Wildlife garden bug safari

After my encounter this morning with the basking Nursery web spiders, I popped back to the wildlife garden after a storm had passed and there was some promise of a sunny spell. The spiders weren't out, but I found a few interesting invertebrates about, including two new species for the garden.

A Peacock, which together with a couple of large whites were the only butterflies about.

 The first nice surprise were a couple of Green Thistle Tortoise Beetles (Cassida rubiginosa), which I had never seen before, both of them on knapweed:

Then I found some Rophalus subrufus, including a couple mating.

A Green shieldbug came out on the leaves to bask.

And then I came across some nursery web spiders, one of them a male prowling...

...demonstrating how agile they are moving across leaves, hiding behind them quickly if I moved a bit too fast or too close.

...and a placid female sunning herself on the oregano of the herb garden.

 Just before leaving, another new species for me, a very pale grass spider, Tibellus oblongus, contrasting with the green leaves.

Bug heads

Dead heading is one of the rules of gardening, isn't it? You are told to remove the faded flowers so that seeds don't form, as they extract lots of energy from the plant. But what will you miss? you want to look at seedheads. In a walk around my local wildlife garden I found that meadow cranesbill's seedheads were busy with shieldbugs of several species, feeding on them. Among the bugs there were some striking black and red ones (above), which I had never seen before, they were very flighty and the light conditions were not right, but I managed some shots. Upon looking into the British Bugs site I identified them as Corizus hyoscyami a species that during the last decade has expanded throughout England from a few coastal locations in Wales, another species that, according to the NBN gateway, wasn't known to have crossed the Humber before.

Corizus hyoscyami feeding on developing cranesbill seeds

Nymph Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina

Rhopalus subrufus, one of the most abundant today

The first Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina adult of the year

Likely Corizus hyoscyami nymph. Thank you to Dave who identified it in a comment.

Dolycoris baccarum Hairy Shieldbug

This dark Forest Bug, Pentatoma rufipes, had a ride home on my trousers 

I must remember to leave my geranium seedheads for next year, as true bugs (hemiptera) are one of my favourite insects. One job less to do, and plenty of opportunities to enjoy bugs.

Chameleon bug

I took this portrait of a Green Shieldbug during a light shower today. There are three Green Shieldbugs feeding on the spurge, one of them, is the brightest green:

Compare with one I found at the end of March:

A brown, pinkish-purple individual. It is hard to believe they are the same species, but this colour change, which can happens in a few days, is typical of Green Shieldbugs. There is a single generation per year, with green adults emerging at the end of the summer. In November, the Green Shieldbug turns a dark bronze brown, which merges it better with its surroundings during overwintering. Come spring, adults emerge from their overwintering sites and climb over trees and bushes to feed, mate and lay eggs, and they go back to green again. A true chameleon bug!

More awakenings

 The early spring temperatures continued today. Ants were scouting out of their nests, sage leafhoppers were active and honeybees and droneflies enjoyed the Laurustinus. I waited until the bee and the dronefly visited the same inflorescence to take the above shot. I wonder if the Laurustinus flowers change colour when they are pollinated, in the same way as the Horse Chestnuts, white when fresh and turning red when already pollinated and stop producing nectar. 

We counted over 100 7-spot ladybirds in the garden. Some were eating aphids on the spurge.

The entrance of the burrow of a large Amaurobius spider under a garage roof. If you click to embiggen you can see the remains of a wasp a Harlequin and some wings I cannot identify, possibly from bluebottles.

A green shieldbug, Palomena prasina, on its dark winter attire came out of its overwintering refuge.

 Wolf spiders enjoyed the sun on the sunny side of the garden.

Queens, harlequins and admirals

The last mild, sunny days of autumn are bringing out scores of insects. Standing under a large flowering ivy today the sound of buzzing bees, bluebottles, droneflies and wasps was extraordinary, especially given that November is only a couple of days away. Yesterday, six red admirals sunnied and gorged themselves on the ivy blossom. They are charging batteries before their migration to South Europe and North Africa.

Red Admiral and passing droneflies on ivy

 A green shieldbug, Palomena prasina, climbing a tree.

 Today, a queen Bombus hypnorum fed on lavender flowers. 

 A female Araneus diadematus spider sat proudly on her silky egg cocoon. 

Honeybees on ivy flowers

Dozens of harlequins and 7 spot ladybirds flew about landing on a sunny wall and leaving again.

Bug babies leave their siblings

After at least ten days clustering together on top of their egg cases, the 28 Green Shield Bugs, Palomena prasina, nymphs finally left their siblings after moulting into a greener instar. This is the sequence of events:

12/7/11

13/07/11

20/07/11 All have now moulted into the greener 2nd instar

22/07/11. The nymphs start to disperse in the morning.

22/07/11. After an hour, only three reluctant nymphs remain on the egg cases. In the evening they had all dispersed. 

Some of the adventurous nymphs. I found one a meter away from the egg cases.

Green Shieldbugs

This Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina, got into our conservatory a few days ago. There are two common green shieldbug species. This one is easy to identify as its wing membranes are dark. The other one, Nezara viridula, a recent invader of the U.K., has transparent wing membranes. The Green Shieldbug is a large species, bright green, with yellowish-red legs and antennae. It flies readily and this specimen flew away from the breakfast bowl after I took its photo. Shield bugs develop from nymphs in several stages that lack wings and might resemble little to the adult. The Green Shield bug has five such instars. The adult overwinters, and before doing so, it acquires a darker, purplish colour. After overwintering, they turn bright green again. Egg laying proceeds at around June and the successive instars develop during the summer, before the new generation of adults emerges in September.

An early instar of Green Shieldbug (30 July 2010)

A fifth instar (4 Oct 2010) Wing buds are visible.

For a great website to identify British bugs, including instars, see British Bugs.