Tribe DICYPHINI
Campyloneura virgula - I caught 5 of these tidy bugs in my garden moth trap in July 2019 - 3 on 23rd and 2 on 25th. This was the third consecutive year I have trapped this species but sadly none in 2020.
Campyloneura virgula, North Elmham, 23rd July 2019
Dicyphus errans - A Dicyphus nymph swept from Common Hemp-nettle at the meadows on 30th August 2020 would probably have been left unidentified except that I swept an adult from the same plant on 11th September. Even then I had some trouble with the identification, initially landing on epilobii. At first I ruled out errans because this is supposed to have the first segment of the antenna black, or at least dusky in teneral examples, not red as in epilobii. After ruling out errans I found it quite difficult to interpret the width of the callosities (it would key to constrictus if I took the callosities to be large) but figured that the dark spots at apex of corium and cuneus seems to support epilobii. My hesitation with this ID was that British Bugs website says it should be on Great Willowherb (which does grow nearby but the presence of both nymph and adult on the same plant suggests that they hadn't merely wandered there from the willowherb 100 yards or so away). The mystery developed when I caught another very similar-looking bug in my garden moth trap on 30th September - this one was a male so I was able to check its left clasper to make absolutely sure I was on the right track - and it appears that I wasn't! The left claspers are only illustrated in the key not described, but on epilobii the crest on the distal half of the clasper looks like it should be longer and narrower, extending about half way along the top of the clasper, whereas in errans it is shorter and broader. The whole distal section of the clasper is illstrated as being broader and straigher in errans and narrower and clearly curved in epilobii. Both share a cluster of setae near the bend with some minor differences that are hard to call either way on my specimen but based on the shape of the distal section and the size and shape of its crest, I have to conclude that mine is errans. So, what of the reddish first antennal segment? Well, it does look a bit reddish on some photos on the interweb, so I think this must be ok. And that being so, what of the ones at the meadows? Surely these, being on Common Hemp-nettle which is a known foodplant for errans, must then be errans too? At this point I discovered an additional ID feature that I had initially overlooked, the colour of the mesopleura. On epilobii they are pale, on errans dark. Thankfully I had one photo of the adult from the meadows that showed a dark mesopleuron, so yes, these were errans too. Phew. These were my first records of any Dicyphus species.
Dicyphus errans nymph, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th August 2020
Dicyphus errans, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 11th September 2020
Dicyphus errans, North Elmham, 30th September 2020 - showing left clasper
Macrolophus rubi - A new species for me in 2019 but clearly a common one. I caught 3 in my garden moth trap in 2019, on 27th June, 21st August and 22nd August, and then 7 between 25th June and 15th August 2020. Although I've been looking more carefully at bugs in the last couple of years than before, I was picking out thinigs as distinctive-looking as this during at least the previous couple of years so if they're normally this common I'm surprised I hadn't picked it out before. Maybe these were good years - time will tell. [Update May 2021: hmm, I now see there is a confusion species, Macrolophus pymaeus. So far as the relative lengths of the antennal segments are concerned all mine that I photographed look good for rubi, and the obvious dark spot at the tip of the clavus does too, but the lack of a dark spot at the tip of the scutellum on any of my 10 concerns me...] [Further update May 2021: the jury is still out but it's looking like these may well be Macrolophus pygmaeus.]
Macrolophus sp., North Elmham, 21st August 2019
Tribe DERAEOCORINI
Deraeocoris flavilinea - One inside the house on 1st July 2019. My wife had just returned from the allotments where in 2018 I found several (nymphs and adults) on a currant bush, so it's possible that this was its origin. However in 2020 adults caught in the garden moth trap on 4th and 16th July so they're present round here too. Also a nymph at the meadows on 1st June 2020.
Deraeocoris flavilinea, North Elmham, 1st July 2019
Deraeocoris flavilinea nymph, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 1st June 2020
Deraeocoris flavilinea, North Elmham, 4th July 2020
Deraeocoris flavilinea, North Elmham, 16th July 2020
Deraeocoris lutescens - Singles in the garden moth trap on 2nd June 2019 and 26th September 2020. Several found at the meadows with singles on 3rd and 25th August 2019 and on 4 dates between 3rd August and 5th September 2020.
Deraeocoris lutescens, North Elmham, 2nd June 2019
Deraeocoris lutescens, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 25th August 2019
Deraeocoris lutescens, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 4th Juanuary 2020
Deraeocoris lutescens, North Elmham, 26th September 2020
Deraeocoris ruber - One found on Fleabane at Thompson Common on 7th August 2020 and then another found on Fleabane, this time at Whitwell Common, on 12th August. When I potted the first one it seemed to have a damaged head but it wasn't until I got it home to identify that I realised the extent of this damage - there was a big hole at the front of its pronotum and its head was missing! By the time I got round to looking at it 5 hours had passed since finding it in its damaged state and, bizarrely, it was still alive and active! I'm yet to find this species here or at the meadows - not surprising if it favours Fleabane but according to British Bugs it occurs on a variety of plants especially nettles.
headless Deraeocoris ruber, Thompson Common, 7th August 2020
Deraeocoris ruber, Whitwell Common, 12th August 2020
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