Fungus gnats at Loch Arkaig

A survey of insects at Loch Arkaig Pine Forest, near Spean Bridge, has revealed two tiny gnats never before recorded in Britain:

Boletina gusakovae, more usually found in Finland and Russia

Mycetophila idonea, normally found in Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Georgia and Luxembourg.

Both are from a large group of tiny flies known as fungus gnats, as their larvae feed on fungi. Just one male of each species has been found, but surveyor Ian Strachan believes the two species have been at Loch Arkaig undetected for a long time. There’s no way to know when or why they arrived here, but Ian predicts sustainable breeding populations are likely.

The survey is one of many at Loch Arkaig helping us track changes as we restore the ancient Caledonian pinewoods over the coming decades. The site is made up of different blocks of habitat including rainforest, ancient pine forest and peatland and it was in two large stands of ancient Scots pine forest that the gnats were recorded. A malaise trap, which looks like a small tent, was set up to funnel flying insects into a collection jar which was emptied once a month from May until September in 2018.