BEETLES OF SKIPPERS ISLAND
99
Skippers Island Papers
(6) BEETLES OF SKIPPERS ISLAND
By Peter Hammond
This preliminary account, which is based on collections made
in September 1959, March 1960, June 1960, and April 1961,
contains a very incomplete list of beetles from Skippers Island,
but is presented here as further work is unlikely for some time.
The main features of the island have been described in previous
papers. The two major 'sub-islands' will be referred to in the
interests of brevity, as '(1)' (=Holme Island of Alvin, 1961), and
'(2)' (=Heron Island of Alvin). A third area of dry land, un-
mentioned in previous papers, is to the north of (1), and will be
referred to as '(3)'. The position of this sub-island is clearly
marked on the map contained in a previous paper (Nisbet, 1960).
This area is mainly grass-covered, with a few gorze and blackthorn
bushes, and there is a pond near the northern edge.
Collections have been made on all three sub-islands, on the
saltings, the sea-walls, and the shore, and most situations likely
to yield beetles have been examined. Nests of the ant Lasius
flavus L., which are common on (1) have been searched on several
occasions but no beetles have been found. The Heron Pond (2)
has also produced no beetles.
The list of beetles which have been found on Skippers Island
is short (90 species), although the shore-saltings fauna is fairly
characteristic, a number of these species being abundant. Seven of
these species are previously unrecorded from Essex, and these are
indicated in the list by an asterisk. Few of the species found,
however, are at all uncommon generally.
The number of non-coastal species, from the permanently dry
parts of the island is small. Of course, the types of habitat are
restricted, and the beetle fauna consequently limited. For in-
stance, there are few trees, no cow or horse-dung (many beetles
are almost exclusively dung-feeders), and many flowering plants
which are the specific hosts of common beetle species are absent,
or rare. The absence of dung-feeders, such as Aphodius spp.,
Cercyon spp., etc., of many generally common phytophagous
beetles, such as some Phyllotreta spp., Longitarsus spp., is not
surprising.
Further collecting would greatly extend the present list of
species, but it would seem that the island's beetle fauna is not
very considerable. There is a paucity of varied habitats, but I
would think that the number of species found on the dry sub-
islands is less than would be obtained from a similar amount of
collecting, on an equally unvaried, and equal-sized area on the
adjacent mainland of north Essex.