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Spathocera dahlmanni (Schilling) (Heteroptera: Coreidae) at Middlewick Ranges
JERRY BOWDREY
Colchester Museums, 14 Ryegate Road, Colchester CO1 1YG
On 24.viri. 1999 the author and Nigel Cuming were cany ing out an invertebrate survey on the butts
at Middlewick Ranges. Colchester (TM 0022, 0122). Sort turf and bare sandy areas were examined
using a vacuum sampler, and emptied into a white tray. After some minutes of pooling up a variety
of beetles and other insects, some small, very slow-moving bugs were noticed on the bottom of the
tray. On further examination, these proved to be Spathocera dahlmanni, a Notable A coreid bug.
The food plant of S. dahlmanni is Sheep's Sorrel Rumex acetosella and the bug favours sites where
vegetation is recolonizing bare ground (Kirby 1992). Part of the butts at Middlewick were levelled
in 1998, and are actively revegetating. There are also frequent fires during the summer, leading to a
mosaic of sparsely vegetated habitat, conditions which would appear to be ideal for the insect.
Kirby (loc. cit.) describes the species at extremely sparse and local, and gives its distribution as
mainly south-eastern with a stronghold in Surrey. There is a single older record from elsewhere in
Essex, but the number of individuals present at Middlewick must make this site a very important
locality for the species nationally.
I would like to thank Colchester Garrison for permission to carry out survey work at Middlewick
Ranges.
Reference
KIRBY, P. (1992) A Review of the Scarce and Threatened Hemiptera of Great Britain. JNCC,
Peterborough.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 17 (2000)