Not a Groundhopper

Sub-zero temperatures (day and night) and work have both conspired to keep my fly and spider challenge severely reined in for most of the past ten days. However, I've now completed all my indoor jobs and can't progress with the remainder of my outdoor jobs until it warms up a bit. So, as of two days ago, I'm back on flexi-furlough and able to spend time out in the wilds once more. 

The first week of February was remarkably unremarkable, insofar as progressing the totals for my Big Year. Whilst re-arranging an outbuilding and putting up a load of shelving, I disturbed a Protophormia terraenovae from it's slumber, the first calliphorid I've recorded this year. A large Amaurobius similis in the same shed summed up the spider interest. Even my bathroom Pholcus seems to have disappeared of late. Lean times indeed!

Yesterday I managed to team up with Neil, one of the naturalists I know here on Skye. We headed off to Lyndale Point and Woods, I was determined to find something of interest. It was bitterly cold in the east wind, Neil seemed notably bemused as I stood there screwing my net onto its handle. Needless to say, there was absolutely nothing at all flying (apart from birds, obviously) and the net was essentially a complete waste of time. Sweeping heather and grasses produced bits of twigs and seeds, not even a single springtail to be found. We then tried kicking through some wrack on the beach but that too was completely fruitless, though I did glance up to see I was being filmed. I expect he'll share the video with his friends, doubtless explaining how I'm allowed out on day release as long as I'm accompanied by a responsible adult...

We clambered up a cliff and a piece of rock came away in my hand, revealing a huddle of suddenly exposed legs. I took a few pics before potting my find. How many arachnids can you see here?

The correct answer is three

This is a rather large and very dark female Metellina merianae. Tucked up just beneath her abdomen is a Tetrix denticulata and sitting on her head is a soil mite. I think it's fair to say they were all dormant until I unceremoniously shoved them into a single pot and walked several more miles with them in my pocket. I've yet to check the SRS distribution maps, but I very much doubt there are spider records from this particular patch of coastline, it's not precisely on the beaten track. So that's good news, another couple of my 5MR monads with invert records (I also added some woodlice and molluscs plus a few rove beetles I've still to check) and another small part of this fabulous isle explored. 

We ended up having a quick wander through the woods back near the road, loads of deep leaf litter, mature Beech trees with sap runs and rot holes, masses of dead timber standing and laying, shedloads of Birch Polypores and an all-round good feel to it. I definitely need to come back here with my sieve and tray. That's when I spied a couple of Holly bushes. A short while later and...

Phytomyza ilicis. Officially safe to count again.

There are two species of European agromyzid flies that create mines in Holly, Phytomyza ilicis which occurs in Britain, and Phytomyza jucunda which doesn't (yet) occur here. There are differences in the form of the mines/pupae between these two species and obviously the adults differ too. There have been a handful of atypical British mines which closely resemble those of P.jucunda, but rearing the adults from these mines has always resulted in P.ilicis.

Last year, a couple of European workers discovered that Phytomyza ilicis actually comprises two species, differentiated by slight differences in the male genitalia. This instantly threw all previous European records into uncertainty and the British National Agromyzidae Recorder felt compelled to quarantine all holly-mining records until adult specimens were checked for evidence of the 'new' species. Fast forward a tad, our agromyzid recorder has critically re-examined the European material from which the new species was described and found the European workers to be at fault. There is no 'new' species, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. Phew, Phytomyza ilicis is officially out of quarantine and countable once more. And on my yearlist.

Also Phytomyza ilicis

I did briefly have a Trichocera in my net, ragged from an overhang of moss, but I was too slow grabbing a tube and it flew off before I could secure it, something Neil found rather amusing. Ho hum.

Back indoors I had a close look at the two spiders I'd potted up. I suspected the large one was a Metellina and a quick look at the distinctive epigyne confirmed it as Metellina merianae

The second species I recognised straight away, thanks to the full body-length white mohican and long tapering spinnerets. This was Tetrix denticulata, one I see here in Uig from time to time. It looks a lot like a wolf spider, but the aforementioned mohican and spinnerets distinguish it. 

Tetrix denticulata - a particularly smart spider

You may be wondering what I'm doing with all of the spiders I collect. Do I just chuck them in the bin once I've identified them? Do I put them in a sandwich and have a late night snack? Do I hide them under the bedcovers in the guestrooms? Well, I'm vegetarian so it won't be the second option. I do bin immature specimens that are essentially unidentifiable, though some are identifiable as immatures and I keep those. They are popped into tubes of alcohol, along with their data label which states the species, the locality name, a grid reference, the date and my name on one side. The reverse of the label details the habitat and method, eg sieved from grass tussock or brushed from mossy tree trunk etc. Like this

Ready to go into the storage cabinet that I've wall-mounted in my room

Next stage is to enter my finds onto iRecord. Which is where I received a bit of a shock. Tetrix denticulata is a spider I know by sight and can even remember its name. One of the few. 

Except that's not it's name! I typed Tetrix into iRecord. It did not offer me a denticulata. Oh. What??

Tetrix is a genus of groundhoppers, small cousins to the grasshoppers and something that I used to bump into regularly when I was living in England (though the Common Groundhopper Tetrix undulata is here on Skye). By my reckoning my spider would have the vernacular name of Toothed Groundhopper, clearly not correct! My spider is actually Textrix denticulata, something I'd read and spoken on many occasions without noticing the extra 'x' in Textrix. What a flippin' div! I've said it before, my memory for scientific names is terrible and my pronunciation of them is probably a topic best left ignored. I think I'll probably remember the extra 'x' next time I see this spider. I now need to go and change it on my spreadsheet. 

My 2021 tallies are 19 species of fly and 12 species of spider (plus 2 harvestmen). Not sure what The Ghost is on for his diptera or hopper tallies so far. Hopefully both are still in low single figures......