Sunday, April 06, 2008

Help!!



Can anyone (Paul T) help us identify this bug seen recently up Widdop Rd.
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3 comments:

Goldon Gordon said...

Hi Andy
Surely this is a mistake ? Sean sent me this photo earlier as a "larvae" seen in Spain on your recent trip ?

This is the reply I sent him
Your "larvae" is actually a female Oil Beetle, I think Berberomeloe majalis.You want to read up on Oil beetles as they have a fascinating life history involving bees. I have just dug out the article on Oil Beetles from an old edition to British Wildlife to copy for Sean.

3:29 pm
Andrew Huyton said...

No mistake Paul, I was trying to have you on but Sean has ruined my fun by asking you earlier and not telling me. Do we get them over here?

5:19 pm
Goldon Gordon said...

Hi Andy
There are nine species of Oil Beetle recorded in the UK but only three have been seen in recent years (last 30 years). They have a fascinating life history in that they are parasitic on various solitary bees. The female burrows into soil near a bee colony and lays a huge number of eggs which hatch into small legged larvae which look somewhat like stonefly larvae. They hang around on plants near the bee colony and then hitch a lift on a bee. Once transported back to the bees nest the larvae hops off and sneaks down the bees nest to feed on the bee egg. It then turns into a further stage which is legless (it looks like a maggot) and feeds on the stock of pollen left by the bee for its larvae. It then pupates and starts the process all over again the next year as an adult. Females can be told by their stretched abdominal segments (the orange bits in your photo). I have only ever seen one Oil beetle, some 20 years ago on a drystone wall in the Dales.

Birds are very interesting but are no where near insects in having such a varied and fascinating range of adaptations to fit into ecological niches. I started on insects when I was a kid in the early sixties. I came from a poor working class household and money was not available for binoculars and such like, but empty jam jars and cheap magnifiers were available and thus developed a life long interest in entomology and wildlife in general. I suppose like most kids in those days birds eggs were how an interest developed in field craft to find the nests. Fortunately in my case it soon changed from stealing the eggs to admiring the birds and nest structures instead.

Sorry about that, I seem to have rambled on a bit here ! No, this particular species has never been recorded in the UK

6:53 pm

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