A British Endemic: Perlodes mortoni – Orange-striped Stonefly

When up in the Cairngorms last March I carried out some stream sampling with my net. Among the cranefly larvae with scary looking jaws and the Clinging Mayfly Nymphs, were some impressive looking large stonefly larvae. They were identified by Craig Macadam (Buglife’s Conservation Director) as Perlodes mortoni, the Orange-striped Stonefly. Until recently it was…

Small Backswimmer Notonecta viridis, newt tadpole and water boatman

It was a cold winter December day today in Essex. Most the insect life is dormant for winter, but under the ice in the ponds there is still plenty of activity. A sweep with the net and a caught a number of creatures: damselfly larvae, water lice, water beetles and 2 species of backswimmer, the…