Green Dock Beetles

This morning I came across some small irridescent green beetles on some dock leaves in Reading University grounds.  'Complete British Insects' by Michael Chinery (Collins, 2005) showed them to be green dock beetles (Gastrophysa viridula).  First a lateral view of a male (or unmated female):

A dorsal view of a male (or unmated female):

Next a lateral view of a mated female.  Note the bulging black abdomen which is now far too big to be covered by the green elytra (wing cases).

And finally a dorsal view of a mated female.

Moth Fly

 

This morning I noticed two of these little flying insects in the woods beside the large lake in Reading University grounds.  They were tiny: their wing-span was about 7mm.  The black and yellow banding and their hairy bodies suggested to me that they may be bee-mimics, but surely they are too small to fool birds into thinking they might be bees?

At first I assumed these little insects must be moths because of their hairy wings, but I couldn't find anything like them on the UK Moths website.  It was only after quite a bit of Googling that I came across a reference to moth flies, a group of primitive dipteran flies.  Their classification is, as far as I can take it:

• Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
• Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
• Class Insecta (Insects)
• Order Diptera (Flies)
• Suborder Nematocera (Non-Brachycera)
• Infraorder Psychodomorpha
• Family Psychodidae (Moth Flies and Sand Flies)
• Subfamily Psychodinae (Moth Flies)
• Genus: ?
  
• Species: ?
  

A few years ago we had similar little black flies living in the overflow of our bathroom hand-basin.  I didn't take any photos of them but they must have been drain flies which are very similar.  However, they all disappeared when I squirted some bleach down the overflow, and have never reappeared.

Holly Blue Butterfly

A holly blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus).  Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-04-19.

A Red Bee

When I first saw this red insect, I had no idea what it was, so I just took a lot of photos, hoping to identify it later when I got back home.  My initial guess was that it must be some type of hoverfly but, when I looked closely at the photos, I realized that the antennae were too long for a hoverfly and more like those of a wasp.  I searched my pocket guides to insects but to no avail.  Then I went to the web and eventually tracked down some pictures (here, here, and here) which allowed me to tentatively identify it as Nomada striata, a species of nomad bee.  It didn't seem very active while I was photographing it.  When I poked it, it just waved a leg at me.  I wonder if it had just emerged and was still drying its wings out.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2009-04-18.

Silk Button Spangle Galls

Oak trees seem to be host to an unusual number of parasites.  Just by casual inspection I have been able to identify six different types of insect galls on the oak trees in the grounds of Reading University.  The above photo shows one of these, the silk button spangle gall.  Like the smooth spangle gall that, I blogged about here, this is found on the underside of leaves and contains one stage in the development of a type of small wasp (in this case the species Neuroterus numismalis).

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2008-09-02.