unidentified insects - help please

reefbirder · #1 (**permalink**) 23-08-2011, 06:37 PM

Hi all,

I took these photos on the toe of Cornwall last week. Please can somebody point me in the right direct as to identity.

a) possible longhorn spp

b) Green beetle (about as good as I could do)

c)Weevil spp

d) I really haven't a clue what this is at all - wierd and wonderful nature at it's best.

Rob

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 23-08-2011, 06:57 PM

1 isn't a longhorn but male Oedemera nobilis (haven't seen one this colour myself, usually green the ones I see)
2 isn't a beetle but a species of mirid bug which I'm sure someone else can take to species.

poschiavanus · #3 (**permalink**) 23-08-2011, 07:09 PM

I'm going to take a wild guess at 4 being the bug Heterotoma planicornis, with its antennae held close together. The first two antennal segments of this species are hugely inflated (and I see checking, the second is flattened), so I think the apparently very long head is actually mainly antennae..

JRsbugs · #4 (**permalink**) 23-08-2011, 07:20 PM

b) Miridae, Orthops campestris probably

d) Miridae, Heterotoma planicornis

reefbirder · #5 (**permalink**) 23-08-2011, 09:27 PM

Thanks again all,

plugged the names into google and saw some great pictures and descriptive text (usually from this site) which helps me to get familiar. I was intrigued by waht I found for the Oedemera nobilis, I couldn't find any pictures that came near to the shiny copper red colour, chalk that one up to experience I guess.

Rob

Jason Green · #6 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 02:33 PM

Third, a Weevil, is a Sitona species. Was this in a scrubby environment or regular grassland/garden?

reefbirder · #7 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 05:34 PM

Hi Jason,

It was actually in a carpark at Porthcurno, so a mix of coastal scrup and woodland.

Rob

Jason Green · #8 (**permalink**) 24-08-2011, 11:07 PM

Ah, it may then be one of the... two, is it (?) species of Sitona associated with Gorse which I trust was present!

reefbirder · #9 (**permalink**) 25-08-2011, 11:10 AM

Hi Jason,

I think I am happy at leaving at a Sitona species, each time I get a situation like this I learn about what I need to look for at the next encounter and maybe put a specific name as well as a generic name to any creature I encounter.

Thanks to all for your help - I will be posting a set of wasps for ID next - those which aren't in my Michael Chinery book!

Rob