Ireland's Incredible Invertebrates!

The face of a brown hawker dragonfly

This is the business end of a Brown Hawker Dragonfly. If you are a flying invertebrate, you do not want to see this up close.

Dragonflies are exceptional on-the-wing hunters with a success rate that is unmatched in the animal kingdom.

I know there are a few that look similar. But if it came off a Nettle then it might be this one... :)

A white crab spider sitting on a thistle flower head

Last spider pic for a while, I promise... 👀

This beautiful Flower Crab Spider (Misumena vatia) was spotted hiding out on some Thistle flowers, waiting for an unsuspecting meal. We saw it eye up an Eristalis tenax (Drone Fly), but it opted out as the fly was quite large.

Meta menardi (Cave Spider)

@collieennis.bsky.social and I went on a special adventure yesterday, including checking on a population of Cave Spiders (Meta menardi). Hunched over, walking down a smelly underground tunnel and trying desperately to avoid badger poo, I eventually got face-to-face with this stunning specimen.

Trochosa species spider

Just look at this beautiful Trochosa species spider, found under a granite rock, lakeside in Valleymount, West Wicklow. These are bigger than your average wolf spider!

Not Spiders! Irish Harvestmen for Beginners Get ready to discover the fascinating world of Irish Harvestmen in a beginner-friendly session full of interesting facts and surprises!

irish-harvestmen.eventbrite.ie

Don't forget, this is tonight at 7:30pm... tickets (Pay What You Can) are still available for the next few hours.

Rilaena triangularis harvestmen

Join me this Monday for a 90-minute online session about one of my favorite topics: Irish Harvestmen. By the end, you'll distinguish between Nemastoma, Oligolophus, Phalangium and more.

Tickets are Pay What You Can, and if you need a free ticket, just let me know.

irish-harvestmen.eventbrite.ie

You might not tolerate them, but unfortunately it does seem as if they are here to stay. They are just everywhere, and you can see real deficits in other native arachnids where they are present.

There are many ichneumon wasps that look very like this so it's always hard to tell but I believe this to be Ichneumon stramentor.

@obeckett98.bsky.social
I can't tell from the photos, can you?
Barbut's or Bohemian?

Yes, as @ismiseleenie.bsky.social said, this is a Dark Arches for me, too.

Discover Insects and Invertebrates – with Brian Murray Join us for a fun and educational day with Entomologist Brian Murray to explore the fascinating world of insects and invertebrates!

This Saturday, I will be in Cork for an invertebrate walk at Fota House and Gardens organised by the Irish Bee Conservation Project.

If it flies, walks, crawls, or slithers, I'll find it and tell you about it. I'm really looking forward to this.

Some tickets still available at: bit.ly/fotabugs

Nabis limbatus

Nabis limbatus

If I sweep the grass in the meadow with a net, it is absolutely overrun with bugs, true bugs, as well as other things. This is, I believe, a Marsh Damsel Bug (Nabis limbatus). Females lay eggs in grass blades.

I'd say to leave them be, Claire. They will move plants if necessary and those guys look quite big already so they might just be ready to pop off and pupate.

If there's no other ragwort around, they will use other plants.

A female Mitopus morio harvestman covered in parasitic mites.

What's going on here, you 'mite' be asking yourself? (See what I did there?)

This female Mitopus morio harvestman is suffering the attention of no less than nine parasitic mites. Each is sucking out her haemolymph for its own benefit.

a tiny green Siphonoperla torrentium stonefly

A red/orange 10-spot ladybird

A female green drake mayfly

A female Tipula species cranefly

It's rarely only moths we catch in the moth trap.

Just yesterday we had a stonefly (Siphonoperla torrentium), a 10-spot ladybird, a Green Drake Mayfly, a Tipula species Cranefly, dozens of Caddisflies and thousands of midges!

A Barred Straw Moth resting on an egg carton

Another beautiful moth taken from the light trap yesterday. This one is called a Barred Straw.

These fly regularly at night from June to August, and the larvae feed on the Bedstraw family of wildflowers.

An 11-spot ladybird habitus from the side

an 11 spot ladybird from the front

Not a ladybird I see very often, and noticeably smaller than the 7-spot ladybird it superficially resembles. This is the 11-spot ladybird (Coccinella undecimpunctata). Try saying that three times, fast!

Like many other ladybirds, it feeds on aphids and is therefore beneficial to gardeners.

A Flame Moth sitting on a twig

Another beautiful moth which camouflages itself as a small broken twig. Much smaller than the Buff Tip I shared with you last week, this Flame Moth turned up in the moth trap this morning.

If you want an Order of insects that could absolutely absorb your entire life, you want moths. 🙂

A Riband Wave moth with its wings outspread, sitting on a twig. Its left hind wing is torn from the bottom almost to the top

Insects and invertebrates can be so hardy at times.

I took this Riband Wave moth from my moth trap this morning, and you can see that its left hind wing is almost cut in two. Perhaps it had a run-in with a bat or bird and somehow managed to survive.

It didn't appear to have any problems flying.

Thanks so much to Brian from @microwild.bsky.social for sharing his incredible knowledge about all things six and eight legged today at Santry Community Garden in conjunction with the Irish Bee Conservation Project. I think I’ll park the flatworms for now but I may have been bitten by d harvestmen!

Kinda sorta, Paul.

There are three things currently called Daddy Longlegs.

Can you name them all? 🙂

A woodlouse on a piece of wood with the front half of its exoskeleton shed and sitting in front of it.

There's nothing like a good exfoliation to make you feel better.

Woodlice grow by shedding their exoskeleton and then increasing their size before the new exoskeleton hardens.

They do this one body half at a time - front first and back later. They will often eat the skin to reabsorb the calcium.

A Tipula maxima cranefly is being held with one wing between my fingers.

Tipula maxima is the largest cranefly in Ireland, and when you see it in real life, you know why. It is so big, with a leg span of up to 10cm! It also has heavily patterned wings. The sharp bit at the end of the abdomen is just an ovipositor and not a sting.

Have you seen these around lately?

Fethard Insect Walk (Adults/Teens Only) Join us for a multi-location walk and talk from Grange Beach to Baginbun Beach, exploring the fascinating world of insects & invertebrates!

One month from now, I'm hosting an Insect/Invertebrate Walk in Fethard, Wexford on Tuesday, 5th August and I'd love for you to join me...

I've been holidaying here for years, so I'm familiar with the area and its wildlife, and it never disappoints.

fethard-insect-walk.eventbrite.ie

We actually did have one of those in the trap this morning too... 🙂

Was it intended or purely by accident, I guess we'll never know...

I lost the ALT text on the first two for some reason:

1. Poplar Hawk Moth
2. Light Emerald
3. Setaceous Hebrew Character
4. Double Dart

A Setaceous Hebrew Character Moth

A Double Dart Moth

I stuck my moth trap in @collieennis vegetable patch last night to see what we might find and it didn't disappoint.

There's little as physically imposing as a Poplar Hawk Moth but we had some other beauties, too. Names in ALT text.

That's beautiful - a Promethea Silkmoth by the looks of it.