Review of 2019 and 2020 - Brown Lacewings (Hemerobiidae) and Sponge Flies (Sisyridae)

BROWN LACEWINGS (HEMEROBIIDAE)


Hemerobius humulinus - 10 recorded in my garden in 2019, exactly the same number that I recorded in 2018 and slightly more than in 2017.  The first on 7th April was found on my patio doors (not attracted to indoor lights as they hadn't been on) and the rest were in the moth trap between 28th June and 7th September.  The early one was much more strongly marked than the others.  A poor year in 2020 produced 3 here between 4th and 21st August and one at the meadows on 16th September.

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham, 7th April 2019

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham, 28th June 2019

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham, 4th August 2020

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham, 12th August 2020

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham, 21st August 2020

Hemerobius humulinus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th September 2020

Hemerobius lutescens - Singles at the meadows on 21st and 25th May 2019 then 11 recorded at home (mostly in the garden moth trap) between 25th May and 29th September.  A poor showing compared to 2018 when I recorded 38 here.  2020 was a little better with 18 in the garden moth trap between 31st July and 22nd September.  I think 3 larvae found on a gatepost at the meadows on 12th October 2019 may have been this species but I am not certain.

Hemerobius lutesecens, North Elmham, 25th May 2019

Hemerobius lutesecens, North Elmham, 10th August 2019

possible Hemerobius lutesecens larva, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 12th October 2019

Hemerobius lutesecens, North Elmham, 31st July 2020

Hemerobius lutesecens, North Elmham, 14th August 2020

Hemerobius lutesecens, North Elmham, 19th August 2020

Hemerobius marginatus - None.  I've never seen this species and it doesn't seem to be very common in Norfolk, but I've found rarer species so must be in with at least half a chance of finding this one.


Hemerobius micans - Caught in the garden moth trap on 26th July 2019 and 11th June and 22nd August 2020.  This species is normally scarcer here than the previous two species.  Elsewhere netted at the meadows on 22nd May 2019 and 28th September 2020.

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 22nd May 2019

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 26th July 2019

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 11th June 2020

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 27th August 2020

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 28th September 2020

Hemerobius nitidulus - None.  I caught one in my garden in August 2018 but it's a species with only a handful of records in Norfolk.


Hemerobius pini - I found my first of these along a forest path near Salen on Mull on 12th June 2019.  There is, or at least in 2016 there was, only a single record of this species in Norfolk.

Hemerobius pini, south of Salen, 12th June 2019

Hemerobius stigma - One at Weybourne on 5th July 2019 was only my second example of this species following one in my garden the previous August.  None here in 2019 but individuals caught in the moth trap on 30th and 31st August 2020.

Hemerobius stigma, Weybourne, 5th July 2019

Hemerobius stigma, North Elmham, 30th August 2020

Hemerobius stigma, North Elmham, 31st August 2020

Micromus paganus - None.  I caught 2 of these at different sites in 2016 but haven't had any since.  This is one I ought to find more often.


Micromus variegatus - A total of 33 recorded in my garden moth trap between 11th July and 3rd September 2019.  These included an impressive count of 15 on what was an excellent night for green lacewings, but not for other brown lacewings, 25th July.  Even with this good night, the total was lower than in 2018 when I caught 55 at home.  Given those numbers it was disappointing to only catch 6 in 2020, between 8th July and 15th August.  Elsewhere 3 next door and one at Swanton Great Wood, all in August 2019.  I used to think this was the easiest of the common brown lacewings to identify and began to identify them in the field without taking them in for closer examination, but then I discovered some photos of Psectra diptera online which look extremely similar (e.g. on NatureSpot which is usually quite a reliable site for IDs) - so now I'm back to examining them all carefully.

Micromus variegatus, North Elmham, 8th July 2020

Psectra diptera - None.  I've never seen this sepcies but it sounds like it might be reasonably common, just not found by the sort of approaches I usually employ (like light trapping).


Sympherobius fuscescens - None.  I've never seen this species but although it's relatively scarce there are a handful of Norfolk records so must be a possibility.


Sympherobius pellucidus - A male in my garden moth trap on 29th May 2019 was the first record for Norfolk.

Sympherobius pellucidus, North Elmham, 29th May (showing forewing in second and third photos and the partially cleared tip of the abdomen in the last photo)

Sympherobius pygmaeus - None.  I caught one here in 2018 but it's rarely recorded in Norfolk (2 records prior to 2016) - not sure if mine was the third or not.


Wesmaelius concinnus - None.  I've never found this species but there are a handful of records in Norfolk.


Wesmaelius nervosus - Singles caught in my garden moth trap on 24th July 2019 and 18th July and 16th September 2020.  Also one to light at Swanton Great Wood on 27th August 2019.  I'd only recorded one here before, in 2018. 

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 24th July 2019

Wesmaelius nervosus, Swanton Great Wood, 27th August 2019

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 18th July 2020 (showing tip of abdomen)

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 16th September 2020 (showing tip of abdomen)

Wesmaelius subnebulosus - None.  I've only caught this species here once, in 2017.  Sounds like this species tends to crop up more in more urban situations.



This larva is completely unidentified - I guess it's most likely one of the Brown Lacewings but if anyone can help narrow it down please shout.

unidentified (?Brown) lacewing larva, Titchwell, 1st June 2019

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SPONGE FLIES (SISYRIDAE)


Sisyra fuscata - Singles caught in my garden moth trap on 11th and 24th July 2019 and then on 4 dates between 17th July and 7th August 2020.  I have previously caught this species here in June 2017 and July 2018.  I think this is the only species of Sponge Fly to have been recorded in Norfolk (it is also known as Sisyra nigra).

male Sisyra fuscata, North Elmham, 24th July 2019

female Sisyra fuscata, North Elmham, 17th July 2020

male Sisyra fuscata, North Elmham, 23rd July 2020

Return to Lacewings index here

A trio of new moths including 9x Pammene giganteana to lure

The night of Tuesday 17th April was an excellent one with two moths in the trap that were completely new to me, Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii and Scarce Cosmet Mompha jurassicella.   I think I've seen sangii before but never been 100% certain about its identity previously.  There's been some debate about whether female sangii can be safely identified by reference to its genitalia but I think the consensus seems to be that the combination of the form of the scales on the hindwing and the relative sizes of the sensoria on its abodomenal sclerites is sufficient.

Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii (female), North Elmham, 17th April

Scrace Cosmet Monpha jurassicella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 17th April

There was a reasonable selection of other moths too: 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 2 Brindled Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, 2 Early Thorns, Brindled Beauty, 4 Common Quakers, Clouded Drab, 3 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and Chestnut.

There were 3 Chrysoperla carnea (green Lacewings) (at least 2 confirmed males and a presumed female).  Interestingly the female was fully green while all the males I've seen so far this year have still had some of their winter brown colour retained.  There were also 2 different brown Lacewings, and surprisingly both proved to be new species for the garden, Hemerobius micans and Wesmaelius nervosus.

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 17th April

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 17th April

The following day I headed out to the east coast where there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone.

Brimstone, Horsey, 18th April

I think this spider was Pardosa nigriceps, a new one for me.

Pardosa nigriceps, Horsey, 18th April

On the way home I stopped at St Faith's Common where insect-life included a new beetle for me, Hylurgops palliatus.

Hylurgops palliatus, St Faith's Common, 18th April

At Bittering while retrieving some algae covered oak bark to feed my Luffia ferchaultella on (see last post) I unwittingly also retained this tiny creature - but it took mne a while to work out what it is, and I'm still not sure.  I considered it could be an aphid, but I don't think so, or perhaps one of the globular springtails though I haven't seen it spring (and do any of the collembola live on trees anyway?).  A nymph of some kind of bug perhaps?  In the end I think it's most likely to be the larva of a Lacewing, but I'm not entirely sure.  I've seen green lacewing larvae covered in muck before and that was significantly larger (this was only about 1-2 mm long at most).  I guess it could be one of the smaller brown lacewings, although some photos of these show much more elongated creatures, or perhaps even one of the Waxflies?  I'm not entirely clear if all of these cover themselves in material to camouflage themselves or if it's just the larger species?  On the other hand I thought all lacewing larvae were carnivorous yet this is surviving in a pot with only some algae-covered bark for company for 12 days so far and it still seems very healthy, so perhaps it is something else entirely...?  Please let me know if you have any ideas!

unidentified insect, Bittering, 18th April

That night a good selection of moths included 4 that were new for the year: Maple Slender Caloptilia semifascia, Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, Pine Beauty and Nut-tree Tussock. The Pine Beauty was particularly welcome being my first here since 2015.

Maple Slender Caloptilia semifacscia, North Elmham, 18th April

Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, North Elmham, 18th April

Pine Beauty, North Elmham, 18th April

Nut-tree Tussock, North Elmham, 18th April

Other moths caught that night were Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 4 Brindled Pugs, 2 Double-striped Pugs, 3 Early Thorns, 2 Brindled Beauties, 3 Small Quakers, 5 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 7 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and 2 Chestnuts.  There were also 2 Chrysoperla carnea and a Black Sexton Beetle.  A good crop of leafhoppers consisted of 5 Empoasca vitis and, new for the year, Zygina angusta.

Zygina angusta, North Elmham, 18th April

I recently acquired a pheromone lure for the tortrix moth Grapholita lobarzewskii.  Jon had been trialling this in his garden last year and caught Norfolk's first example of this moth previously only known from the south east.  It's too early in the year for a lobarzewskii but I put it out on Thursday 19th April knowing that these lures sometimes attract other species too.  I checked the trap that evening and was delighted to find a tortrix moth inside - not a lobarzewskii of course, but whatever it was looked interesting.  Sure enough it proved to be a new species for me and one that's only been recorded a handful of times in the county, Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana.

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 19th April

My third new moth in as many days - what had until this week been a dire year for moths has suddently started turning more interesting!

That night Streamer and Lunar Marbled Brown were new for the year.

Streamer, North Elmham, 19th April

Lunar Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 19th April

Other moths included 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, Water Carpet, 4 Brindled Pugs, Double-striped Pug, 2 Early Thorns, 5 Brindled Beauties, 2 Small Quakers, 2 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 8 Hebrew Characters and Chestnut.

Next day I put the lobarzewskii lure out again and this time I caught another 2 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana - amazing!

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 20th April

If 3 in 2 days was good, there was more in store... I tried one more time on 21st and when I checked the trap that evening there were another 6 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana in there!  There were only 10 previous records of giganteana in Norfolk so catching 9 in 3 days seems quite remarkable - but such is the power of a pheremone lure for finding things that I'm sure are always around and just not tending to come to light very often and are therefore rarely recorded.  Interestingly Mick Kerr managed to attract a giganteana to the same lure at Sporle near Swaffham too.