Entomology

A male common darter, from the Netherlands.

I found a large amount of these dragonflies flying around the dunes near the coast. Most of them were found near patches of sand. Here is an example of a log with a few of them standing:

Some of them would stand in the sand and start digging. I also saw some standing while quickly moving their wings. And some of them were mating.

Another thing I noticed is that they were surprisingly unresponsive to disturbances. For example, I would put my camera right to their face and they would not fly away:

Yesterday was very windy and colder than previous days, and so I think maybe these were a bit slow because of the fast drop in temperature and/or being tired from flying in such strong winds. Or maybe they are just too concerned with mating to be worried about my presence.

Leveled up my bug spotting game over the weekend! Driving along a track in big desert; catch a moments glimpse of stripy pattern in a bush; bug alarm goes off; promptly halted our convoy for a cockroach appreciation session!

From today's chapter of "Nature, You Freaky" comes this fungally parasitized cicada I found today. I'm far from any kind of mycologist or parasitologist so if anyone's got more information I'd love to hear. It's almost beautiful, in a horrifying sort of way.

See ~~no~~ weevil, hear ~~no~~ weevil, speak ~~no~~ weevil

Hi! Sorry, very new at the whole "bugs" thing, and I'm still learning. I spotted this the other day (not sure of the stink bug species, possibly Nezara viridula), promptly spent hours watching macro timelapses of stink bugs hatching, going from gooey babies to hard shelled nymphs...

Now to the question which has been bugging me: is there such a thing as "too late to hatch"? Can they "harden" inside the egg and just die there (maybe in the blackened eggs)?

Thanks!

Edit:

I found another nest of the same species and took it home. So: have a top view of the hatched eggs and some first instar nymphs while I'm at it!

I think it's safe to say she'll be eating well tonight.

Staff at the conservation zoo, renowned for its work to bring species back from the brink, were called in by fellow charity Buglife Cymru to start an emergency breeding effort for the Scarce Yellow Sally Stonefly - part of a rescue mission to save the species from extinction following its rediscovery in the River Dee, North Wales.

Having not been recorded since 1995, two small populations were found in the river - believed to be the only remaining location for the stonefly in the UK. In 2022 conservationists from wildlife charities Buglife Cymru, Chester Zoo, the Welsh Dee Trust and freshwater invertebrate specialist John Davy-Bowker set about sampling and carefully collecting a small number of the stoneflies from the areas where they were rediscovered.

"In just a few weeks we were able to understand the species and its lifecycle, breeding patterns and favoured environment. Everything we have learned so far, including every slight tweak we made, has been meticulously recorded and given us a detailed blueprint which we hope will set the foundations for a conservation breeding programme for the critically endangered insect - all while helping to further increase the small surviving population in the River Dee.".

"This species is highly vulnerable to habitat loss, pollution incidents from sewage and litter, as well as climate change. The stoneflies need highly oxygenated, clean water to thrive so it's important that their habitat in the River Dee is protected - especially as it's currently the only known location in the UK for this species."

The Scarce Yellow Sally Stonefly is a critically endangered species that was first identified in the River Dee in 1959 and was regularly recorded up until 1995 when subsequent surveys failed to locate any living populations in the UK. The species was presumed to have gone extinct in the British Isles - while a small number of populations were diminishing across Eastern Europe.