Nocht an rúndiamhair

OK – le leithscéal a ghabháil cúpla i dtaobh gan íomhánna iomlán * fóill * de na larbhaí i gceist (Beidh mé i gceann cúpla lá!). Thar an deireadh seachtaine a bhí mé amach le grúpa de mhic léinn Berkeley ar Mount Hamilton agus PhD iarrthóir Meghan Culpepper bailíodh roinnt speiceas de Scaphinotus agus larbhaí éigin! So the specimen from Monday was indeed the larvae of a Scaphinotus beetle feasting inside the shell of a native terrestrial snail. This challenge was a hard one since these predatory Scaphinotus larvae are rarely encountered and there are zero images of out there – and none of them feeding. Better luck next time!

For now, here is an undetermined Scaphinotus species. In the coming weeks I will have 4-5 species photographed and identified (by Meghan) – and the larvae will have to be sequenced for species ID. Fanacht tiúnta.