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NEWSLETTER 58 LEICESTERSHIRE January 2018 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY VC55 Merveille du Jour Griposia aprilina, whose caterpillar feeds on oak. One of three that were seen in the photographer’s Quorn garden at the end of September. Photo: Gianpiero Ferrari FRPS. In this edition In this edition Caddis update Caddis update 1 2017 continued to have a steady input of The Wood-soldierfly in VC55 2 records from light traps (1,200+) including new More Significant Coleoptera Records 3 catches from the Allerton Project Rothamsted Book Review - The secret life of flies 4 trap at Loddington. Several new urban sites New soldierfly for VC55 5 have been added where caddis at garden traps are being sent for identification (e.g. Cropston, Leicestershire Hymenoptera new to science 1867 5 Whitwick, Coalville) although the input tends The Butterflies and Moths of Leics & Rutland 6 to be from western parts of VC55. The Snippets from a Wildlife Gardener 8 commoner species continue to be recorded Indoor Meetings Programme 8 widely with only the occasional new species. Sue Timms' Bagworth garden trap added a LES Newsletter 58 January 2018 female Tinodes rostocki to the VC55 list (17 July 2017) LEICESTERSHIRE whilst a male Limnephilus elegans was found in the ENTOMOLOGICAL Rutland Water Rothamsted trap sample of 15-22 SOCIETY October 2017. Affiliated to: National Recorder, Ian Wallace, forwarded summary Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust data for 2010-2014 of larval records generated by the Chairman & Environment Agency as part of their routine surface LES Occasional Publications Editor: water quality monitoring programme. Amongst these Ray Morris there seem to be some potential new species although 16 Hinckley Road, Dadlington fuller information is awaited before confirmation of Leics. CV13 6HU their VC55 status. Telephone: 01455 213569 Email: [email protected] A fuller update on the status of the Trichoptera in Secretary: VC55 is to be submitted for publication in the next Anona Finch issue of the Leicestershire & Rutland Recorder. 14 Thorndale, Ibstock, Leics. LE67 6JT Email: [email protected] Ray Morris Treasurer: Stuart Poole The Wood-soldierfly in VC55 18 Croft Drive, Wigston, Leicester LE18 1HD Telephone: 0116 288 0236 The dipteran Solva marginata is the commoner of the Email: [email protected] two UK species of the Xylomyidae being a sawfly/wasp mimic. It is reputed to prefer rotting Committee Members: timber for its larvae (especially poplar) where it may Dave Budworth 121 Wood Lane, Newhall, Swadlincote spend up to two years. The NBN Atlas (accessed Derbys. DE11 0LX 24/12/2017) indicates less than 200 national records Telephone: 01283 215188 possibly due to under-recording and misidentification, Email: [email protected] at first glance, as being a sawfly or wasp. However, it Maggie Frankum is clearly a dipteran and can be readily keyed out in 3 Chapel Lane, Knighton, Leicester LE2 3WF Stubbs & Drake (2014). In VC55 (see map) the Telephone: 0116 270 5833 occurrence of this fly is, at best, sporadic and Email: [email protected] widespread. One was taken during the malaise Peter Patrick trapping at Wood Brook in 1983 while malaise The Hollies, Holly Street, Stapenhill, Burton on Trent, trapping at Scraptoft Lane, Leicester by Jenny Owen Derby DE15 9ET recorded the species in July of each year 1983-1986. Telephone: 01283 548704 In 1992 Neil FrankumSolva marginata came across one at Priors Email: [email protected] Coppice and Newsletter Editor: Derek Lott noted Steve Woodward one in his Barrow 19 Highfield Road, Groby, Leicester LE6 0GU upon Soar garden Telephone: 0116 287 1679 in 2007. The only Email : [email protected] other record came Publications downloadable from: as a result of www.naturespot.org.uk/content/leicestershire- malaise trapping entomological-society at Heron Bay, © 2018 Leicestershire Entomological Society Rutland Water during the summer of 2015. The editor will be happy to receive articles, short notes and photos (in focus please!) about insects or other Reference: invertebrates in Leicestershire and Rutland, also news of members’ activities further afield. Photos to be sent Stubbs, A. E. & Drake, M. (2014). British Soldierflies separately please at high resolution. Unless otherwise and their allies. BENHS credited, photos are by the author of the article. Next Copy Deadline: 5 Sept 2018 Ray Morris 2 January 2018 LES Newsletter 58 More significant Coleoptera Further to the selection that appeared in the previous records for VC55 Newsletter, here are more recent records made by the author. Eutrichapion viciae It is curious there are only six previous records for this weevil, which feeds on various vetches, principally Tufted Vetch and is stated to be widespread in England and Wales. The last time it was recorded was 2014 by Steve Lane at Ellistown, so the record from Magna Park on 12 August 2017 is quite interesting. It asks the question: is this species as widespread as literature implies, or is it genuinely scarce in VC55? Cilea silphoides Phloiotyra vaudoueri Three previous records exist for this species, with the first two The database states there are seven previous records for this species 1894-1896 J.H. Woolley, location stated as Leicestershire; the next (Melandryidae), but again some of the data are quite vague and -1907 F. Bouskell, Leicestershire, again the historical records are there could be some duplication involved. Nevertheless the last very vague. It was not until August 2016 when it was subsequently time this was seen in VC55 was 1983 in Bradgate Park by A.B. seen, when two individuals were sieved from horse dung from Drane, until two individuals were beaten from an aerial dead Saddington by G.L. Finch. The latest records are from Loddington. branch in Stocking Wood on 26 June 2017. where four individuals were sieved from a large heap of horse dung on 23 August. This must surely be a species that extensive searching of its preferred habitat (horse dung seems to be favoured) will turn up many more localities for this small but very distinctive Staph. Graham Finch 3 LES Newsletter 58 January 2018 Book Review - The secret life of flies point is that the sheer numerical abundance, if nothing else, is justification for paying more attention to flies than they have received. I recall that many LES members missed the Lit & Phil We all learn from an early age that flies are disgusting talk Flying in the Face of Adversity on 9 March 2015. creatures that crawl over dung then vomit on our food, They were deprived of an excellent and entertaining to be swatted as soon as possible. Erica presents a more presentation by Erica McAlister on the Diptera balanced view of flies, drawing attention to their role (transcript at http://www.leicesterlitandphil.org.uk/wp- in the environment, particularly as recyclers of waste. content/uploads/2017/09/compressed_Vol-109- They pollinate plants, consume or parasitize pests, and 2015.pdf). Erica is Manager of Diptera Department, feed larger animals such as fish, bats and birds. Natural History Museum and a familiar face at Dipterists Forum We learn about some surprising meetings. adaptations, including larvae that live in petrol, others that can Happily, the topics covered and survive a dunking in liquid many more are now included in helium and cave-dwelling gnat a book. It is not a text book on larvae that glow to attract prey - Diptera, but a collection of living light traps! The author observations and stories, gives us many examples of presented in a colloquial style, bizarre sexual behaviour. Having that illustrate the astonishing let the male start copulation, the range of fly life-styles and female of Serromyia femorata adaptations. The book is (Ceratopogonidae) injects him organised by feeding habits, the with digestive enzymes before chapters being: 1. The immature sucking out his insides. ones, 2. The pollinators, 3. The detritivores, 4. The coprophages, Dipterology does seem to attract 5. The necrophages, 6. The some eccentrics and a few stories vegetarians, 7. The fungivores, 8. about them are included in the The predators, 9. The parasites, book. Charles Townsend 10. The sanguivores. Not suitable proposed that a bot fly could for the squeamish, then! travel at supersonic speeds, a claim that other dipterists then The author’s fascination with saw fit to disprove. We have all flies is clear from the first page, where she declares heard about the Piltdown Man hoax in anthropology, them to be “the most complex, crucial and highly but the Piltdown Fly? Yes, a fly preserved in 44 million adaptive creatures on the planet” ... and then proceeds year old Baltic amber, which was indistinguishable to justify those claims in the remainder of the book. from a modern species, had evolutionists scratching The fascination is more than skin deep: “I’ve their heads... until a researcher realised that a encountered many a dipterist who has regaled me with mischievous dipterist had inserted the modern fly! stories of ... very personal interactions with a parasitic maggot. One had a bot fly guest for about a week I found this book difficult to put down, as there are so before his wife finally made him get rid of it as she many wonderful fly stories packed into its pages, told could hear it munching away during the quiet hours in relaxed style with a good deal of humour. It is a whilst in bed. I often lament not having one though beautifully-produced hardback with superb this thought inspires looks of disgust rather than photographs. sympathy from friends”. Reference She delights in telling us that for every human individual there are 17 million individual flies alive! McAlister. E. 2017. The secret life of flies. Natural One in ten species so far described is a fly - but the History Museum.