199' MARCH , ,,. __. ISSN 0952-7583 Vol. 10. Part 1 QL461. B74 V. 10 no. 1 March 1997 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY BRITISH JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY Published by the British Entomological and Natural History Society and incorporating its Proceedings and Transactions Editor: Richard A. Jones, B.Sc. F.R.E.S., F.L.S. 13 Bellwood Road Nunhead London SE15 3DE (Tel: 0171 732 2440) (Fax: 0171 277 8725) Editorial Committee: D. J. L. Agassiz, M.A.. Ph.D.. F.R.E.S. T. G. Howarth. B.E.M., F.R.E.S. R. D. G. Barrington, B.Sc. I. F. G. McLean. Ph.D.. F.R.E.S P. J. Chandler, B.Sc, F.R.E.S. M. J. Simmons, M.Sc. B. Goater, B.Sc, M.LBiol. P. A. Sokoloff, M.Sc, C.Biol.. M.I. Biol.. F.R.E.S. A. J. Halstead. M.Sc. F.R.E.S. T. R. E. Southwood. K. B.. D.Sc. F.R.E.S. R. D. Hawkins. M.A. R. W. J. Uffen. M.Sc, F.R.E.S. P. J. Hodae B. K. West, B.Ed. 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Tel: 01784-464537. email: jmuggleton(a compuserve.com Cover illustration: Duke of Burgundy fritillary. Hatneuris htcina (Linnaeus). Photo: Richard Revels. NOTE: The Editor invites submission of photographs for black and white reproduction on the front covers of the journal. The subject matter is open, with an emphasis on aesthetic value rather than scientific novelty. Submissions can be in the form of colour or black and white prints or colour transparencies. BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST.. 10: 1997 NYSIUS SENECIONIS (SCHILLING) (HEMIPTERA: LYGAEIDAE) NEW TO THE BRITISH ISLES Peter J. Hodge 8 Harvard Road. Ringmer. Lewes. East Sussex BN8 5HJ, AND David A. Porter Leyeshurst, 76 London Road, Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 3DD. On 20.ix.l992 we visited a sheltered heathy clearing in Holman Wood, part of Brede High Wood, East Sussex (TQ7920) in order to study the exceptionally interesting insect community which was present there at that time. The weather was warm for late September, with an early afternoon maximum of about 21 "C, and by sweeping mixed vegetation, which included young birch Betula, greater bird's-foot trefoil Lotus pedunciilatus Cav., St John's wort Hypericum, ragwort Senecio jacobaea L. and ling Calliina vulgaris (L.) Hull, several interesting species of bugs were discovered. These included two specimens of the nationally scarce (Na) shield-bug Eiirydema dominuhis (Scop.) (Pentatomidae), one swept by each of us; a single example of Corizus hyoscyami (L.) (Rhopalidae), swept by David Porter, a species usually associated with sand dunes which appears to be very rare and perhaps not permanently established in East Sussex; and a single female Stictopleurus (Rhopalidae), swept off St John's wort Hypericum by Peter Hodge. Two specimens of an unfamiliar Nysius (Lygaeidae), a male and a female, were swept, probably off ragwort flowers, by Peter Hodge. On 26. ix. 1992 we revisited the site and David Porter swept a single female of the Nysius. The Lygaeid bugs were readily determined as Nysius senecionis, using the 'key to British Nysius' by Kirby (1986). This key was extracted and modified from the 'key to the European Lygaeidae: Orsillinae' (Dolling, 1985). The title of Kirby's key is somewhat misleading and implies that all six species are British. However, this is not the case since A', senecionis has evidently not been previously recorded from either Britain or Ireland. Furthermore, the species has never been included in a check list of British Hemiptera, although it is known to occur in the Channel Islands. Species of the genus Nysius have gained the reputation of being very difficult to identify and many entomologists have collected material which has not yet been named. It is therefore possible that N. .senecionis is standing unidentified in a few British Hemiptera collections. A^. senecionis is readily distinguished from all other British Nysius by measuring the relative length of the first segment of the posterior tarsus, which is not or only slightly longer than the second and third segments together (Fig. 1). In all other British Nysit4s species, the first segment is distinctly longer than the second and third segments together (Fig. 2). In addition, the buccula in A', senecionis is of even height throughout and tapers very abruptly posteriorly (Fig. 3), whereas in all other British species it is higher anteriorly than posteriorly. These two characters make N. senecionis the most distinct and easily identified member of the genus in Britain. The distribution of A. .senecionis includes most of central and southern Europe, and parts of North Africa, but it has not yet been recorded from Scandinavia (Stichel, 1 957-59). — BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 10: 1997 w u Fig. 1. Metatarsus of Nysius senecionis. Fig. 2. Metatarsus of A', graminicola. Fig. 3. Head, lateral view, of TV. senecionis. Reproduced, with permission, from Kirby (1986). Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr Stephen Judd of the Entomology Department at Liverpool Museum for confirming the identification and for his helpful advice, and Peter Kirby for allowing the reproduction of illustrations from his key. References Dolling, W. R. 1985. Key to the European Lygaeidae: Orsillinae (issued with Heteroptera Study Group Newsletter No. 6, December 1985). Kirby, P. 1986. Key to British Nysius (issued with Heteroptera Study Group Newsletter No. 7, May 1987). Stichel, W. 1957-59. Illustrierte Bestimmungstabellen der Wanzen. II Europa. ( Hemiptera: Heteroptera Europae). Privately published, Berlin, Hermsdorf. 4: 87-95. Note added in proof Additional British records of Nysius senecionis (Schilling) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) from Hampshire and Kent.—Since the discovery of this new British bug in East Sussex in September 1 992 1 have kept a sharp look-out for it in other localifies. Until August 1 996 all attempts to rediscover the species met with failure, but on 8.viii.l996 I found several specimens of A'^. senecionis, including pairs in-cop, on flowers of ragwort Senecio jacobaea (L.) growing in sandy soil at Hyde Common near Fordingbridge, South Hampshire, SU1712. On 15.viii.l996 the species was swept in numbers off ragwort at Shortheath Coinmon, SU7736, and in a sandy field near The Warren, near Oakhanger, SU7735, both in North Hampshire. Finally, on 30.viii.l996, 1 found a single male on the ground near ragwort growing on sandy ground near Hailing, West Kent, TQ7063. All indications are that A^. senecionis is now firmly established in many parts of southern England. Peter J. Hodge, 8 Harvard Road, Ringmer, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 5HJ. Editorial comment.—It appears that Nysius senecionis may be spreading and even be moderately common in some parts of south-east England (P. Kirby, pers. com.) and hemipterists are urged to examine recently caught Nysius specimens. The editor would welcome short notes in support of this possible expansion of the bug's range. Richard A. Jones. BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST.. 10: 1997 3 EURYSA BRUNNEA MELICHAR, 1896 (HEMIPTERA: DELPHACIDAE) NEW TO BRITAIN Alan J. A. Stewart School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex. Falmer. Brighton BNl 9QG. A macropterous female of this delphacid planthopper was collected at Roundhill SSSI (S09438) near Westmancote, Worcs. on 25.V.1992 by P. F. Whitehead, who sent the specimen to me for identification. The near-obsolete keels on the vertex and face immediately placed it in the genus Eurysa, but the combination of very dark body coloration and habitat strongly suggested that it was not one of the three species previously recorded in Britain (Le Quesne, 1960: 35-7). The following season, a brachypterous male was caught on 5.vii.l993 within the same general area. Examination of the genitalia of the second specimen confirmed its identity as Eurysa bnmnea Melichar, 1896 { = Eurysa singeri Kupta, 1941), a species new to Britain. Both specimens were taken during general collecting in unimproved grazed calcareous grassland, dominated by Bromus erectus Huds.