Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Thunberg) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the Mournes, County DownAuthor(s): Brian NelsonSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 21, No. 12 (Oct., 1985), pp. 545-546Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25538991 .

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Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 21 No. 12 1985 545

On 15-16 May 1985 we visited the majority of spawning sites on the Castlegregory Peninsula

(Q51-61), when the mating season was in progress as evinced by spawn, tadpoles and at night by choruses and large numbers of males seen at some locations by torch. Eleven of the dune slacks we

visited on the peninsula contained toad tadpoles but a careful examination of the margins yielded no

spraints (otter faeces). None were found around Lough Naparka which, though it holds no fish, had at

the time large numbers of vocal male toads. The edges of Lough Gill, another importaant spawning area, are mostly reed-fringed and difficult to search for spraints. However 7 were obtained and 40

more along the first 0.6km of the Trench which drains it into Tralee Bay. A further 5 were picked up beside about 0.5km of the Stradbally River just before it enters Lough Gill.

On 17 May we searched around some breeding sites on the Iveragh Peninsula: Lough Yganavan

(V79) (16 spraints); the small adjacent loughs Knockaunroe (V69) and Nambrickdarrig (V79) (3 spraints); and two ponds near Glenbeigh (V69) where no droppings were spotted but breeding by toads

was recorded. Futher otter faeces were gathered from 2-5 June from Lough Gill (1) and the Trench

(17), at which time nocturnal observations indicated that the mating season was far past its peak. Jenkins and Burrows (1980. J. Anim. Ecol. 49:755-774) found that 50% of spraints disappeared

two weeks after deposition, 83-94% after seven. None of the 89 collected here looked old and it can be

assumed that they give some indication of the food of otters in the districts studied during the toads'

breeding season. One contained nothing identifiable, another unidentified fish bones, 6 remains of

flatfish (Trench), 2 or birds (Trench), 1 of three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L.

(Trench), 1 of salmonid (Stradbally River) and 86 of eel Anguilla anguilla (L.). In addition there were

traces of insects, tiny molluscs and crustacean fragments, possibly origniating from the fish.

The absence of spraints from the sites where there were toads but no fish is suggestive; and the

complete lack of anuran remains from the faeces constitutes strong evidence that otters do not prey on

breeding natterjacks, presumably because of their dermal poison glands. Rana species as a rule have

fewer pharmacologically active and partly poisonous substances in their skin secretions than Bufo

species (Biicherel and Buckley 1971. Venomous animals and their venoms. Academic Press,

London). It is perhaps relevant that while Fraser (1983. Reptiles and amphibians. Collins, London) records numerous vertebrate predators of R. temporaria, the list is considerably shorter for both the

common toad Bufo bufo (L.) and the natterjack.

Department of Zoology, University College, Galway J. S. FAIRLEY

T. k. McCarthy

FIRST IRISH RECORD OF A NEPTICULID MOTH

On 25 September 1982,1 found some mines in the leaves of barren strawberry, Potentilla sterilis

(L.) Garcke, growing by the shore of Lower Lough Erne in Ely Lodge Forest. I provisionally identified them as made by Ectoedemia arcuatella (Herrich-Schaffer), not previously recorded in

Ireland.

A few leaves with tenanted mines were overwintered on damp sphagnum moss, and two minute

moths emerged on 4 June 1983. These are now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. Their

identity as E. arcuatella has kindly been confirmed by Mr Liam O'Neill and Col. A. M. Emmet.

This species is known from northern and southern England but not Wales or Scotland (Heath, J.,

ed., 1976, The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland^ vol. I, Blackwell). It favours chalk

downland in Britain, so it is not surprising to find it on the Fermanagh limestone. It may well be

widespread on the Irish limestones but would easily escape notice.

49 Orchards Way, Highfield, Southampton. HENRY HEAL

MYRMELEOTETTIX MACULATUS (THUNBERG) (ORTHOPTERA: ACR1DIDAE) IN THE MOURNES, COUNTY DOWN

The mottled grasshopper, Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Thunberg), is a locally distributed species in Ireland (Cotton, D. C. R, 1980, Entomologist's Gaz. 33: 243-254), and there are no previously

published records from Co Down (H38). Two sites for the species were found in the Mournes in 1984.

Down (H38): J3422, 31 July 1984. Carrick Big, common in dry MoliniaiErica heathland at side of

track, at altitude of 220m. Coll and det BN. J2925, 14 August 1984. Cam Mountain. 1 cf seen and 2

others heard stridulating on heathery slope above a small valley bog at 400m. Coll and det BN.

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546 Ir.Nat.J. Vol. 21 No. 12 1985

A single male from Carrick Big was sent to the Ulster Museum, where the determination was

confirmed by Robert Nash and a voucher specimen was lodged. Most records of Mymeleotettix are from western coastal counties, with relatively few in eastern

or midland counties (Haes, E. C. M., 1979, Provisional Atlas of Insects of the British Isles: Part 6

Orthoptera. Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Huntingdon). Myrmeleotettix occurs on dry heath and

moorland and also on sand dunes (Ragge, D. R., 1965, Grasshoppers, Crickets and Cockroaches of the British Isles. Warne, London). Though it occurs in the Mournes it appears to be absent from the

nearby dunes at Murlough Nature Reserve (J4034) (pers. obs.). It is probable that the mottled

grasshopper occurs elsewhere in the Mournes as there seem to be plenty of suitable habitats.

Murlough Nature Reserve, Dundrum, Newcastle, Co Down BT33 ONQ. BRIAN NELSON

A THIRD IRISH RECORD OF SEPEDOPHILUS LITTOREUS (L.) (COLEOPTERA: STAPHYLINIDAE)

Sepedophilus littoreus (L.) has previously been recorded from two isolated localities in the

north-west of Ireland, near Inishteige, Upper L Macnean, Fermanagh (roadside grass cuttings) and by Toneduff Bridge, R. Faughan, Londonderry (in basidiomycete fungi, beech logs) (Anderson, R. 1978

Entomologist's mon. Mag. 113 (1977): 167). In Ireland, as in Great Britain, it appears to be confined

to areas of old woodland and is localised and rare. Its capture in a third Irish locality is therefore worth

recording. On 24 November 1984 two specimens, 1 Cf 1 $, were taken from around the fruiting bodies

of a bark fungus, Phlebia merismoides Fries, on a rotting Alnus log near Portmore (J 119686) Antrim.

The site is on the landward edge of extensive Phragmites beds fringing the shore of Portmore Lough, and adjacent to a thin peripheral strip of old Alnus woodland. The specimens were found, with many

hibernating carabids, when bark from the log, which was lying in a nettle bed, was removed for

examination.

225 Saintfield Road, Belfast BT8 4PS. R. ANDERSON

A NEW RECORD FOR THE LAND PLANARIAN MICROPLANA SCHARFFI (VON GRAFF) (TRICALADIDA: TERRICOLA)

A specimen of Microplana scharffi (von Graff) was collected from beneath a log in open beech

woodland at Templehouse estate, near Ballymote, Co Sligo (G6217) on 10 April 1985. A detailed

description of the animal's appearance was sent to Dr H. D. Jones at the University of Manchester and

he was happy to confirm this identification. The specimen is now in the National Museum of Ireland

(Registation Number N.M.I. 31.1985). This terrestrial planarian was 93mm long and 1mm wide when fully extended, and when fully

contracted it was 20mm long and 4mm wide. The head end was narrower than the rest of the body and

tapered to a point. If was of a buffish colour except for the first 1 mm of the dorsal surface of the head

end which was grey with two small black eye spots. This species was first described from an Irish specimen collected at Blackrock, Co Dublin, in

1896 by a Miss Kelsail who gave it to the Dublin museum. Scharff then passed it on to von Graff who

described and named it as Rhynchodemus scharffi. This record along with a second locality at the

Glasnevin Botanic Gardens was published in Scharff (1900, Ir. Nat. 9: 215-218). A third locality was

described in Scharff (1901, Ir. Nat. 10: 133) as "under a tree trunk, near Ballymote, Co Sligo". As

mentioned by Willis and Edwards (1911 Jr. Nat. J. 19: 112-116) there have been no further records of

this species from Ireland, and until recently these were the only records for M.scharffi. However, it is

now recognised that M.britannicus (Percival) is a junior synonym of M.scharffi, and this planarian is

widely distributed in Great Britain.

There are currently seven species of terrestrial planarian recorded from Ireland viz. Artioposthia

triangulata (Dendy), Geoplana sanguinea (Moseley), Kontikia andersoni Jones, Dolichoplana striata Moseley, Bipalium kewense Moseley, Microplana terrestris (Muller) and Microplana

scharffi.

Regional Technical College, Sligo. DONALD C. F. COTTON

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