The hidden world on Hogweed

By mid-June I shed my birding skin and grow another, one that is confused by invertebrates and flowers. My current favourite place, Park Downs - just a couple of miles from home - has several stands of Hogweed (above), a common plant that deserves close scrutiny. Just look at a flowerhead and be amazed!

This is fairly typical of what you can find - a chaos of feeding invertebrates, some so small that they can be easily overlooked. And now zoom in...

This is where I get confused. What are they? The 'black' bugs with the red side-patches (cuneus) I believe to be Closterotomus trivialis, which has only been recorded in England since 2009, but appears to be very common at Park Downs! The smaller, dull beetles are (I think), Bruchus rufipes. The beetle on the far right is a Varied Carpet Beetle (fairly confident about this one). But what of the black beetle with the long antennae at the top left? Martin F - help please!! As you can tell, my knowledge of bugs and beetles is rudimentary to say the least, but it is a fascinating world to get immersed in. Now please excuse me, I have Hogweed to check...

Comments

martinf said…
I could spend hours watching hogweed. Top left looks like the longhorn Grammoptera ruficornis
26 June 2021 at 13:02
Steve Gale said…
Thank you Martin. I did honestly wonder if it was a longhorn.
26 June 2021 at 13:40
Conehead54 said…
Seeing Closterotomus everywhere in my part of west London suburbs this year after my first sighting last year.
29 June 2021 at 08:58
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