Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles

Yesterday, I spent a few minutes with my camera at an alder by my front gate. It turned out rather well….

This is the larva of the sawfly Platycampus luridiventris with no records on NBN for the west of Scotland. Thanks to Chris Johnson and Ian Andrews for i.d.

This shows larvae of two more sawflies, the free-range one being Hemichroa crocea with just nine Scottish sites on NBN. Thanks Seth for i.d.

This mine is caused by yet another sawfly, Heterarthrus vagans, which is more widespread but with no records for VC104 on NBN:

On the other hand, it is a true fly, Agromyza alnivora, that causes this mine. I have recorded this before on Raasay, also in October.

Not counting two common galls caused by gall mites, my last find was of this leaf roll caused by the micro-moth Caloptilia elongella (Pale Red Slender). This is probably not uncommon but the only previous Skye/Raasay records I can find are from 1979 and 1998. Thanks to Seth for i.d. and Tony for confirming there is no other Scottish candidate for such activity.

What this shows most is how under-recorded our area is for inverts.

Tags: Insects, Moths

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