20
The Essex Naturalist
caprea/cinerea). New to the county. A. reclairei has historically had a very
compact distribution in contiguous parts of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire
and Cambridgeshire, just crossing the border into Suffolk and
Northamptonshire. There is evidence of recent spread in and from this region,
probably especially associated with the growth of willows, the foodplants,
around gravel pits. Two seemingly isolated populations are known, in Kent
and Warwickshire, and there must he a suspicion that other populations have
existed for some time outside the main centre of distribution. Given the
presence of a population in Kent, and the abundance of willows in some parts
of Essex, this could almost be regarded as a record waiting to happen.
However, A. reclairei is usually found on large flowering and fruiting trees of
white willow (Salix alba), and generally in considerable numbers where it
occurs. The finding of a single individual on another species of willow could
indicate a wanderer (though not necessarily from very far afield). It will be
worth watching out tor reddish-brown mirids on white willows elsewhere in
the county.
The changed climate in recent years appears to have led to a number of
species of Heteropteta spreading or becoming established nationally. The
recording of S. abutilon (above) reflects this on a county scale. There is also
some evidence of increase in species of dry habitats. David Millet has, for
example, recorded the shieldbug Aelia acuminata (Linnaeus) from several sites
in the southwest of the county. This is a distinctive and easily recorded
species, which appears to have increased and spread elsewhere in southern
England, and which is unlikely to have been overlooked in past surveys in this
relatively well-worked part of the county.
Finally, there are some species which have not yet been recorded in Essex
but which should be, and which it seems worthwhile to mention in order to
encourage careful observation. Three groundbugs (Lygaeidae), previously
unknown in Britain or recorded only as occasional vagrants, were recorded
quite widely in southern England in 1996: Emblethis denticollis Horvath; Nysius
senecionis (Schilling), and Metopoplax ditomoides Fieber. All are characteristic
of rather weedy ruderal communities. M. ditomoides and N. senecionis are not
infrequently found together beneath mayweeds on disturbed ground such as
field margins, disturbed road verges, and construction sites. E. denticollis is
perhaps more characteristic of open-structured dry grassland. All are almost
certainly established, and possibly quite widespread, in Essex.
References
Dolling, W.R., 197S. The British species of Stictopleurus Stal (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae).
Entomologist's Gazette 29: 261-263.
Groves, E.W., 1965. Hemiptera-Heteroptera of the London area. Part 2. The London Naturalist
44:82-110.
Massee, A.M., 1955. The county distribution of the British Hemiptera-Heteroptera. Second
edition. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 91: 7-27.