MaltaWildplants.com FORUM

many thanks

Alan

I understand that David Mifsud has been working on a comprehensive paper on the scale insects of Malta for a number of years! I assume that you will know him.

Alan

My friend Chris Malumphy, here in the UK, a specialist in this group, has now identified this species for me as Protopulvinaria pyriformis (Cockerell, 1894) – Pyriform Scale. Chris says "it is related to Pulvinaria . Occurs widely in the tropics and subtropics; polyphagous, feeding on plants belon...

My friend Chris Malumphy, here in the UK, a specialist in this group, has now confirmed my identification of this species as Ceroplastes rusci.

Alan

Thanks to you both. Yes I prefaced my own post recognising the difficulty of the genus - certainly not easy and also a genus that I rarely come across living, as I do, just about as far away from the sea as it is possible to be in the UK! Glad that you think the same about the second one as me Steph...

I have two Limonium species from my 2012 visit to Malta with which I would be grateful for local expertise. I appreciate that this is a difficult genus, especially from images but hope that perhaps local knowledge of the locations and of the Maltese Flora may help. The first large species (2 images)...

Not Aleuria but almost certainly an Anthracobia sp. several of which occur on burnt ground. They need microscopy however to sort out individual species.

Alan

Stephen you may like to register on http://www.diptera.info/ and then try posting your unknown fly images on there for identification by specialists. I get a lot of my European fly queries resolved that way.

Alan

Is there no mechanism for publishing new records of flora and fauna in Malta? If no other system operates then it would seem this website might be the best available alternative! In the UK we have a system of County and National Recorders for the majority of groups of organisms and either voucher sp...

The Eclipta plants that I saw and photographed were along Triq-Il-Linja and there must have been in excess of 50 plants along a 100metre stretch of road edge. My notebook indicates that I saw Anthemis cotula in two places this year: 1. As a weed in the San Anton Botanic gardens in an uncultivated ar...

Anthemis cotula L. is widespread and common across Europe as an arable weed and a plant that I know well. I also saw it in Malta this year! It is indeed a plant with bipinnatifid leaves, large 'daisy' type flowers and totally different to this plant. The plant Anthemis cotula sensu Blanco is an ill...

I do not understand. Anthemis cotula L. is not a synonym for this plant and there is nothing in Haslam to indicate that the records of A. cotula were mis-identified! Indeed what Haslam et al were recording was clearly Anthemis cotula and not Eclipta . Nor is there anything to suggest that earlier re...

Yes Stephen you may of course use my images. Like Il Pine I am not wholly convinced at present that your bird seed plant is the same as to me there look to be subtle differences but we will await yours hopefully flowering to see for certain.

Alan

Brilliant. Well done Il-Pine! There are apparently 3 - 4 species in this genus depending on which authority one follows. Flora Europaea gives just Eclipta prostrata in Europe as naturalised locally in Southern Europe (Spain, Italy and Portugal so not a million miles from Malta). It originates from T...

As indeed would I! The genus is certainly right but as indicated it is a large and difficult genus and apparently nobody in Europe is really working on the genus at present. I just wondered if there might be a Maltese Hymenopterist with specialist knowledge of those species occurring on the island. ...

Thanks Stephen. As indicated I have seen and photographed many varied and different red and black Lygaeid species in my travels around Europe and they are difficult though all except this one are identified. Popular literature covers very few of these and as such there are many misidentifications on...

Yes indeed Stephen

Alan

Thank you Stephen. My original thinking was also Asteraceae but the combination of the flower and those fruits persuaded me that it was more likely Dipsacaceae. However I am certain that it is not Sonchus . (Fruits are also wrong for a Sonchus !) I do concede though that Asteraceae remains possibili...

Many thanks Stephen. Of course it is and I am kicking myself now despite the fact that I have never seen it before! It does though help to get the right family and I was misled into thinking Chenopodiaceae!

Alan

This species has now kindly been identified for me independently by Werner Holzinger. It is Synophropsis lauri.

Alan

Hello Stepehn I think your fly pale and tiny 3208 looks like a Tephritid and specically like a male Acanthophilus helianthi . The larvae of this feed on a variety of Asteraceae particularly Centaurea, Carduus, Carthamus, Sonchus etc. I get this species in my garden here in the UK. It normally shows ...

I have found this small beetle at Attard in some numbers in both 2012 and 2013. I think it is a ladybird species (Coccinellidae), but am uncertain as to what species it is. I wonder if it might be either Scymnus auritus or Exochomus nigripennis ? I am sure that someone resident on Malta and with exp...

This plant looks to me as if it is Chenopodiaceae but I am uncertain of the species identification and winder if anyone can help. Several plants were found growing at Attard on 21 August 2012. This year (2013) i failed to find it there.

Many thanks

Alan

I encounter many different red and black Lygaeid Heteroptera in my travels around Europe most of which I have been able to get identified but this one found at Attard on 16 Aug 2012 has eluded identification. I wonder if anyone can help?

Many thanks

Alan

This small bee species found at St. George;s Bay on 9 August is clearly a Thyreus sp. cf histrionicus . However I am aware that this is a very difficult genus and wonder if anything is known of the Maltese species and whether anyone with local knowledge is able to positively identify it to species. ...

This scale insect was found by me on Ficus in San Anton gardens on 11 Aug 2013 and also on Oleander in Attard, I think that it is probably a Pulvinaria sp. but wonder if anyone with local knowledge of this group is able to identify it to species.

Many thanks

Alan

This scale insect was found by me on Ficus sp. in the President's Courtyard, Attard on 11 Aug 2013. I think that it is Ceroplastes rusci but would welcome verification of this if possible as I am not sure if there are any local species with which this might be confused.

Many thanks

Alan

This Cicadellid hopper was found on Ficus in San Anton Botanical Garden, Attard on 11 August 2013. Any suggestions regarding its identity would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Alan

This hoverfly found on waste ground at Attard on 13 August 2013 is I am sure a Eumerus sp. However it does not seem to match any of the species that we have in the UK and I do not know what species in this genus occur in Malta. Any suggestions regarding the species identification would be greatly ap...

This plant was found by me at Attard growing on road verges near Hotel Corinthia Palace on 09 August 2013. It looks to me as if it is Dipsacaceae and possibly cf. Pterocephalus but I cannot match it to anything in the Flora of Malta. I do have other images. Any suggestions greatly appreciated. <Many...