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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 4d

Common, but still a metallic delight, Harpalus affinis. Several at today’s Barnes Common bug-hunt.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 4d

Prize find at today’s Barnes Common bug-hunt. A wasp that can’t sting. Because it’s male. Despite my authoritative spiel a lot of the adults give me sceptical looks.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 9d

Any ideas, bone people? Fox my first thought, but muntjac droppings here last visit. Leyton.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 9d

Brimstone moth, Opisthograptis luteolata? Leyton beaten from ornamental cherry.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 14d

Word of the day, fossulet, a short groove. You’re welcome.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 16d

Sent from S. Carolina. Railroad worm, larva of beetle, genus Phrixothrix, family Phengodidae. Orange spots are luminescent organs. Glows like rail-carriage lit from within, lights shining out through windows. Preys on similar-looking millipedes. Sadly none in East Dulwich.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 19d

That’s the thing. Unmistakable. Widespread in France. A couple of British localities in last few years. But I’ve not seen it here yet. I’m hoping it will spread.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 21d

Homoptera nymphs are often tricky, but there’s no mistaking this beast — Centrotus cornutus. Not rare, but I don’t often see it. Maidstone earlier this year.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 28d

First time I’ve ever been asked to identify a bug from a doorbell camera. Male oak bush-cricket, Meconema thalassima most likely. Curved things are cerci, antenna-like tail appendages, probably used in mating. Makes a change from photos of parcel thieves or doorstep scammers.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 28d

I will never win any prizes for setting insects. But I got just enough leg and antennal spread to identify this 2-mm weevil as Pseudoperapion brevirostre. Still rare, but apparently spreading since first found in Britain, in Essex, in 2008. Purfleet, Essex, Monday.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · 29d

It’s spreading. It’ll be on street linden trees in London soon.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 22

New to me. Pyrrhocoris apterus, the firebug, Purfleet, Essex this morning.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 18

Anax imperator, emperor dragonfly, early instar nymph. Always nice to find something that stops you in your tracks and makes you think: “What on Earth is that thing?”. Tower of London moat new landscaping project.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 18

I’m thinking Stratiomyidae, soldier fly, larva. Unless anyone else knows different. Tower of London moat, which now, after more than a hundred years, has a bit of water in it. They’re landscaping it to have some ponds and flowing water for a wildlife zone.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 18

Mother and babies. The unlikely named Pirata piraticus or something similar. Tower of London moat, which now, after more than a hundred years, has a bit of water in it. They’re landscaping it to have some ponds and flowing water for a wildlife zone.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 11

Though it seems unlikely I will ever visit Polynesia, this fascinating book by @cathomps.bsky.social has made me an expert on Pacific Ocean travel, remote island anthropology, and post-colonial historiography. Thoroughly recommend.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 10

Helmet hair.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 10

The first Pyrrhocoris apterus was too fast for me as it dashed over the gîte patio, but I found this one from earlier — 1774 Jan Van Os, Still life with flowers and fruit, Musée des Beaux Arts d’Orleans. The fly I’m not trying to identify.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 9

Playing peekaboo with the rhododendron leafhopper Graphocephala fennahi. Exotic-looking thing.

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Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 9

Those pale shapes on the edge of the gîte lawn are swirling vortices of thousands of tiny midges. Not sure which family. Each only 1.5mm long. Either that or ectoplasm.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 9

Harsh!

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 7

My first Halyomorpha halys, marmorated shieldbug. Crushed underfoot on one of the ponts across the Loir at St Denis Les Ponts, Lanneray, France.

Richard Jones @bugmanjones.bsky.social · Sep 6

I thought this was a pine cone when I picked it up off the gîte lawn. Nest of Polistes paper wasps. Brought down by very heavy rain two days ago? Dead and smelly now.