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Entomologist's Gazette - Vol. 73, No. 1, 2022

Published: 1/28/2021

Article Details for this issue


The Oil Beetle Meloe rugosus Marsham, 1802 (Coleoptera, Meloidae) at Mill Bank, Penallt, Monmouthshire, Wales

By: I. P. RABJOHNS & P. F. WHITEHEAD

Page: 1–16

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Monitoring and marking schemes for the Oil Beetle Meloe rugosus Marsham, 1802 at Mill Bank, Penallt, Monmouthshire, confirm that the population is internationally significant, may exceed 300 individuals and benefits from traditional land management. The population is associated with a range of mining bee genera and is spatially constrained by aspect and conferred microclimatic effects. Beetles emerge in waves directly correlated with air and soil temperature and individual beetles may survive for months with a theoretical ability to produce astonishing numbers of eggs. Triungulins appear from at least April to June inclusive and have an affinity with flowers of dandelion Taraxacum sensu lato. The population is believed to have been favoured by medieval to early post-medieval woodland clearance episodes.


NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS Hellinsia carphodactyla (Hübner, [1813]) (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae) reared in Devon, England, from Pulicaria dysenterica (L.) Bernh., a previously unrecorded foodplant both in the British Isles and mainland Europe

By: S. D. BEAVAN & R. J HECKFORD

Page: 17–20

Type: Short Notes


New aspects of eye-head illusions in some British moths

By: CLIVE CRAIK

Page: 21–32

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Photographs are shown of putative false eyes on wings of moths from Scotland. They can be grouped as simple ocelli (small dots and circles); as larger eye-like marks of various sizes, shapes, colours and positions, not recognisably based on any animal group; and as false eyedheads variously reminiscent of but not species-specific to snake, owl, raptor, primate, cat, rodent, fox and other canids. The most well-known, such as Emperor Moth Saturnia pavonia (Linnaeus, 1758) have large, ostentatious, multi-coloured false eyes but again no definitely recognisable model species. All this is consistent with the proposal of Janzen, Hallwachs & Burns (2010) that, in this large class of images, a pair of false eyes in a false face or head is the effective anti-predator component, rather than mimicry of species or groups that a predator might regard as harmful to itself. Examples are also shown and discussed of small blue false eyes, of eye-like marks on hindwings and on thorax rather than on forewings, of false eyes in forewing positions that can differ between individuals of a species, and of crypsis and aposematism that alternate repeatedly as needed within a single larval instar. A false-eyed head on the forewings of Alder Moth Acronicta alni (Linnaeus, 1767) adds to the well-known defensive images in the two final larval stages of that species. Finally, photographs are shown of putative false eyed-heads on forewings of three species of Microlepidoptera.


Coleophora galbulipennella Zeller, 1838 (Lepidoptera: Coleophoridae): observations on the larval stage in September 2021 found at Dover, Kent, England

By: R. J. HECKFORD & S. D. BEAVAN

Page: 33–38

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Descriptions are given of the larval case and feeding method of Coleophora galbulipennella Zeller, 1838, found at Dover, Kent, England, on Silene nutans L. in September 2021. Accounts of the larval feeding in the autumn given in British and mainland European literature differ and are considered.


Moths in the Biokovo Nature Park, Croatia April 2019

By: ADRIAN SPALDING

Page: 39–44

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The Biokova Nature Park supports a rich wildlife fauna. Using a LED trap seven sites (ranging from 376 m up to 1068 m above sea level) were surveyed for moths between 14 and 22 April 2019. Eighteen species were recorded from the seven sites. The commonest species recorded was Lycia graecarius (Staudinger, 1861).


First records of Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758) in Tajikistan (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

By: ABDULAZIZ DAVLATOV

Page: 45–48

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
Vanessa atalanta (Linnaeus, 1758) is reported from Tajikistan for the first time. The distribution of this species in Central Asia is discussed.


Scolytus laevis Chapuis, 1869 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) breeding on Beech Fagus sylvatica L. in Worcestershire, England

By: KEVIN McGEE & PAUL F. WHITEHEAD

Page: 49–54

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
The bark beetle Scolytus laevis Chapuis, 1869 is reported breeding on Beech Fagus sylvatica L. in Worcestershire which is a novel host-tree genus for Scolytus spp. in Britain. The habitat is discussed, the larval galleries illustrated and observations on identification of the adult beetles are provided which it is hoped may assist future studies.


Thecophora cinerascens (Meigen, 1804) (Diptera, Conopidae) new to mainland Britain

By: P. F. WHITEHEAD

Page: 55–57

Type: Paper

Synopsis:
A female Thecophora Rondani, 1845 observed during September 2019 at Penallt, Monmouthshire, has been identified as Thecophora cinerascens (Meigen, 1804). The species is here part of a rich bee-related entomofauna and is new to mainland Britain.


BOOK REVIEW The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula (fifth edition) by A. Steven Corbet and H. M. Pendlebury

By: DAVID C. LEES

Page: 58–59

Type: Book Review


BOOK REVIEW Thirty years of Butterflies in traditional Lancashire and Cheshire by Peter B. Hardy

By: ADRIAN SPALDING

Page: 60–62

Type: Book Review

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