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Coleoptera Recorder’s Report for 1999

This report presents an informal review of the most significant records for the past year and should be considered supplementary to the series of papers which I am publishing herein on the Suffolk list. All records are my own except where stated .The national status of each species as given in Hyman (1992) is provided following the name of each species but, although each record is considered in the county historical context, in the interests of brevity, no other references are cited.

CARABIDAE Harpalus punctatulus (Duftschmid) Na A singleton of this Suffolk Middle List BAP species was found in a carrion-baited pitfall trap which I had set in a large semi-wild garden at Wherstead (TM 1641) on 7 August. There are modern records only from Little Blakenham.

BUPRESTIDAE Agrilus sinuatus (Olivier) Na A single example (teste DRN) was found by Justin Gant sitting on shaded herbage near Barnham Carr (TL 8879) during the field meeting at Barnham Heath on 18 August. Previously only known from borings found by Colin Plant in its host tree (hawthorn, Crataegus sp.)) at Shrubland Park in 1995.

ELATERIDAE Procraerus tibialis (Boisduval & Lacordaire) RDB 3 This rare click beetle was found in numbers in the rotten interior of a fallen ash (Fraxinus excelsior) in Willow Spinney, Brantham (TM 1134) on 31 March. First found in the county (as larvae) at Staverton Park in 1960 by the late Prof. Roy Crowson and later by Howard Mendel during his study of the saproxylic beetles of the Icklingham Plains.

DERMESTIDAE Trinodes hirtus (Fabricius) RDB 3 On June 30 a single example was beaten from an old oak (Quercus) with cobwebbed cavities on the edge of a grazed pasture at Freston (TM 1639). This is only the third known locality for this rare species which feeds on the remains of dead flies etc. in spiders’ webs under loose bark, previous records being from Shrubland Park (last recorded June, 1998) and from Brandeston in 1942 (Claude Morley).

ANOBIIDAE Hadrobregmus denticollis (Creutzer in Panzer) Nb I beat a single example of this rarely recorded species from a dead hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) in Horringer Park (TL 8162) on 25 May. Added to the Suffolk List by Howard Mendel on the basis of a specimen found by myself on the Icklingham Plains in 1976 and specimens found by him at Lower Hollesley Common in 1978. The species was found again on the Icklingham Plains by myself and Colin Johnson in 1982 and by Howard Mendel in December 1986.

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PTINIDAE Ptinus palliatus Perris Na First recorded from the Bungay district some 150 years ago, the species was later found breeding under fence post bark at Little Wenham in 1899 by Claude Morley. I have found single specimens at Bramford (1969) and Shrubland Park (1983). On 15 June I beat another singleton from an ancient oak (Quercus) in Horringer Park (TL 8162).

COLYDIIDAE Cicones undatus Guérin-Méneville RDB 1 This recent addition to our British fauna, originally reported by Howard Mendel and John Owen from Windsor Great Park in 1984, has been gradually extending its range and was recorded from Huntingdonshire in 1996 and Essex in 1997. I was not surprised, therefore, when I turned up a single example (new to Suffolk) under a cut sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) branch with sooty bark disease (its typical microhabitat), close to Rougham Park near Bury St Edmunds (TL 9163) on 16 April . The specimen was found in association with Diplocoelus fagi Guérin-Menéville (Biphyllidae). The national status of this beetle clearly needs revising.

OEDEMERIDAE Ischnomera cinerascens (Pandellé) RDB 2 New to Suffolk and discussed elsewhere in this issue.

CHRYSOMELIDAE Orsodacne cerasi (Linnaeus) Surprisingly, this nationally localised, relatively large and easily observed species was unrecorded in the county until 1972 when I found it at Bentley Long Wood. Since that time I have found it at Groton Wood, Shrubland Park and Rougham. This year it has been found commonly by beating at Ickworth Park (TL 8262) on 25 May and as a single specimen by beating trees outside Flowton Brook Farm (TM 0845) on 22 June. It will no doubt prove even more widespread although it remains puzzling why Morley and his contemporaries failed to find the beetle.

Crepidodera impressa (Fabricius) Na Previously only known from a single published record from Barthorp’s Creek where I found it new to the county in 1971, I took a single example of this saltmarsh insect by grubbing at the roots of its foodplant, Sea Lavender (Limonium vulgare) at Shingle Street (TM 3743) on 29 July. There are two other unpublished captures known to me, both by Howard Mendel viz. 13. x. 1978, Benacre (TM 5383) in tideline debris; 14. ix. 1996, Shingle Street (TM 3743). The beetle is almost certainly more widely distributed along our coastline where its foodplant occurs.

Cassida nebulosa Linnaeus RDB I This rare tortoise beetle and its larva feed on Chenopodiaceae. In 1962 a single specimen was taken at Icklingham by Dr. Mike Morris, but it was not until 1994 that a population explosion appeared to occur in the Suffolk and Norfolk

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Breck with the species being found commonly throughout much of the area by Brian Eversham and other coleopterists. The species has a high level of parasitism by an eulophid wasp which could cause rapid population crashes so post-1994 records are of great interest. Howard Mendel noted it at Pashford Poors Fen (TL 7383) on 02 viii. 1997 and more recent confirmation of the continued presence of the beetle was obtained when I found it to be quite common as adults and larvae on a Chenopodium sp. by the roadside at Cavenham (TL 7670) on 18 July.

Acknowledgements I thank: Justin Gant and Howard Mendel for allowing me to include their unpublished records, Mr. K. Alexander (National Trust) for permission to record at Ickworth Park and the following gentlemen for allowing me to record on their property – Lord de Saumarez (Shrubland Park), Mr. S. Paul (Freston Estate), Mr. G. Agnew (Rougham Estate), Mr. J. Cousins (Flowton Brook Farm), Mr. J. Keeble (Brantham Hall).

Refererence Hyman, P. S. (revised Parsons, M. S.) (1992). A review of the scarce and

threatened Coleoptera of Great Britain. Part 1. U. K. Nature Conservation: 3. Peterborough: Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

David R.Nash 3 Church Lane Brantham Suffolk CO11 1PU

COLEOPTERA REPORT