Diario de susanne-kasimir

So I have decided on this year's iNaturalist goals.

1. First and foremost continue my streak which started on 30th Dec 2020. Since I don't work so much and I also don't have any international flights scheduled, it's just a matter of perseverance. If I don't find time during the day, I can always do my nightly moth-walk of about 1,5 h.
2. Make a photo book at the end of the year. I started this in 2014 and it's growing into a nice collection. For that I should find at least 100 new-for-me animal species. Or at least 100 which haven't been featured in another book. Since the book of 2022 is about 2 months house-sitting in France (150 species) and 2023 about 3 weeks travelling the length of Germany (150 species, on which I am still working), there are quite a lot that don't yet appear in any book.
3. I would really like to find 100 species of animals on thistles, from snails munching on the leaves, to butterflies and bees on the flowers, beetles laying eggs into the stems, finches eating the seeds, spiders building their web between the leaves etc. If I will be able to identify the species of thistle, that's enough botany for me.

4. Secretly I am also counting the number of animal species seen in this year, since I didn't manage to find 1000 animals last year and only just made it over 1000 in total.
   I just changed the order so that the new month is in the beginning.

March highlights

Steatoda paykulliana (Theridiidae) is nothing new, but one of the nicest coloured and patterned individuals I have ever seen. I found it in Jimena de la Frontera in the kitchen sink and caught it in a cup. What a great start to the day! On the same day I found this Chelotrupes sp. (Geotrupidae), which has inspired me to start a project about "Beetles with horns". On the 15th I made a day trip to the coast, collected some shells and came across this dead hermit crab Dardanus arrosor (Diogenidae). The following day brought me two lifers in my patio Crocistethus waltlianus (Cydnidae) and Cordicomus instabilis (Anthicidae). On the next day I could observe this couple of the very common Colias croceus (Pieridae). You usually never see them with open wings, so for me the mating rejection was a really lucky occurrence! The last three pictures are lifers from a day trip to Loja (province Granada) on the 23rd. Phragmatobia fuliginosa (Erebidae), Melanopsis praemorsa (Melanopsidae) and Trigonidium cicindeloides (Trigonidiidae). The hoopoe Upupa epops (Upupidae) I observed for quite a while in Jimena de la Frontera, while it found some snacks on the floor. Then for just a moment, it raised its hood! Never seen before, I thought it had something to do with social behaviour but there was no one else. Maybe it was excited about the food or afraid about the vultures circling overhead - anyway a memorable experience!
The last week of March was characterised by more or less constant rain - very unusual for Andalusia and very unwelcome because it was Semana Santa and all processions had to be cancelled. I just managed to keep up my streak and achieved only 276 RG animal species until the 31st.

February highlights

Cassida deflorata (Chrysomelidae) as larva, pupa and adult - on thistle; Abrostola triplasia (Noctuidae) new for me in my hometown; on the 18th I went for a day trip to the Bay of Cádiz and saw Afruca tangeri West African Fiddler Crabs - they only occur on the Atlantic coast from West Africa to the Algarve; as well as Numenius arquata (Scolopacidae) and Phoenicopterus roseus (Phoenicopteridae), not new, but I don't often get a photo in flight. From 29.2. to 3.3. I stayed with a friend in Jimena de la Frontera (Cádiz province). On the first night I did a moth-walk and found this new Horisme scorteata (Geometridae). The Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa is also from the Bay of Cádiz.
The number of RG animal species until the end of February is 196.

January highlights

Perigune narbonea (Geometridae); gall of wasp Andricus quercustozae (Cynipidae); Cisticola juncidis (Cisticolidae) is not new, but I think a really cute photo; of Dicranopalpus caudatus (Phalangiidae)I have to show two photos, because I find the forked pedipalps really fascinating; Conostethus venustus (Miridae) on thistle :-); Deroceras reticulatum (Agriolimacidae); Menemerus taeniatus (Salticidae); Chesias rufata (Geometridae). All of those species I found walking around Antequera. The wigeon Mareca penelope (Anatidae) I spotted on a day trip to the Guadalhorce-mouth in Málaga. This day and another trip to Fuente de Piedra provided all of the usual avian suspects (except cranes) and this new duck.
The number of RG animals species for January is 103.

23.2.24 In the vegetable drawer of the fridge I found a caterpillar. It must have come out of the cauliflower. I put it in a box with holes ( when I raised young swifts I had to buy a lot of crickets, which came in clear plastic boxes with holes. I kept them just in case...) and gave it a bit of cauliflower leaf.

25.2.24 It has attached itself to the lid of the box.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200382941

27.2.24 Now it has pupated.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/200665637

I kept the box first in the storeroom, a room next to the kitchen which is open to the patio, so always cold. When we got a really cold spell at the beginning of March, I brought it into the kitchen. It is not heated anyway and cooler than outside when the sun is shining, but not as cold at night. I checked on my inhabitant daily, but didn't see any changes.

17.3.24 The pupa had changed colour and looked darker, I feared it had died.

19.3.24 What a surprise! The butterfly has hatched! It kept sitting on the pupa and didn't move.
I opened the box and took some photos.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/203087232
I put the lid with the butterfly into the patio, where eventually the sun would shine in. Then I had breakfast. When I checked again, it was gone.
So, I didn't observe any of the stages, neither the making of the pupa nor the hatching or the flying off and anyway it is one of the most common species, sometimes even considered a pest, but I am still happy!

Since I especially like beetles with horns and since I realised they are distributed at least across two families, I've decided to set up a traditional project to get an idea of the number of species and variability of the horns.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/beetles-with-horns
Please contribute

There is a lot of confusion about the status of those two beetles. Since I have now seen them both, I think I am able to separate them.
Henosepilachna angusticollis is the species I see here regularly - more or less daily and all year round.

It lives (exclusively?) on squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium)
It has a pointed end and to me it seems it is paler and has slightly smaller spots than H. argus.

Henosepilachna argus lives on Bryonia sp, here on Bryonia cretica.

It is more rounded, a bit redder and has slightly larger spots.

Literature:
https://miblogdebichos.wordpress.com/coleopteros/coccinellidae/henosepilachna-angusticollis-reiche-1862/
https://inpn.mnhn.fr/espece/cd_nom/794751/tab/fiche
https://biocostagranadinafauna.blogspot.com/2021/12/henosepilachna-angusticollis.html

On my moth walk last night I found a lifer, which I identified as Chrysodeixis chalcites and which was confirmed shortly after by @einheit21 . This was # 1000!
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-01-01&hrank=species&place_id=any&quality_grade=research&user_id=susanne-kasimir&verifiable=any
First of all a big thank you to all 588 identifiers, without which of course this challenge wouldn't have been possible!

Here are the statistics (in brackets the numbers of the 1st September)
Mammals: 10 (9)
Birds: 170 (165)
Reptiles: 10 (10)
Amphibians: 3 (3)
Actinopterygii: 33 (32)
Elasmobranchii: 1 (1)
Tunicata: 1 (1)

-> Chordata: 228

Hymenoptera: 33 (29)
Diptera: 16 (12)
Hemiptera: 62 (58)
Lepidoptera: 224 (150)
Coleoptera: 104 (96
Orthoptera: 9 (7)
Odonata: 24 (20)
Blattodea: 3 (2)
Mantodea: 5 (4)
Neuroptera: 3 (3)
Embioptera: 1 (0)
Archaeognatha: 1 (1)

-> Insects: 485

Mollusca: 51 (32)
Polychaeta: 2 (2)
Arachnida: 34 (28)
Crustacea: 16 (14)
Myriapoda: 2 (1)
Cnidaria: 7 (7)
Echinodermata: 3 (3)
Porifera: 1 (1)

-> Animals total: 829

Fungi: 5 (5)
Plantae: 162 (146)
Bacteria: 1 (1)
Chromista: 2 (2)
Protozoa: 1 (1)

I won’t be able to take on a new challenge like 1000 animals or 1000 species of Spain, but I’ll continue the year and see where I stand on New Year’s Eve.
Recently especially my nightly moths walks have been really successful and I wonder how many more new moths I can find.

The squirrel was busy and so I can proudly present 954 species now. Now it does seem possible to reach my goal. There are still some species with "needs ID" of which I am sure, which haven't been confirmed yet.
Since I mainly made nightly walks in October, most of the new species are moths. And there are still lifer moths!
I fear I will be running out of new moths soon though, so will have to find another diverse group.
Some October highlights:

So today, 4th October, I am at 890 species; there are 89 days left in the year and 110 species to find. I can only comment this with a German saying which is translated into something like this:" Tediously the squirrel gathers its food." (Mühsam ernährt sich das Eichhörnchen).
I have realised that the best option to find something new are moths, so I am doing nightly walks around town and look at lit facades. Here is last night's favourite: Cymbalophora pudica.
The squirrel survives and I hope I will also reach my goal.

I was challenged by @ogeukord to participate in his challenge of finding 1000 species which are identified to species with RG-label. At first I said, oh no, I don't want to - especially since I would also have to care about plants - but, yes, of course I am looking at my numbers. So high time to make it official. ;-)
Especially since he has already reached his goal and is now aspiring for 1000 beasts.

I have so far reached 850 species, which means I still have to find more than one per day for the rest of the year.
In May I was in Germany for three weeks, which has boosted my list, but since I came back it has been extremely dry and hot. That means that some of the early summer (insect) species had already disappeared, but also I didn't find as much as usual since I didn't make 10 h/ 15 km hikes. What is nicely reflected in my list is the weekly trip to the beach with snorkelling.
Here is an overview:
Mammals: 9
Birds: 165
Reptiles: 10
Amphibians: 3
Actinopterygii: 32
Elasmobranchii: 1
Tunicata: 1

-> Chordata: 221

Mollusca: 32
Polychaeta: 2
Arachnida: 28
Crustacea: 14
Myriapoda: 1
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Hymenoptera: 29
Diptera: 12
Hemiptera: 58
Lepidoptera: 150
Coleoptera: 96
Orthoptera: 7
Odonata: 20
other insects (Blattodea, Mantodea, Neuroptera, Archaeognatha): 9

-> insects: 381

Cnidaria: 7
Echinodermata: 3
Porifera: 1

-> animals total: 695

Fungi: 5
Plantae: 146
others (Bacteria, Chromista, Protozoa): 4
Here is the link to the RG species:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-01-01&hrank=species&place_id=any&quality_grade=research&subview=map&user_id=susanne-kasimir&verifiable=any&view=species

And if you want to help me reach my goal, here are the observations that still need ID:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-01-01&hrank=species&place_id=any&quality_grade=needs_id&subview=map&user_id=susanne-kasimir&verifiable=any&view=species

I have recently seen a lot of caterpillars of the same species that I can't identify and will collect all the observations here.

2023/02/25: I found a nest of caterpillars in a web spun around the flower heads of some Brassicaceae:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149666877

2023/02/25: This is the foodplant, where the caterpillars were found.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149666891

2023/02/25: another plant, which I believe is the same species, flowering
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/149666890

2023/03/01: Photos during the day of caterpillars inside their nest
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150005914

2023/03/07: I saw bigger caterpillars on the same plants at night, one was hanging from a silk thread (as a means of hiding from me)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/150532773

I think I can safely assume that it is Evergestis isatidalis, since I've seen these photos:
https://naturdata.com/especie/Evergestis-isatidalis/32501/0/
The plant has meanwhile been identified as Sinapis alba

Family Mantidae
Mantis religiosa

• horizontal line through the eyes
• black spot with white center in the armpit

• Colour can be green or beige… or anything in between
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/91029889
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/34295642
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7509986
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17438437

Family Mantidae
Sphodromantis viridis

• white spot on wing
• Yellow stripes on forearms

• Colour usually green, but brown individuals can occur too
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17041789
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7464341
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19160181

Family Eremiaphilidae
Iris oratoria
Can be mainly identified by the absence of characteristic features (no spots in armpits, no line through eye, no white spot on wing)

• coloured wings, opened in threat display ( I have bothered them so often, but they never threatened, just ran away)
• Females have short wings which do not cover the abdomen

• Colour can be beige or green
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/97938028
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/8411374
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/129610785

Family Empusidae
Empusa pennata
It is so different that it can’t be mistaken for anything else. (There is the very similar Empusa fasciata in the Eastern Mediterranean, but in Spain it is unique.)
Female - with threadlike antennae
Male - with pennate antennae
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/13926520
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18012618

The same as PDF with photos: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0b4hxyyA8TK64zF7STmfZck8w#Mantodea-pdf