Bugged

When there are between six and ten million species of insect, it can be difficult to define which one you are dealing with. Here are three, of which only the first is reasonably likely to be what I claim it is. The second is possibly what I claim it to be, but the third is a complete mystery.

Marbled White, Melanargia galathea

I photographed the Marbled White - if that is what it is - on a rosemary bush today at the Croft. The second was shot this morning - we found it in the bathroom and popped it onto an oregano plant; I have no idea what its natural habitat is. The colours are spectacular, and the outer surface of the turquoise thorax is covered in tiny bumps. So is this Chrysis ignita, the Ruby Tailed Wasp?

Chrysis of identity

And the third, shot a couple of days ago on a nettle leaf. S/he has distinctive white socks, but here I am completely lost; I can't even identify the Family this chap is from.

I'm in a ... cul de sock

 All comments/ suggestions welcome!

Bugs at the Croft

A selection of images to reassure you that despite the pesticides that are being sprayed around the world, this little corner of Catalonia still has a load of lovely bugs.

Stink bug sex, in full colour

This is a potter wasp nest, beautifully built on a blade of grass.

Potter; The Cupboard under the Staircase

This is the beauty of leaving your skin behind.

I jumped out of my skin

And here is the life on our thyme flowers, on 26th June of this year:

What are they? The 2015 Quiz

I saw these three over the Christmas holidays. I have almost no idea what they are, so that's the 2015 Quiz: tell me what they are.

This brightly coloured bug was in the bark and ivy of a willow tree near us. He appears to be wearing the Estelada - the Catalan national flag. The distinctive white spot on the tail must be an identifier, but I don’t know of what. He might be a  Fire Bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus. But then again he might not.

 

L'Estelada, en insecte?

I found this one inside the underground box that protects our water pipe and taps, on the edge of a mixed (holm oak and pine) woodland. My guess: Rana temporaria, the Common Frog. But s/he does not have the distinctive V shape (chevron) on her back.

Je suis le frog

I found this on the edge of the track above the house. Distinctively white droppings, with a spiral twist and a pointed end. According to "Animal Tracks and Signs" by Preben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom these are characteristic features of fox (Vulpes vulpes) droppings. So, maybe a fox?

 

The Swiss Army drops in

Dance like a hoverfly...

...look like a bee. Or a wasp.

This, I think, is Volucella zonaria, a wasp-mimicking hoverfly. H/she was drying her wings in a sunny spot above a miniature wetland we've created using an old water tank. He's big!

Big, bug and beautiful

And this is the (not so) Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalirius, laying eggs on 5th May 2014 in the mud outside the donkey stable. Not a great photo, but I wanted to record the date.

Half a dozen here, half a dozen there