Id help

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Tom
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Id help

Post by Tom »

Does anyone know what this is? It is about 3 or 4 mm long, excluding the antennae, and was found at my desk.

Tom
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Tom Hunt, Record Enquiries Officer
SteveMcBill
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Re: Id help

Post by SteveMcBill »

Hi Tom,

A very nice little beetle (looks like one of the wood borers or possibly nest feeders (so it may have come down the chimney)). Sadly, I do not know what it is exactly - I don't think I have come across this one before.

I would suggest that you push it in Don Stenhouse's direction.

Cheers

Steve :)
Tom
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Re: Id help

Post by Tom »

Thanks Steve. I'll email the photo to Don and post the result.

I've got another one now as well. These tiny little millipede type creatures have been found with the leaf cutter ants by the Zoo keepers. The ant colony is in decline for some reason, and these things may or may not be part of the problem. They are over 5mm long, maybe nearly 10 when they are fully stretched out, but they can't be more than 2mm wide.

Any thoughts?
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Tom Hunt, Record Enquiries Officer
SteveMcBill
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Re: Id help

Post by SteveMcBill »

Hi Tom,

Yes, they are definitely Millipedes though what species I cannot even begin to guess from the photos I'm afraid. They would need to be submitted to the Millipede referee at the British Myriapod Group (I'm not sure but Tony Barber would be a good start).

A few years ago I found, after a pointer by Paul Howse, a very thriving colony of Oxypoda gracilis in the Jaguar House at the Zoo. We had to lock the Jaguars in their cages to allow us to go into the indoor enclosure to collect specimens and I still kept looking over my shoulder.

With reference to the Leaf-cutter Ant colony. These millipedes could be the problem. The ants live off a fungus which they culture on the bits of leaf that they collect. As millipedes usually live in damp places they also feed on fungal mycelia, so they could be out-competing the ants for their food source.

Hope that helps.

Steve :)
Tom
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Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:50 am

Re: Id help

Post by Tom »

Thanks Steve. I'll strike up a dialogue with Tony. He should know who we are as we have provided him with data for his national atlas. I'll also pass your comments on to Paul Howse.

Incidentally, if you are ever keen on going on an invert hunt in the Zoo exhibits again, I think Paul would be delighted to have you over. He invited Eric and myself to have a look at some beetles in the Twilight Zone a while back, but of course we had no idea what we were looking at.

Tom
Tom Hunt, Record Enquiries Officer
Tom
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Re: Id help

Post by Tom »

Quoting Tony Barber:

"I am not sure what these are but they do resemble one of the reported exotics from hothouses. Could you perhaps send some to Helen Read (Dr Helen Read, *******, Farnham Common, Bucks, *** ***). In 70% alcohol, several, please.

Would be very interested in any centipedes or millipedes you find in the Zoo, especially in heated areas; I don't think I will be in the Chester area myself in the immediate future but a number of "exotics" have been found at various times in glasshouses (heated) e.g. Kew, Eden Project so they are worth looking for.

Helen is probably the best person to give an opinion on threat to the ants, I would think or likely to know someone who might be able to comment.
"

I am arranging for some samples to be sent to Buckinghamshire, and I will post the findings here.
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Re: Id help

Post by SteveMcBill »

Millipedes from Chester Zoo:

Excellent news Tom and many thanks to Tony and Helen.

It would possibly be worthwhile to have Paul Howse arrange for searches in various enclosures (e.g. Tropical House, Bat House, etc.) for millipedes and centipedes under logs, stones, food dishes and uneaten food - and probably worthwhile to have him collect substrate from these areas for sieving.

Using the above techniques would give a good chance of finding animals which may be of great interest to Tony and/or Helen and which could very well provide new species records for the Zoo, for Cheshire and even, potentially, for Britain.

The Zoo does have other 'invasives' which have not been recorded in detail. For example, the Pharaoh Ant, which exists in a number of indoor enclosures. Plotting these with accurate Grid-Refs. and generating detailed records with estimates of abundance and information on eating habits, etc., would add useful information to the rECOrd database.

Cheers

Steve :)
Tom
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Re: Id help

Post by Tom »

Helen Read has come back to me with her assesment of the samples as follows;
Dear Tom

Thanks for sending the millipedes. They look to me like Cylindrodesmus hirsutus, a species so far known from Kew, the Eden Project and a butterfly house in Yorkshire but found in glass houses in other parts of Europe too. None of the ones you sent were a male (ideally that would be helpful to confirm) but some populations are parthenogenic so it is not surprising that they are all female. I'm not sure anyone knows where they come from originally but they have been found in a wide range of tropical countries and islands (Seychelles, Brazil, Indonesia etc.).

There are several species of millipede that will live in ants nests so the presence of them with your ants is probably not surprising although I don't recall having seen it mentioned for this species before. I would have thought it unlikely that they are the cause of any decline, they are more likely to be just eating bits and pieces that the ants drop.

I hope that this helps.

Best wishes

Helen


This would constitute a first record for our database, and hence VC58
Tom Hunt, Record Enquiries Officer
SteveMcBill
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Re: Id help

Post by SteveMcBill »

Tom,

Great news ref the Millipedes you sent off to Helen Read mate.

A new record for rECOrd, the Zoo and for Cheshire - I haven't checked as yet but is it on the Species Dictionary ?? If not then we will need to request it of Charles Hussey (NBN Dictionary Manager) via the NBN Forum (Species Dictionary section).

In excellent company too with the only other British records seeming to come from Kew and the Eden Project. I am sure there are lots of the introductions to be found at various Zoos and animal and plant collections around the country but no one is actively searching these places at all.

It now looks like a detailed search of Zoo premises could very well turn up other new and interesting species after all.

Cheers

Steve :)
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