Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles

Yesterday started with my finding a bug in the bathroom with a distinctly roseate body.

Bathroom Bug

More of this later. Then Rosemary picked some Broom from the garden and brought it indoors, at which point about 30 adult Heterocordylus tibialis fell off it.

Heterocordylus tibialis

Heterocordylus tibialis

This is the one I have been following from early instar nymph to late instar nymph and now to adulthood. It turns out that the roseate specimen above is also this species but a teneral adult – Stephen tells me that it takes a while for the black pigment to settle down after the final moult.

Neil had posted in Skye Naturalists’ Facebook Group about leaf mines on Wych Elm made by the sawfly Fenusi ulmi. I went and had a look at my local Wych and found no sawfly mines, but there was a small moth caterpillar that Roy tells me is probably Orthosia sp., but needs to grow a bit before he can identify it.

Caterpillar on Wych Elm

Caterpillar on Wych Elm

However, I also found Eriosoma ulmi (European Elm Leafcurl Aphid or Elm-currant Aphid) which causes galls on Wych Elm:

Eriosoma ulmi

Eriosoma ulmi Galled Elm leaf

Now I am supposed to look out for the flower bug Anthocoris gallarum-ulmi which feeds on the aphids inside the gall.

This morning there was nothing interesting in the moth trap but this nice small lacewing, Micromus paganus, was nearby:

Micromus paganus

I am grateful to Stephen for the determination of all species mentioned here.

Tags: Insects

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