First Lancashire and Cheshire records of true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) with revised county checklists Dr. Stephen Judd National Museums Liverpool, William Brown St., Liverpool, L3 8EN, [email protected] Introduction An impressive 45 true bug species have been recorded for the first time from Lancashire and Cheshire since the last county checklist was published some 25 years ago (Judd, 1986). They are summarised below and include 45 first records for Lancashire (VC59 & VC60) and 42 first records for Cheshire (VC58). Updated county checklists are also presented here, with 274 species now recorded from Lancashire (194 localised for VC59 and 165 for VC60) and 293 species recorded from Cheshire. Records have been obtained from a number of sources. Cheshire and some Lancashire records are held on the rECOrd database and some VC60 records are held by the Cumbria Biodiversity Record Centre. Unlocalised records for aquatic bugs are published as dot maps in Guest et al. (2003) and Huxley (2003). Modern vouchers for specimens recorded by M.D. Bigmore, C. Felton, L.W. Hardwick, S. Judd, G.T. Knight and I.D. Wallace are housed in the National Museums Liverpool (NML) collection. Records for Sound Common, Cheshire, Sefton Coast dune heath and Ainsdale Sandhills LNR are published in Judd (1995, 1996, 1999 & 2002). Historic, pre-1970 records, were extracted from county checklists compiled by Whittaker (1906 & 1908), Britten (1930), Massee (1955) - including additional unpublished annotations made by the author to this checklist; Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Committee cards housed at Manchester Museum; voucher specimens collected by W.E. Sharp and J.W. Ellis housed in the NML collection; Flint’s (1964) unpublished report on the Hemiptera of Ainsdale National Nature Reserve and a database of Sefton Coast invertebrates, maintained by NML. N.J Steeden provided an impressive 77 first VC60 records, including 19 new to Lancashire. The remaining records have been provided by other individual fieldworkers. First county records NEPIDAE Waterscorpions Water Stick Insect Ranatra linearis (L.) - An adult netted by J.P. Guest from a pond at Mobberley, Cheshire (SJ8082) on 19th June 2002 (Guest, 2002) was the first record for Cheshire. R. Jackson at Ollerton (SJ783749) located a second specimen, on 27th May 2004. A third specimen was caught in a bottle trap, near Bramhall (SJ909841), set by M. Robinson in May 2004. Another one was netted by D. Bentley on 27th May 2007 at a pond in Knutsford (SJ7698) and M. Tynen recorded it on 11th June 2008 at Lawton Hall Lake (SJ8242955510), between Stoke and Congleton. D. Bentley also recorded the first Lancashire record (VC59) when he found this species by torchlight on 26th May 2007 at Barracks Lodge, Bury, Greater Manchester (SD78451032). CORIXIDAE Waterboatmen Micronecta scholtzi (Fb.) - Listed as rare in Cheshire by Guest et al. (2003). S. Judd collected the first specimen from a saline pool at Aldersey Green (SJ463568) on 18th June 1986 and this was determined by I.D. Wallace. On 10th August 2001 J. Guest found a few specimens in the ditch-like outflow stream from Watch Lane Flash (SJ7260). APHELOCHEIRIDAE Aphelocheirus aestivalis (Fab.) - Recorded for the first time in Cheshire when hundreds of adults were found by J.P. Guest at Forge Brook, Northwich (SJ665757) on 14th July 1999 (Guest, 2002). Subsequently also by J.P. Guest in the side-race of the Church Bridge lock on the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire st Union Canal (SJ5646) - probably on 1 June 2003. J. Lancs. & Chesh. Ent. Soc., 133 & 134 (2009 & 2010) 1 NOTONECTIDAE Backswimmers Notonecta maculata Fab - There are three post-1970 Lancashire (VC59) records for this species in the distribution map presented by Huxley (2003). However, the first county record was by J. Denton in 1990 from the Sefton Coast (VC59) at Slack 104, Ainsdale NNR. Notonecta viridis (Delcourt) [= N. marmorea Fab.] - Not recorded in Massee (1955) or Judd (1986) for Lancashire or Cheshire. Listed as rare in Cheshire by Guest et al. (2003). The first Cheshire record was on 23rd June 1975 by A. Muir at Neston Ponds, Neston, Wirral (SJ299771). There are five post 1970 records for Lancashire (VC59 & 60) in Huxley (2003). I have no details of the first county record. GERRIDAE Pondskaters Swamp Pondskater Gerris lateralis Schum. - Listed as scarce in Cheshire by Guest et al. (2003). The first Cheshire record was in 1976 by A.A. Savage at Petty Pool Brook and Whitegate Marsh (SJ618701). SALDIDAE Shorebugs Chartoscirta elegantula (Fall) - Recorded new to Lancashire (VC60) by N.J. Steeden on 26th September 2003 from a clay slope by the River Wyre, south of Knott End (SD346477). There were further records from this site in 2004 and 2009. Halosalda lateralis (Fall.) - First collected in Cheshire by S. Judd on 23rd July 1993 at Burton saltmarsh (SJ301735). Saldula palustris (Doug.) - The first Lancashire record (VC60) was found in April 2002 by J.M. Newton on bare mud in a saltmarsh at Sunderland (SD422557). Salda muelleri (Gmelin) - Recorded for the first time in Lancashire (VC60) on 28th May 1989 by N.J. Steeden from Winmarleigh Moss (SD442476). There are no Cheshire records. TINGIDAE Lacebugs Acalypta nigrina (Fall.) - Recorded for the first time in England by J.M. Newton on 19th July 2007 from the Bowland Fells, Lancashire at Long Clough (SD665590 - VC60) (Newton, 2008). Dictyla convergens (H.-S.) - First recorded in Lancashire (VC60) by S. Hewitt in 1995 from Hawes Water (SD4776). Dictyonota strichnocera Fb. - First collected in Lancashire (VC59) by S. Judd on Gorse Ulex europaeus at Pex Hill, Cronton (SD5088) on 8th September 1984. Physatocheila dumetorum (H.-S.) - The first Lancashire (VC60) record was on 14th September 2008 by N.J. Steeden from Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna bordering Peel Clay Pit (SD356309). Creeping Thistle Lace Bug Tingis ampliata (H.-S.) - First recorded in Cheshire by S. Judd from beside the River Weaver at Frodsham (SJ540787) on 18th June 1988. This species has subsequently been widely recorded in the county, with records from at least 12, 10km squares. The first Lancashire record (VC60) by N.J. Steeden was on 22nd May 1992 from a St Annes garden (SD328292) and the first VC59 records were by S.J. McWilliam on 20th September 2000 from grassland at Willow Farm Wood, near Preston (SD586257 and SD587258) and on 21st September from South Meadow, Longworth Clough, near Bolton (SD701149). MICROPHYSIDAE Minutebugs Myrmedobia exilis (Fall.) [= M. tenella] - A specimen in the NML collection, found by M.G. Fitton on 27th August 1969 and confirmed by L.N. Kidd, from Abbots Moss (SJ5868), is the first Cheshire record. MIRIDAE Capsidbugs Dicyphus annulatus (Wolff) - One adult recorded by S. Judd from a fixed dune ridge at Ainsdale Sandhills LNR (SD2911) on 11th July 2000 was the first record for Lancashire (VC59). Two more specimens were recorded from Salix in a slack at the same site by C. Felton on 8th October 2000. Dicyphus errans (Wolff) - First recorded from Cheshire by S. Judd on 30th September 1993 from Sound Common (SJ6248) with a second record by S.J. McWilliam on 7th July 1997 from Hawarden (SJ317702). Macrolophus pygmaeus (Rambur) - Recorded for the first time in Cheshire by L.W. Hardwick on 22nd May 1987 from Witton Flashes (SJ662753). Alloetomus gothicus (Fall.) - Recorded for the first time in Lancashire (VC60) on 11th August 2000 by N.J Steeden from a MV trap set in a St Annes garden (SD337298). Deraeocoris flavilinea (A. Costa) - This species has been rapidly spreading since it was first recorded in Britain in 1996 (Miller, 2001). The first Cheshire record was a single specimen collected by A.J. Ramsay (Ramsay, 2010) sweeping a Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna hedgerow in a cattle grazed field near Northwich, Cheshire (SJ694723) on 26th July 2007. It was first recorded in Lancashire (VC59) by J. McGaw from a young planted woodland site at Lunt, near Crosby (SD342014) on 23rd June 2008. The second Lancashire record, again in VC59, was made by C. Rowan on 19th and 21nd June 2010 when he photographed this specimen on Field Scabious Knautia arvensis in a small patch of wildflowers in an urban courtyard at Hulme (SJ836965). J. Lancs. & Chesh. Ent. Soc., 133 & 134 (2009 & 2010) 2 Deraeocoris lutescens (Schill.) - First recorded in Lancashire (VC59) on the Sefton Coast by C. Felton on 17th June 1997 when an adult was found in Birch scrub at Freshfield Dune Heath (SD293089). Apolygus [Lygocoris] spinolai (M.D.) - Three adults collected by S. Judd from Creeping Willow Salix repens in a slack at Ainsdale Sandhills LNR (SD2911) on 7th July 2000 were the first Lancashire (VC59) records. Lygocoris populi Leston - A single record, the first from Cheshire, by S.J. McWilliam on 28th August 2000 from Cheadle Royal Business Park, Lakeside, Manchester (SJ85298708). Lygus maritimus Wagner - The first Lancashire (VC59) record was from Ainsdale Sandhills LNR (SD2911) where eight adults were collected by S. Judd from Sea Rocket Cakile maritima and Orache Atriplex sp. on frontal low mobile dunes on 14th September 2000. European Tarnished Plant Bug Lygus rugulipennis Poppius - First recorded from Lancashire (VC59) at Ainsdale Sandhills LNR (SD2911) when an adult was swept from nettles on 29th June 2000. The first Cheshire record was collected by R.A. Askew in October 1976 from Abbots Moss (SJ5868). This species has been widely recorded subsequently. Megacoelum infusum (H.-S.) - The first Lancashire (VC60) specimen of this bug was beaten from Oak on 25th August 2003 by N.J. Steeden at Westby Wood, Weeton (SD385338). The second record, also by N.J. Steeden, was on 13th August 2006 from Carr Bridge Wood, Westby (SD361332 - VC60). Phytocoris pini Kirsch - Collected for the first time in Lancashire (VC60) by N.J.