Issue 17/18 v.1.1 Het News Autumn 2011 Newsletter of the UK Heteroptera Recording Schemes 2nd Series Circulation: An informal email newsletter circulated periodically to those interested in Heteroptera. Copyright: Text & drawings © 2011 Authors Photographs © 2011 Photographers Citation: Het News, 2nd Series, no.17/18, Spring/Autumn 2011 Editors: Our apologies for the belated publication of this year's issues, we hope that the record 30 pages in this combined issue are some compensation! Sheila Brooke: 18 Park Hill Toddington Dunstable Beds LU5 6AW — [email protected] Bernard Nau: 15 Park Hill Toddington Dunstable Beds LU5 6AW — [email protected] CONTENTS NOTICES: SOME LITERATURE ABSTRACTS ........................................... 16 Lookout for the Pondweed leafhopper ............................................................. 6 SPECIES NOTES. ................................................................18-20 Watch out for Oxycarenus lavaterae IN BRITAIN ...........................................15 Ranatra linearis, Corixa affinis, Notonecta glauca, Macrolophus spp., Contributions for next issue .................................................................................15 Conostethus venustus, Aphanus rolandri, Reduvius personatus, First incursion into Britain of Aloea australis ..................................................17 Elasmucha ferrugata Events for heteropterists .......................................................................................20 AROUND THE BRITISH ISLES............................................21-22 RECENT PUBLICATIONS: Cornwall, Wiltshire, Herts, Gloucs, Cheshire, SE Yorks, SW Yorks, Hemipt. Pent. Vol 3: Podopinae et Asopinae, FdF 93 ..........1 Dumfriess. Silent summer. .......................................................................2 SPECIES NEW TO BRITAIN: RECORDING .......................................................................23-24 Tritomegas sexmaculatus (Cydnidae)* ..................................4 Regional Recorders Rhaphigaster nebulosa (Pentatomidae: Pentatomini)* .......5 UK Heteroptera Recording Scheme Organisers ARTICLES: Guidelines for submitting records Water Bug Recording Scheme, Sheila Brooke ......................3 Records received: Plant bugs & allies Grain chinch bug Macchiademus diplopterus on peaches ...6 Updated checklist of Heteroptera recorded in Cheshire & Lancs Very early season for mirids at Fancott Meadows NR .........7 LITERATURE RELATING TO BRITISH HETEROPTERA .....27-29 Red Data & Notable bugs & beetles of Midvale Ridge ........8 APPENDIX Entomophagyy - is it for you? ...............................................9 FERA Plant Pest Factsheet : Halyomorpha halys ..................30 Responses to simulated climate warming of N. viridula ...10 * pp4-5 updated in v1.1 Recent captures of Pentatomoidea in Mallorca RECENT publications Book Review: Hémiptères Pentatomoidea Euro-Mediterranéens, Volume 3: Podopinae et Asopinae, Faune de France 93, by Jean Péricart Fédération Française des Sociétés de Sciences Naturelles, Paris, 2010, ISBN 978-2-903052-31-7, 290pp, 24 colour plates, soft cover, ca. £70. This is Volume 3 of three volumes covering the Pentato- volumes on the Scutelleridae, Cydnidae and Acanthosoma- midae of Europe, North Africa and the Near East - with the tidae. first already published (reviewed in Het News 6, Spring 2006) The present volume is an essential introduction to some and Volume 2 still in preparation. of the more ‘difficult’ Pentatomid species. The present volume - Volume 3 - deals with These often cannot be identified solely from two subfamilies of the Pentatomidae, the photographs, particularly those seen on Med- predatory Asopinae and the rather more di- iterranean holidays! The numerous habitus verse Podopinae. Unfortunately there are few drawings throughout and the illustrations representatives of these subfamilies in Britain of key features and genitalia should make - the Asopinae include only Picromerus bidens, reliable identification of this group far more Rhacognathus punctatus, Troilus luridus, Zic- straightforward and is a major leap forward rona caerulea and (long extinct in Britain) Jalla from the previous identification guide to this dumosa of the 15 treated species and only Po- group, the now outdated Stichel (1961). Many dops inunctus of the 70 species included in the of the Podopinae species are cryptically col- Podopinae. oured although the boldly patterned species Volume 2, still in preparation, will deal with of Graphosoma are an exception. the remaining tribes of the family Pentato- The format follows the previous volume midae, including the Carpocorini and Pen- with details of types and synonyms followed tatomini. The planned series will also include by a description of life stages and ecology and Het News 17/18, Autumn 2011 1 list of localities; rarer species known from only a few or type One additional species, the marmorated stink bug Halyo- specimens are given briefer treatment. As with Volume 1 the morpha halys, was recorded in Europe too late to be included references to the UK fauna are somewhat dated, with recent in Volume 1 and is included in Volume 3 as an appendix. This records of Rhacognathus punctatus from Ireland not includ- species appears to expanding globally from its eastern Asian ed, and the use of dated distributional references mean that native range and has the potential to turn up in Britain as an many recent distributional changes are not recorded for import. many species throughout the book. The overall impression is that there is a surprising amount Distribution maps are given for many (but not all) species to discover about this group even in a well recorded world and there are 24 plates of both preserved and living speci- region, and the number of species known in the region from mens of the groups concerned-particularly useful for genera only a handful of records is quite enlightening, suggesting such as Tarisa whose vibrant green colours in life can fade that there many more exciting discoveries to be made on to yellow in preserved specimens. Photographs of some this group in the euro-mediterranean region. nymphs are also included. The plates are a considerable im- There are occasional typos (e.g. Ancyrosoma given as provement on those in volume 1 as the darkening of plates heading for Picromerus on p217) but these are few and do appears to have been resolved. not detract from the value of this work to defining the euro- As the majority of Podopinae covered have a predomi- mediterranean fauna. Keys to species such as Podops alone nantly Mediterranean distribution it is unlikely that they will are extremely valuable - the nine species which occur in the occur in Britain. The sole exception is Graphosoma lineatum euro-mediterranean zone put our single British species into italicum, (until recently known as G. italicum) which has re- perspective. cently colonised Finland but these recent Finnish records are This book is an essential purchase for those with an inter- also not included. G. l. italicum has previously been confused est in the Pentatomidae of the Western Palaearctic and North with G. lineatum lineatum and it is unclear whether one or Africa. Volume 2 is eagerly awaited. both subspecies have expanded their range. Alex Ramsay The western European Asopinae fauna has been remark- ably static but the majority of these species are rare in West- ern Europe and unlikely to colonise Britain or Ireland. Book Review: Silent summer: the state of wildlife in Britain and Ireland. N. Maclean (ed) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010ISBN 978-0-521-51966-3, 765pp, 16pp of colour plates, hard cover, ca. £28. The hand of a marketting department is ap- The main text is 35 chapters in three Parts: parent in this otherwise interesting and well- I - Factors driving changes in wildlife (10 ch.) produced 1.5kg tome - remarkable value at II -Conservation in action (3 ch.) less than 4p/page! Thus the sub-title is more informative than the ‘headline title’. III - The case histories (22 ch.) This multi-author, well-edited book provides Part III is the meat of the book with 7 chap- a very readable overview of the conservation ters on various vertebrate groups, 9 on insect and status of wildlife in what I would call the groups, 2 on other invertebrates, 1 on plants, British Isles - i.e Britain+Ireland+associated is- 2 on marine habitats (seashore & offshore re- lands from the Channel Isles to the Shetland spectively), and a final overview chapter. The Isles - there is also a slightly odd chapter which entomological chapters are listed in Text Box 1. is an excursion to UK Overseas Territories, Our readers will be particularly interested in which apart from British Antarctic Territory, are the 19pp of Ch.28. Hemiptera, by Alan Stewart mostly oceanic islands. & Peter Kirby. In keeping with the book in gen- The book’s text style is formal rather than eral this is very much an overview. Neverthe- ‘popular’ - the mean word-length is quite long! less it makes interesting reading, not least the However there is a 4½ page glossary to decrypt some overly table of ‘Additions to the British Hemiptera list. 1990 onwards’ - obscure terms. The colour plates range for informative (mi- new arrivals being 28 spp of Heteroptera & 9 Auchenorrhyn- crographs of fish cell deformities), to pointless (12 dragonfly cha. However, it would have been good to have had a pre- portraits labelled with species name). Literature references 1990 equivalent, as a basis for comparison.