Volume 3 Issue 2 Scottish Invertebrate News The Scottish Invertebrate Conservation Newsletter November 2012 www.scottishinvertebrates.org.uk held in Fife; bug hunting Inside this issue: on Scottish SSSIs, and Welcome! 1 with numbers of bees, Welcome! various bug projects. Scottish Invertebrate 1-3 butterflies and other Our monthly e-news Discoveries Welcome to the sixth pollinators noticeably Scottish Invertebrate issue of Scottish down on last year. Bug hunting on 4-5 Update was launched Invertebrate News! Scottish SSSIs Slugs, snails and earlier this year and you Hopefully you’ve all invertebrates with can follow us online at: 2-pronged Bristletails 6 managed to get out aquatic life stages may www.twitter.com/ Species spotlight 7 bug hunting this have done better. buzz_dont_tweet and Habitat creation for 8 summer. It’s been a In addition to some www.facebook.com/ bugs particularly difficult year exciting new finds, we pages/Buglife-The- for many invertebrates report on this year’s Invertebrate- Volunteering for bugs 9 due to the cold, wet Scottish Entomologist Conservation-Trust/ and windy conditions Gathering, that was Events Programme 10 Leggy American found hanging out in Glaswegian Cemetery A story fit for Halloween broke during the summer, Society who found the colony while sheltering from following the discovery of a new species of spider the rain, said; “This is an exciting find of a species for the UK (and Europe) in the Necropolis in the which has been able to establish itself a long way middle of Glasgow. from its native land. We have no idea how or when it British arachnologists were arrived but it may have been unable to identify the tiny here for many years, judging by spider and it was sent to an the size of the colony. Although expert in Innsbruck who it was probably accidentally recognised it as a North introduced with imports from American species North America it is possible that Rugathodes sexpunctatus , a it arrived under its own steam member of the Theridiidae ballooning on a silk thread, high or comb-footed spiders. It is in the atmosphere on a normally found in conifer favourable wind”. Coincidentally this American spider was first woods and has not th previously been seen in found here on the 4 of July! Europe, outside Russia. Its The Necropolis is well known for closest Scottish relative is its wildlife and is home to a found under rocks in Six-spot comb-footed spider number of rare and important (Rugathodes sexpunctatus ) © Mike Davidson mountain scree and quarry species. According to Richard spoil-heaps. Weddle of the Friends of the Glasgow Necropolis, This tiny spider is a distant relative of the black “This is the second-largest green space in the centre widow, but is totally harmless to humans, being of Glasgow, and its wooded areas, sandy slopes, only just over 2mm long. It was found living and ivy-covered quarry-face, as well as some un- among ivy growing over walls and rock faces at mown flowery corners provide a great diversity of the Glasgow Necropolis. The female carries her habitats for wildlife. tiny egg sac around with her to protect it. Scott Shanks, Buglife Mike Davidson, of the British Arachnological Scottish Invertebrate Discoveries Micro moth bonanza following release of new ID book Every year new invertebrate discoveries are made in Scotland. From amazing ecology, to records of species new to Scotland or science, this section highlights just a handful of these fascinating discoveries! Three-toothed Moss snail found in Scottish Borders The Three-toothed moss snail, Azeca goodalli is a rarity in Scotland, with only one known recent record, from Kippenrait Glen near Bridge of Allan Red-clover case-bearer moth ( Colephora deauratella ) in Stirlingshire. Due to its rarity, the species is found during identification workshop. © Henry Ekholm listed on the Scottish Biodiversity List of species of This year saw the publication of a number of new principal importance for biodiversity conservation. books on micro-moth identification, including the A second site for this species was recently found ‘Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and at Denholm Dean in Roxburghshire in the course Ireland’ by Sterling, P. & Parsons, M., illustrated by of a survey of the site by The Wildlife Information Richard Lewington. These books have encouraged Centre (TWIC) in May this year. Several a flurry of micro-moth recording and new finds from specimens were found in leaf litter from a around the country! restricted area of this wooded valley. Previously, due to the cost and technical terminology of the specialist books required for their identification, micro-moths were either passed to experts or often released without being noted. In July, a micro-moth identification workshop was held in Glasgow. The workshop, lead by moth expert Dr Mark Young of Aberdeen University was a great success, and during the day attendees discovered a micro that had only been found once before in Scotland – the Red clover case-bearer (Coleophora deauratella ). Scott Shanks , Buglife Three-toothed moss snail ( Azeca goodalli ) The Pink Prowler strikes again! © Adrian T. Sumner No, not an international diamond thief, but a tiny Azeca goodalli has a smallish shell, between 5.5 pink spider, Oonops domesticus . Another new site mm and 7.0 mm in height when adult. The shell is for this under-recorded species was discovered in very glossy, with three teeth in the mouth, as the Yorkhill, Glasgow by Buglife’s Scott Shanks. Keep name implies. The species occurs locally a look out for this nocturnal wandering species in amongst moss, herbage and ground litter in your home or workplace (if working very late!). woodlands, hedgerows and scrub, usually though Scott Shanks, Buglife not always on calcareous soils and it prefers light shade (Ellis, 1969, British Snails , Oxford University Press; Kerney, 1999, Atlas of the Land and Freshwater Molluscs of Britain and Ireland , Harley Books). Adrian T. Sumner Back issues of Scottish Invertebrate News can be found at: http://www.buglife.org.uk/conservation/Scotland/ Scottish+Invertebrate+News Pink prowler ( Oonops domesticus ) © Scott Shanks Page 2 The Girdled snail (Hygromia cinctella) in Scotland Scottish Invertebrate Discoveries Cont. The Girdled snail, Hygromia cinctella , is a Richard Weddle in Glasgow in 2008. Since then Mediterranean species that was first recorded in there have been no further Scottish records of this Britain in 1950 at Paignton in Devon, and for many species until this year, when I found them at years remained restricted to the south-west of Livingston in West Lothian, in Edinburgh, and at St England. More recently it has appeared in South Andrews in Fife. It looks as if this species is really Wales, and has started spreading north. The beginning to spread in Scotland. National Museum of Wales has set up a project The Girdled snail is quite distinctive and generally called Snail Search to monitor the spread of this easy to identify. The shell is conical, with a distinct species, and results can be seen on their website keel which is whitish. The ground colour of the (www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/scan/snails/ ). shell is brown, usually quite a rich medium shade of The first Girdled snail in Scotland was recorded by brown, but not infrequently paler. The adult shell is about 10–12 mm in diameter. Look out for it on waste ground, roadsides, gardens and similar habitats, where it may be found under debris such as pieces of wood, or on walls. Records may be sent to the Conchological Society Non-marine Recording Scheme ( [email protected] ), and I would be happy to look at any specimens or photos if you are doubtful about identification ([email protected] ). It will be interesting to record the spread of this snail across Scotland; maybe it is already present in your area! Girdled snail (Hygromia cinctella ) © Adrian T. Sumner Adrian T. Sumner Scottish Entomologists’ Gathering 2012 –Field trips in Fife The weekend of the 13th to the 15th of June saw forest and dunes on Friday the 13th in the hopes of 25 invertebrate enthusiasts meet at Elmwood attracting a Lunar yellow underwing ( Noctua College in Cupar, Fife for orbona ). Tentsmuir is the only known the 2012 Scottish Scottish site with recent records of this Entomologists’ Gathering species. However, despite returning (SEG). The annual field for a second night of trapping at meeting sees invertebrate Tentsmuir and an impressive haul of experts and amateurs from over 70 macro-moth species, the all over Scotland (and Lunar yellow underwing didn’t make further afield) get together to an appearance. explore a different under- Field trips to Tentsmuir NNR, SWT recorded area of Scotland Blue-banded hoverfly (Leucozona glaucia ) © Steven Falk Fleece Faulds, SWT Craig Hall Den each year, network and and SWT Dumbarnie Links were socialise with fellow bug hunters. enjoyed by the posse of Arachnologists, Dipterists, After settling in to our accomodation, Gordon Coleopterists, Lepidopterists and Hymenopterists Corbet, local bug expert and the convener of the in spite of persistant rain on the Saturday. A fantastic SWT Dumbarnie Links reserve set the summary of records from the weekend will be scene with a superb introduction and historical passed round attendees and anyone interested. review of bug hunting within the Kingdom of Fife. The 2013 SEG will likely take place in the wild and One of the highlights of the SEG is heading out for beautiful north west Highlands. Look out for more a night of ‘mothing’ with the likes of moth gurus information in the New Year. Roy Leverton and Butterfly Conservation’s Tom Scott Shanks, Buglife Prescott. Nine light traps were set in Tentsmuir Page 3 Bug hunting on Scottish Sites of Special Scientific Interest Taynish National Nature Reserve, Argyll - May 2012 early-emerged Grey scalloped bar ( Dyscia fagaria ) that was a new 10 km square record for that Taynish National Nature Reserve, in Knapdale species.