mid-May to late July and beetle holes in a dead cherry tree. Notes on wondered if the wine had got the better of me. further records to 2008 include 3 more Herts Thanks to Peter Hall for his help with many sites, slightly East of the original, and a site in identifications throughout 2011. Surrey with all records being of females. During the BIG meeting at Denham Marsh Wood (TQ0188) on 26 July 2008 I collected Highlights of the season: three small black wasps around dead branches. Ballinger Common One turned out to be Rhopalum clavipes, but I wasn’t able to satisfactorily key out the other Peter Hall two, both females. I recently passed these to Matt Smith who identified them as Crossocerus Moth trapping sessions in the garden were congener. They appear to be the first Bucks reduced this season. However, there was still time records and are from the 10km square to add a few more to the overall lisiting for the site.