Environmental Engineering Reference
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centipedes. It is up to 70 millimetres long, and it may be 1.5 millimetres at its broadest point. Bishop's
Wood was one of the three sites from which Geophilus osquidatum was first recorded in Britain and the
site of the second British find of Chordeuma proximum.
The harvestman Sabacon viscayanum ssp. ramblaianum was also first discovered in Britain, in 1980,
in the woods at Parkmill. It has now been found in 22 localities in South Wales. Because the early finds
were close to industrial workings it was suggested that the harvestman had been introduced to Britain,
but since these sites invariably include old, damp woodland, which is the usual habitat of the species, it
is considered instead to be a 'relict' species whose range was once more extensive, but which has since
become fragmented.
LittleisknownaboutthefliesoftheGowerwoodsandmanyrecordsdatebacktothe1950sand1960s
when Fonseca (1973) extensively surveyed Nicholaston Wood and Oxwich Wood. He recorded a large
numberofscarcefliesassociatedwitholdwoodlandsincluding Coenosia stigmatica, Hydrotaea velutina,
Helina abdominalis, Fannia gotlandica, Fannia carbonaria, Eustalomyia vittipes, Delia tarsifimbria and
Aulacigaster leucopeza. It is thought that many of these flies disappeared when dead trees were removed
around 1960, although at least one of the flies recorded by him, the hoverfly Brachypalpus laphriformis ,
was still present in the mid-1990s.
Other insects, however, are known to be numerous in the woodlands, especially in the open sunny
glades. A varied shrub layer on the glade edges will support a variety of woodland moths and the rich
flora of grassy rides can support a large and important fauna of plant-feeding beetles, bugs and leafhop-
pers.Thewavedcarpetmoth Hydrelia sylvata isahighlylocalised species thatoccursinwoodsinGower
that have a long history of coppicing and where there are open sunny areas with young specimens of the
larval food plants, which are alder, birch, sallow and blackthorn (Fig. 146). The adult moths are on the
wing in June and July, resting by day among the bushes, but they can also be occasionally found on tree
trunks. The larvae feed between July and August, pupating in September to overwinter in an earthen cell
until they emerge the following July. Because of this limited period on the wing and the fact that it occurs
at a low density over much of its range it is likely that the species is under-recorded.
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