A bit of a milestone for Wildlifegarden.org was reached today. We have listed the 500th species recorded in the Garden.
There were actually a few species we could have chosen from but we settled on a bit of a mystery. The honour we decided would go to a beetle, and why not, after all the Order to which they belong is the largest in the animal kingdom, the Coleoptera.
The species itself? The Hazel-leaf Roller Weevil, Apoderus coryli. The mystery? Well, we haven’t actually seen one yet! We’ve only seen the cigars they make…
This rather neat roll-up was undertaken by the female of the species. Tucked away inside as you may have guessed are representatives of the next generation. The image was taken in June this year.
Our understanding is there isn’t much else that creates something like this on hazel, so we were confident enough to add it to the species list as a ‘Most Likely Species’ record.
We would love to see the adults of this species as they are a striking red and black affair. For now though we will have to make do with this rather impressive construction…
We have also marked this milestone with a new look to the website. We thought the original design was a little flat so added some colour and structure to it, a lick of pixel paint so to speak…
DC: 09.10.2022
Wildlife Garden 