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Weevils of Argyll
Adrian Fowles of the Weevil Recording Scheme recently asked for any weevil records we might have for VC98, and offered us the Scheme's VC98 records in return. After carefully checking I was still happy with all the id's of our weevils - given that there are much better identification guides available now than a few years ago - I sent 72 records that I was happy with, and apologised for the meagre total, saying that we'd made no systematic efforts to collect weevil data but simply recorded any we happened to notice and found we could identify. In reply he sent me the entire list of VC98 weevil records ever made up to now, which consisted of only 99 in total! As 66 of our records are VC98 ones, we have improved the county total by 67%. Not so meagre after all! Argyll is teeming with weevils, and with a bit of effort we should be able to get the overall total well past the 200 mark this year, and hopefully add several new species. Our weevil photos are few and hard to locate but for now
I've dug these out to celebrate the occasion...
The Pine Weevil at the top of a young pine shoot.
Not taken in Argyll but we have recorded it here.
Mating pair of Silver-green Leaf Weevils, Ben Cruachan
Common Leaf Weevil, photographed by Jan Hamilton on LNHG Black Lochs
field trip
The Figwort Weevil, on a nettle leaf at Dunollie
Here is the species breakdown of the 99 existing VC98 records that Adrian sent us.
Here is the species breakdown of the 72 records that ABReC sent to the scheme.
It's not surprising that Orchestes fagi is top of both lists as its larva makes very common and conspicuous leaf-mines on Beech. 5 of the species in our list were not in the existing list and thus are new vice-county records.
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