The Diptera of Suffolk: Families Thaumaleidae, Anisopodidae, Psychodidae and Culicidae

SEMIOTHISA

BRUNNEATA

3

Mr. E. W . Platten startled the whole Society, some eight years ago, by announcing his discovery of Ptilophora plumigera, Esp. (Proc. 1938, p. xlvi) in our County : but the present captures of S. brunneata are perhaps still more amazing, adequately expressed bv nothing so apt as the pure Suffolk " T h a t be a masterpiece : I be wholly stammed " ! Indeed, we are surprised that this essentially northern Insect has been found within our boundaries ; and Members may well congratulate the assiduous discoverers of this 1521st species of Suffolk Lepidoptera.

T H E DIPTERA OF (Cont. :

Trans,

v,

SUFFOLK. 183.)

F A M I L Y iii: T H A U M A L E I D / E .

Thaumalea testacea, Ruthe.—One $ flew on to motor car in Thelnetham Fen at 3 p.m. 25 June 1944, giving us 1 of the 3 British species of this family.

F A M I L Y iv : A N I S O P O D I D / E . • Subfamily t r i c h o c e r i n / e .

Trichocera maculipennis, Mg.—Rare & found but singly : swept from reeds by Gipping at Ipswich on hot day 17 iii 1895 ; sitting on ceüing of Monks Soham (MS.) hall at midnight, after hot day 16 ii 1945.

T. annulata, Mg.—Probably quite general and not infrequent ; earliest of Winter Gnats : at moth-light in Barking Wood 14 xi ; Aying in Brandeston marsh 30 x ; a dozen dancing together in light N. air 6 feet over lavvn at 5.30 before dusk 28 ix, and about 4 p.m. on windows in mid-x, MS. ; on wall near sea in Southwold town 29 ix 1913 ; Ilalesworth (Hocken).

T. regelationis, L.—Profuse everywhere, 4 x-13 iv : Ipswich in 1895 ; Barking Wood at light 4 xi & dancing 5 ft. high in unusually dense & numerous cloud an hour before dusk 4.30 in warm light W. air 27 x ; MS. abundant at light, on windows & on 7 iii many pairs kept dropping to 6 ft. and then flving off in coitufrom large mass (?500 specimens) of dancing 12 ft. over gravel drive, with no air & temp. 50^° at early dusk 6 p.m., still several dancing there at 4 p.m. on 24 iii, but onlv 3-4 (? nearly over) ditto at 6 ft. at 6 p.m. 2 iv ; Blythbro Wood ; [in cop. on Oak-stool in Aldeby Wood, Norfolk, after dark 8 p.m. 3 iv 1933].

T. major, Edw.—Apparently scarce : Barking Wood, several at light 4 xi 45 ; Brandeston, beaten from Pine 3 p.m. 20 x 43 ; one at MS. light 10 p.m. 26 iv 1946.

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THE DIPTERA OF

SUFFOLK

T. fuscata, Mg.—Rarely noticed, 31 x-19 xi & 16-25 iii : Bentley Woods & on Reeds at Bramford in 1895 ; M S . light at 10 p.m. in March & dancing over lawn ; at 3.30 p.m. on 19 xi an assembly of some 200 $ $ were dancing at 10 ft. over the drive there in shelter of Cypress from slight E. air, emitting coupled (J $ that gently drifted down on to any fulcrum.

T. rufescens, Edw.—Certainly rare : one in Barking Wood, at light 4 xi 45 ; several at Brandeston, beaten Pine, 30 x 53 ; one on M S . window 1 v 42 [& 1 labelled ' Broom, I.H.' by D r . J. H. Wood, doubtless from Hereford].

T. saltator, Harr.—On only one occasion, when a half dozen were Aying low, but some 6 inches, over the plough of a newliiled field at Brandeston at 3 p.m. on the dull 30 x 43.

T. liiemalis DeG.—Abundant and probably ubiquitous, 30 x-24 iii: dancing in low sun over Bracken in midst of Bentley Woods at 2 p.m. in Nov. ; on windows in Ipswich Dec., M S .

Nov. & Haiesworth in M a r c h ; Barking Wood at light.

T. parva, Mcq.—Rarely noticed, autumnal only 13 x-27 xi : Barking Wood at light 7 p.m. late Oct. ; M S . windows 3 p.m. & in mid-Oct. many descending paired from no discernible assembly and settling on any such fulcrum as my hand, in c a l m a i r a n d t e m p . 5 9 ° i n M S . d r i v e a t 4 p . m . , 1 hourbeforedusk.

Subfamily M Y C E T O B I I N / E .

Mycetobia pallidipes, Mg.—At Brandon town-street on 9 June 1900 M r . Treasurer Elliott & I found several, just emerging from their very spiny and dull yellow puparia, that were protruding from sap exuding from the base of a very old White Poplar [also at Oak sap in New Forest, where I have seen the ovipositing § Aying from side to side as she dropped her eggs at hazard into the rain-water of an Oak-stool].

Subfamily ANISOPODINVE. Anisopus fenestralis, Scop.—Dancing in Company in the air (Trans, v, 233), on old moth-sugar (cf. 1. c. iv, 214), and on every window probably throughout the County throughout the whole vear, commonest there iv-ix, from Ipswich to (Btn) Thelnetham Fen. [Devon (D. W . Collings).]

A. cinctus, Fab.—Not nearly so frequent : noted on only M S . windows & Gorleston pales in xii & iv.-v-, A. punctatus, Fab.—Our commonest species from Walton-Naze in Essex to Cromer in Norfolk ; often on moth-sugar after dark (Trans, ii, 88 : Rhvphus), windows and by day on the shady side of Oak-trunks in woods, where they sit about 5 ft. high, with head upwards and well away from tree, but anus touching it, and are sluggish in sunshine ; one, on Black Poplar trunk on 19 vii, laid a pale yellow egg : Ipswich, Cretingham, Monk-park Wood, Chedeston, Thorndon, Lowestoft, Fritton, &c.

T h u s we have 13 in Suffolk, of the 15 British, species.

THE DIPTERA OF

SUFFOLK

5

FAMILY v: PSYCHODID^.

T h e 70 recorded British species of this small family need local investigation, similar to that brought to bear by Dr. Hocken upon our Tipulids. Till this be done by some young and oculatissimus Member, no more can be said of the 150 Suffolk specimens already awaiting determination than that one, named by Dr. Edwards, is Pericoma trivialis, Eaton, frequent from 26 iv in Barham marshcs, Blythbro Wood & Chedeston ; and very common at M S . on house-windows, on outhouse walls, about the moat and garden, through v up to only 25 ix. And that three others appear to be ( E M M . 1945, p. 99) Ch'tocerus Dalii, Eaton.—A winter Insect, on MS. windows 25 xi-10 v.

Telmatoscopus albifacics, Ton.—On outhouse wall at 10 p.m. 28 xi, & house-windows 3 xii, 1944 at MS. Psychoda phalcenoides, L.—Wherstead damp meadows 21 iv 1898 ; M S . windows ; perhaps common.

FAMILY vi: CULICID.F. Subfamily C H A O B O R I N / E .

Chaoborus pallidus, Fab.—Rarely noted : on Monks Soham window, 2 v 1944.

C. crystallinus, DeG.—Profuse in coast marshes and inland moats ; two broods, first 16 v-5 vi the more numerous : Bramford & common in Gipping marshes 1904 ; MS., often Aying by day in great plenty in garden, rarely on housewindows c. 5 p.m. ; a $ being devoured by Dung-fly Scatophaga stercoraria r j on paling 24 v 1908 ; later brood 26 viii-5 ix, Aying over lawns at 3 p.m. & sitting on pales at dusk : Blythbro Wood and (Collin) Newmarket.

Subfamily CUI.ICIN.T..

Ever since the discovery that malaria was carried to lordly Man by the Intervention of Mosquitoes, the Culicidae to which the latter belong have received more attention than any other Dipterous family. T h e direct result has been the erection of so vast a literature upon, and extension of our knowledge of, the subject as appals the mind. Fortunately tropical countries are mainly affected ; here in Britain are but four Mosquito-species, and the number of non-malarial Biting-gnats is quite moderate : both belong to the present Subfamily, so that neither of the other two is even mentioned in the 1938 ' British Mosquitoes', among the best of the British Natural History Museum's monographs. Both the Chaoborinse and Dixin«, however, are adequatelv treated in E M M . 1920, with additions 1923, 1926 & 1930. In all, Britain contains but 49 of this Family, most of which are so pestilentially numerous that Suffolk, with its great area of primeval Fen, bogland along the coast, and inland moats on Chalky Boulder Clav, is cursed with thirtv-one of them.

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THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

Anopheles maculipennis, Mg.—Although larvae of T H E Mosquito have been found during Julv & September in ponds, usually containing Spirogyra or Alg(t, at Newbourn, Bawdsey ferry, Wickham Market, Blakenham mill, Bury and Haiesworth (by Dr. Nuttall of Cambridge), it is much less prevalent than the next kind, appearing usually during 6-23 iv & 5 viii-16 x.

At Monks Soham it is found only indoors, Aying by day or sitting on outhouse walls after dark ; Southwold in houses, Aug. 1900 (Critten); Newmarket in winter (Verrall).

A. claviger, Mg.— Generally distributed and commoner than the last, with broods less widely separated and apparently 5 v2 vi & 27 vii-24 ix ; hovering, especially in the two hours before dusk, in shady paths warmed by previous sunshine.

Scarce in Sudbury houses (B. I larwood); Wherstead and Foxhall, v & ix 1903 ; M S . copiously in paddock and sitting on walls, occasional on house-windows &c ; on 8 ix 1920, a $ flew in to light at 10 p.m. ; Blythbro Wood ; Mildenhall (Verr): T u d d e n h a m & Brandon.

A.plumbas, Steph.— One in the Mount, Southwold, 14 vi 1923 (Dr. Coilings). A single $ on Sallow-blossom after dark in Fritton marsheson 15 April 1936.

Culex annulatus, Sehr.—Far our commonest Biting-gnat, too prevalent everywhere and recorded in every month but Jan. on windows ; frequentest in autumn, when they sit immoveably in cool weather e.g. 31 x-23 xi 1905 on outhouse walls ; on Sallow-blossom in spring (Trans, ii, p. cliv), and $ $ occasionally at both oil-lamps & electric light. Sudbury (Harwood), Bentley Woods, Ipswich 1894-6, M S . where they puneture tili their body is distended and red with contained blood, Blythbro & Wangford woods, Benacre & Oulton Broads; both sexes on sugar in Fritton marshes, ix 1932 ; Tostock (W. H. Tuck) and Brandon staunch.

C. subochreus, Edw.—Rare at Sproughton and T u d d e n h a m Fen in v i i ; one on M S . window 22 x 1944 ; profuse and strongly puneturing on Kessingland denes at midnight, August 1946.

C. Caspius, Pall.—Southwold in 1924 (Coilings). A single pa;r at Monks Soham, 26 May 1913 & 12 Sept. 1943.

C. dorsalis, M g . — T h i s Norway Mosquito was confirmed as British by my friend M r . Albert Piffard ( E M M . 1895, 227), who presented them to Brit. Mus. from Aldeburgh, where they were brought on a Scandinavian vacht, and I took it in salterns 15 v 1934. Orford (F. X. K i n g ) ; at light in Southwold vii-viii 1900, and common in urinal in town ix 1946 ; once in T u d d e n h a m Fen, 20 v 1904.

C. morsitans, Theob.—Generally distributed from Sproughton to Fritton (Trans, iv, p. evi) and Knettishall, during vi-ix ; the Q has a peculiarly resonant hum. In Southwold surgery (Coilings). At M S . on windows, outhouse walls and hovering in shady parts of paddock : punetures severely.

THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

7

C. fumipennis, Ste.—Certainly occurs in our bogs [as it abounds at Catfield marsh in Norfolk &Shapwickpeat-moor in Somerset].

C. litoreus, Shute.—A coast species, profuse in Walbersvvick salterns, 28 ix 1928 ; in Southwold house 1 viii 1900.

C. Richardii,Fic.—One specimen captured at Southwold in 1924 (in coli. Collings, 1946).

C. vexans, M g . — T u d d e n h a m Fen, 24 viii 1900 ; JJ hovering in great numbers about Lilac bushes at Red Castle, south of Thetford, at dusk 7 viii 1931.

C. annulipes, Mg.—Larv;e fished in Fritton marshes, 20 iii 1940

by Dr. Haynes (Trans, iv, p. cvi).

C. cantans, Mg.—Taken in Assington Thicks by M r . B. Harwood (Trans, ii, 39) c. 1920.

C. flavescens, Müll.—Very local: found only, and then in profusion, among Aster tripolium in salterns to south of Southwold, 20 ix 1935.

C. geniculatus, Ol.—A pair bred, $ on 22 & $ on 29, June 1945 from rain-water & leaf-debris taken on 9th inst, from rot-hole 5 ft. high in Oak-trunk in Bentley Woods : this species carries Yellow Fever (Trans. 1945, 233).

C. cinereus, Mg.—Apparently subcoastal with us, vi-ix only : on Bracken in Bentley Woods, at Ipswich and Southwold, always common in Blythbro W o o d ; on_ moth-sugar at Fritton.

[C. leucomelas, Mg. Common in New Forest, Hants.]

C. rusticus, Rossi.—Our most numerous rural Culicid & worst p u n c t u r e r : at least at Monks Soham. Curiously regulär in its first appearance about 22 May, and $ hovers gregariously 6 ft. from ground with a high piping h u m in shady garden paths, often on house-windows, and persistently pestilent even indoors ; not seen after 8 July. Laxfield (Collings).

C. nemorosus, Mg.—Assington Thicks (Harwood); one pestered me among Spruce in Blythbro Wood, 14 ix 44 ; MS. abundant in late v, $ $ hovering (not dancing) in sun at 7 p.m. 3 ft. high.

C. communis, DeG.—Hardly rarer than C. rusticus and occurring with it, but on wing to Nov. in S. half of County, to Blythbro.

Many $ $ hovering in sun's last rays at 6.30,11 v 1944 at M S .

C. sticticus, Mg.—Uncommon in iv-v & viii-ix in Blythbro Wood ; several sucking Ivy-blossom at Monks Soham 30 ix 1944.

C. pipiens, Linn.—Ubiquitous throughout the year from Sudbury (Harwood) to Brandon ; often 200 specimens sitting together on M S . outhouse walls, near moat (Trans, ii, 299); on mothsugar in Bentley Woods, 1 x 1898.

C. molestus, Frsk.—Much mixed with the last, but essentially a n . autumn species, most frequent in Nov.-Dec., sitting on outhouse walls even in frost at Monks Soham. A pestilent human puncturer at Harwich in 1945.

C. apicalis, Adams.—Detected only on Monks Soham windows rarely, 31 iii. 1944.

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THE DIPTERA OF SUFFOLK

Subfamily DIXINA'.

[Dixa autumnalis, Mg. Taken by me only on Mediterranean coast at Antibes.]

Dixa serotina, Mg.—On bushes in Assington Thicks, 15 vi 1900 ; Tuddenham Fen, v 1904.

D. cestivalis, Mg.—Found in Ipswich garden, 1908 (Mr. Raymond Bennett); not again seen tili 8 vi 1945, when a $ was swept in Bentley Woods marsh.

D. amphibia, DeG.—Singly in Slaughden salterns ,25 vii 1899; Blythbro Wood, 16 ix 1929 ; and on Reeds at Buss Creek in Southwold, 16 ix 1928.

D. nebulosa, Mg.—Larvas, probably of this species, were fished at Fritton marsh in iii 1941 (Trans, iv, p. cvi).

D. maculata, Mg.—Taken at Boyton by Mr. Verrall(EMM. 1920).

SUFFOLK NATURALISTS A CENTURY AGO. EXCELLENT accounts of both the ' Ipswich Science Gossip Society ' founded in 1869, which later called itself the Ipswich Scientific and more recently the vivant Ipswich Natural History Society, and ' Ipswich Field Club' which merged with the first in 1924, were contributed by our Member, Mr. Lingwood, to the Local Paper on respectively 31 January and 7 February 1945 ; but who, among those Members, suspects to-day that Suffolk possesstd its Botanical Society as long ago as 1826 and that a Naturalists' Society was formally proposed here during 1829 ? The earliest two volumes of C. J. Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, London 1828-9, preserve in permanent print what is utterly forgotten elsewhere respecting our County's surprising activity at that time, affording many valuable " facts respecting the comparative past and present rarity of Animals and Plants " here. In it eight and some anonymous Naturalists contributed papers :—W. B. CLARKE of East Bergholt wrote on 24 Nov. 1828 ; J. D. HOY from Stoke Nayland, 22 Nov. that year ; D. G. KERRIDGE from Ipswich on 17 Feb. & 15 July 1829 ; the Revd. William KIRBY of Barham, F.R.S., &c., in 1828 and June 1829, who was now 69 and had recently refused a canonry ; the prolific Daniel STOCK of Bungay in March, 1 April, 11 June, 28 July, Aug., 17 Nov. and 22 Dec. 1828 ; T., wrho does a two-pages review of Miss Laetitia JERMYN of Ipswich's 1829 2nd ed. of her ' Butterfly Collector's Vade Mecum ' ; R. C. TAYLOR Fsq., F.G.S., 7 Wilmington Square, London in 1829 ; and T. W. S. on 20 June 1828. Besides these, Stock gives obituary notices at ii, p. 120, of Robert STONE Esq., F.L.S., formerly of Bungay and for twenty vears before his death aged 78 on 6 Jan. 1829 of Bedingham Hall in Norfolk, where his