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NOTES ON THE SUFFOLK LIST OF COLEOPTERA: 8 FOURTEEN SPECIES NEW TO THE SUFFOLK LIST WITH SIGNIFICANT RECORDS FROM THE YEAR 2000 DAVID R. NASH This paper discusses 14 species of beetle which should be considered new to Suffolk for the Index to these Transactions; records of seven of these are reported here for the first time whilst details of seven others which have been published relatively recently in the national literature are presented, with additional records for these species if available. These species are asterisked.

Noteworthy records from 2000 are also reported. The national status is given, following Hyman (1992; 1994) for terrestrial species and Foster (2000) for aquatic ones. All records are allocated to vice-county (v.c. 25, East Suffolk; v.c. 26, West Suffolk) and National Grid references are provided, with those assigned by me to earlier records being placed in square brackets. All records are my own except where indicated. Unless specifically mentioned, there are no Suffolk specimens of any of the species discussed in the Morley/Doughty collection at Ipswich Museum.

DYTISCIDAE *Hydrovatus clypealis Sharp IUCN LOWER RISK near threatened /Scarce A This small reddish coloured water beetle occurs in lowland muddy ponds and ditches with marginal vegetation. It was believed absent from East Anglia until C. M. Drake discovered it on 11 May 1988 at Blythburgh, East Suffolk (TM4475) and sent the record to the national recording scheme for water beetles (Foster, 1990). *Hygrotus nigrolineatus (von Steven) IUCN LOWER RISK (Nationally scarce list A)/Scarce A This water beetle is found in man-made silt ponds of recent origin and is classed as a “fugitive� species by Nilsson & Holmen (1995) i.e. one that quickly colonises new pools and then dies out after only a few years. Its European range has expanded considerably since 1970. It was added to the British list by Carr (1984) as Coelambus nigrolineatus but, following Nilsson & Holmen (loc. cit.), Coelambus is here once again considered a subgenus of Hygrotus.

Following the original capture in a gravel pit in Kent, the species next turned up at a mercury vapour moth Current distribution of trap being operated over the night of Hygrotus nigrolineatus (von Steven) 2/3 July 1986 at Foxhole Heath (TL737774) in the West Suffolk Breck (Foster, 1986). Since that time, the species has continued to expand its distribution in this country (see Map) with Norfolk the latest county to be colonised (Nobes, 2001).

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Adrian Chalkley sent me some water beetles for checking which he had taken at Framlingham Mere, East Suffolk (TL288635) on 2 June 2000.

Amongst these was a specimen which he thought was the species now under discussion but which did not key out properly in Friday (1988). Finding that Adrian’s provisional determination was correct, I looked at Friday’s key and was not surprised at Adrian’s confusion since, although H. nigrolineatus has a characteristic colour pattern, the nine species of the genus are initially keyed out in the first couplet into two groups according to body shape and whether the underside is “smooth and brightly shining between large punctures” or has “reticulation between large punctures”. H. nigrolineatus has fine but distinct microreticulation between the punctures on its underside but Friday places it in the group without a microsculptured underside – hence Adrian’s understandable confusion! The only British member of s.g. Coelambus without microreticulation on its underside is confluens (Fabricius). H. nigrolineatus is, therefore, now recorded from both vice-counties.

HYDROPHILIDAE Helophorus dorsalis (Marsham) IUCN LOWER RISK (nationally scarce List B)/Scarce B This rather distinctive Helophorus with pale humeral markings is typically found in muddy, leaf-filled pools within lowland woodland. Morley (1899) recorded the species from Suffolk on the basis of the citation for the county in Stephen’s “Manual” (1839) and an 1857 record by W. Garneys from near Bungay, East Suffolk [TM38]. The species was not reported again from the county until John Bratton found the beetle in a puddle in a footprint on 21 April 1990 at Groton Wood S.S.S.I / Suffolk Wildlife Trust Reserve, (TL977428) and in both a water-filled hole caused by a tree blowing over and a shaded pond without aquatic vegetation in Wolves Wood R.S.P.B. Reserve (TM055438) (Foster, 1990; J. Bratton, pers. comm.). On 16 June 2000 I found several specimens in a water-filled rut at Mellfield Wood near Rougham (TL9260) together with Helophorus aequalis Thomson, obscurus Mulsant and griseus Herbst (a single male).

The latter beetle, which is afforded the same national status as dorsalis, was once considered part of Helophorus minutus s. lat., but Angus (1969) in his detailed studies of the aedeagi of the genus, established that it was, indeed, a good species in its own right. In southern Britain, the species is characteristic of exposed, temporary clayey pools. The beetle is plainly scarcer than the true minutus Fabricius but is probably frequently overlooked. Old records unsupported by voucher specimens cannot be accepted. There are over 50 specimens (originally placed over affinis Marsham) standing above this name in the Morley/Doughty collection; some of these are almost certainly misidentifications and I intend to re-identify this series. All the above modern records are from v.c. 26.

LEIODIDAE *Nemadus colonoides (Kraatz) The pioneering work of N. H. Joy (1906) focused attention on the coleoptera occurring in the nests of mammals and birds. He reported finding over 46 specimens of Nemadus colonoides in the damp nest of a sparrow, many in an

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owl’s roosting place in a hollow oak as well as a singleton in a starling’s nest.

This little beetle, prior to Joy’s work considered a great rarity, is now known to occur locally in birds’ nests in sheltered places such the interior of hollow trees but, unless its habitat is worked, is unlikely to be found. I am aware of only one published record for the county; Nemadus was found by P. C. Tinning in the litter of the hollow oaks in Staverton Park, East Suffolk [TM35] in October 1972 (Welch & Harding, 1974). This list, although published in these Transactions, did not attempt to indicate new county records except when discussing a small number of national rarities. To this can now be added the following unpublished captures :17–24 June 1997 – remains in a water trap set in a hollow oak pollard at Aspal Close, Beck Row near Mildenhall, West Suffolk (TL700773) (Welch, 1997) ;12 July 2000 – 4 exx. by Berlese funnel extraction from rotten wood of interior of fallen hollow ash near Freston Church, East Suffolk (TM1639).

SILPHIDAE Silpha obscura Linnaeus RDB 2 Vulnerable This carrion beetle was formerly widespread in England but now appears to be in decline, with modern records for just three vice-counties, all in southern England. It is possibly associated with sandy or chalky areas (Hyman, 1992).

Morley (1899) cites the old records for v.c. 25 of Stephens (1839) for Aldboro’ (sic) [TM45], the Paget’s (1834) from “about Burgh Castle; uncommon” [TG40] as well as referring to John Curtis’ county citation without locality. He was only able to add one record (also for v.c. 25): Southwold, 1894 (H. J. Thouless). These records are all omitted by Hyman (loc. cit.)

As far as I am aware, therefore, the species had not been noted in Suffolk for over a century until it was rediscovered in significant numbers at its last recorded locality on 14 May 2000 by Nigel Cuming who found a remarkable aggregation consisting of about 200 Silpha obscura and a few S. tristis Illiger, wandering about in the sun on the sandy beach at Easton Bavents, Southwold, (TM515785). On 24 May, individuals were found on the Easton Broad’s side of the short cliffs about 300 m away from the original find. Most silphids and their larvae feed on carcasses or terrestrial molluscs but there was no evidence of either of these at the sites. I am grateful to Nigel for voucher specimens.

SCYDMAENIDAE *Scydmaenus rufus Müller, P. W. J. & Kunze RDB 2 Vulnerable This tiny beetle is only known from some seven southern vice-counties and is usually found under the bark of fallen deciduous trunks and more rarely in wood mould or manure heaps. It typically occurs in ancient broad-leaved woodland or pasture-woodland. Denton (1999), in presenting several new records from Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, suggests that the status of S. rufus as “Vulnerable” is clearly unwarranted. On 15 June 1999 I found it in some numbers under the thick loose bark of a prostrate, mature, felled Scots Pine in Horringer Park, West Suffolk (TL8162). The beetles were extremely active and rapidly dispersed into cracks and crevices. I am unaware of a previous record from pine although the beetle has been recorded from a cedar log.

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STAPHYLINIDAE *Tachinus flavolimbatus Pandellé RDB K Insufficiently known.

This Tachinus was first detected in this country by the staphylinid specialist W. O. Steel who recorded it from Cambridgeshire and Kent and provided excellent diagnostic figures of the secondary sexual characters of the abdominal tergites and sternites of flavolimbatus and its close allies T. marginellus (Fabricius) and T. laticollis Gravenhorst (Steel, 1961). Collier (1989) drew attention to additional published records from Jersey, Huntingdon and Norfolk and provided a second record for the latter county. As far as I am aware, the only vice-counties in which it is still frequently taken are those of East and West Kent. I have recently found the beetle in Suffolk on three occasions, in all cases as single examples: 3 October 1997, very old straw bales in keeper’s garden near Warren House, East Bergholt, East Suffolk (TM0834); 7 April 1998, old dung heap, Stutton, East Suffolk (TM1333); 23 June 1999, strawheap, Canada near Icklingham, West Suffolk (TL7775).

Xantholinus angularis Ganglbauer Na This species occurs in the interior of rotten trees and was included in Morley’s county list (1899: p. 35) (as glaber Nordmann) on the basis of the record included in Stephens “Illustrations” (1827–1835). There were no further captures until Howard Mendel found it in v.c. 26 on the Icklingham Plains (Mendel, 1989). To his records can now be added the following, both from v.c. 25: 10 September 1997, one sieved from rotten beech stump, Shrubland Park, Coddenham (TM1253); 12 July 2000, one by Berlese funnel extraction from rotten wood of interior of hollow, fallen ash, Freston (TM1639).

CANTHARIDAE *Rhagonycha translucida (Krynicki) Nb This nationally widely distributed but scarce cantharid was first taken in the western vice-county by Colin Welch who beat a single specimen from oak foliage in Aspal Close, near Mildenhall, West Suffolk (TL700773) on 17 June 1997 (Welch, 1997). The species should be added to the published list of notable beetles from Aspal Close (Welch, 1999b). It can now be reported from v.c. 25: 13 June 2000 one beaten from blackthorn on the edge of Hintlesham Great Wood (TM0743). Keith Alexander (National Cantharoidea and Buprestoidea Recording Scheme Organiser) suggests translucida may primarily occur in the tree canopy in open situations (or on wood edges) rather than inside dense woodland, a suggestion supported by both these captures.

LYMEXYLIDAE Lymexylon navale (Linnaeus) RDB 2 Vulnerable This woodborer attacks oaks and breeds in standing trees, felled trunks or in cut stumps. It always occurs where the underlying sapwood has been dried out somewhat as a result of the bark being damaged or removed.

The only record for this species in the county is contained in Elliott’s (1929) supplement to Morley (1899) and is based on a sketch of a larva (teste Morley) found in ship’s timbers at Walberswick [TM47] in 1924 by a Major Cooper. On 19 July 2000, whilst recording with my friend Nigel Cuming in the woodyard at Shrubland Park, Coddenham, East Suffolk (TM1252), I found

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a female L. navale on the underside of a freshly-cut, sappy oak plank. Suitably alerted, we subsequently found the beetle flying in numbers in the hot sunshine to freshly-cut oak trunk sections (vide Nash, 2001a for further details).

CUCUJIDAE Pediacus depressus (Herbst) Na This usually rarely encountered, subcortical species was added to the Suffolk list by the late B. J. MacNulty on the basis of adults which he reared in June 1969 (from pupae taken under the bark of old cut oak trunks in Suffolk on 27 May 1969) and which he exhibited at the meeting of the British Entomological and Natural History Society on 23 April 1970 (MacNulty, 1970). When I originally reported this capture in these Transactions (Nash, 1981) I was unable to assign a locality and grid reference as these had not been provided by the captor. Learning recently, however, that Cardiff Museum had received MacNulty’s collection upon his decease, I contacted them to try to obtain the missing information. Fortunately, two of the specimens which MacNulty had reared were extant and showed that the pupae had originated in “Tuddenham”.

As MacNulty is only known to have collected in the Breck of Suffolk, this record is referable to the West Suffolk locality of that name [TL77] not that near Ipswich. There was also a third West Suffolk specimen which had been taken at Mildenhall [TL77] on 23 June 1973. The species had eluded me nationally until last year when I found it in two East Suffolk localities: 19 July 2000, 2 exx. beaten from isolated, old stag-headed hedgerow oak Tattingstone (TM1337); 1 August 2000, 2 exx. on sappy cut oak plank in woodyard, Shrubland Estate, Coddenham (TM1252).

CRYPTOPHAGIDAE *Atomaria scutellaris Motschulsky RDB K Insufficiently known This species has an essentially Mediterranean distribution and was originally added to the British list on the basis of specimens taken in the Scilly Isles by K. G. Blair in 1932 (Allen, 1968). Johnson’s distribution map (1993) showed that the beetle now occurred in Cornwall, Sussex, and Surrey and he commented that the beetle seemed to be expanding its range inland in southern England. A. scutellaris has recently been reported from Wales (Welch, 1999a).

On 12 July, 2000 I beat a single example from an old oak near Freston Wood (TM1740) confirming that the beetle is continuing to establish itself. I am currently unaware of any other East Anglian records although it seems only a matter of time before the beetle is detected elsewhere in the region (vide Nash, 2001b).

COCCINELLIDAE Nephus quadrimaculatus (Herbst) RDB 2 Vulnerable Until the last twenty years or so, this pretty little four-spotted ladybird, normally found on ivy in this country, had been considered a great rarity.

When Pope published his revision of the smaller British ladybirds (1973), the species was only known from a relatively few captures in Kent, Cambridgeshire, ?Norfolk, near Manchester and Suffolk. British records were so few that he did not bother with providing a distribution map. In recent

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years, the beetle has been recorded much more frequently, perhaps because coleopterists (and ladybird enthusiasts armed with well-illustrated books) are targeting the beetle or because the beetle is becoming commoner and less localised, having been favoured by particular ecological conditions or climate amelioration. Recently, in a detailed survey of the ladybirds of Surrey (Hawkins, 2000) it has been found that Nephus quadrimaculatus, first recorded there in 1993, is now common in the north and west of that county, currently being known from 32 tetrads. The history of the beetle in Suffolk is very interesting. The first two British examples were taken in the first half of the 19th century by William Kirby, rector of Barham [TM15) and were almost certainly found in his home parish or the adjacent one of Coddenham. The majority of specimens in old British collections originate from some 220 specimens taken off the same Scotch fir (sic) at Coddenham by Frederick Fox of Needham Market between May and September 1894 all of which were carded and liberally distributed (Fox, 1894; 1895a; 1895b). After Fox’s capture, the beetle was not noticed with us until it was taken from ivy on an old laneside elm at Frostenden [TM48], East Suffolk on 16 September 1935 by Morley and later by Chester Doughty on 20 October (Morley, 1935). It was reported from this same spot annually in these transactions between 1935 and 1939 and was last noted there by Morley on 30 September, 1946 (Morley, 1946). There are Morley, Doughty and Fox specimens in the Morley collection. Morley (1938) erroneously suggested that the beetle probably only existed in the larval state in high summer (i.e. all over-wintering adults were dead) as he had been unable to find adults in June. Although June is the month in which eggs and larvae of almost all our ladybirds occur, in many species some adults from the previous year usually remain alive and intergenerational pairings sometimes occur when the new generation emerges. I have taken the beetle twice in June and I know of records for every month except December, January and March, these latter months being the times when the beetles are normally inactive and over-wintering. Morley (1946) correctly concluded that the beetle was associated with the ivy growing on the trees, not the trees themselves, but erroneously suggested that it might prey on nymphs of the homopteron Issus coleoptratus (Geoffroy), a species which lives on ivy and which was recorded with the ladybird. In the year of Morley’s death, Thompson (1951) actually gave this timely warning: “The various species of ladybirds do not actually feed or at least feed habitually on all the various host insects with which they are associated in the records” and the “gradual accumulation of such records in the literature finally gives a picture which may be completely inaccurate in so far as the real behaviour and food habits of the species are concerned”. Hodek (1973) later tabulated the tribal food specialisations within the Coccinellidae and showed that there was extensive specialisation within the individual genera of Scymnini with 62% known to prey on coccids and 23% on aphids; Nephus spp. were specifically associated with coccids of the genus Pseudococcus. It is now thought Nephus quadrimaculatus may prey on the coccid Phenacoccus aceris (Signoret) (vide Pope, 1987). Following the Frostenden captures, the beetle was lost sight of again in the county until 5 September 1981 when Howard Mendel beat the

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species in profusion from ivy growing over the porch of Badley Church near Stowmarket, East Suffolk (TM0655) (Pope, 1987). A year later the ladybirds had vanished as the ivy had been stripped away and the porch tidied (H. Mendel pers. comm.). I rediscovered the beetle in Coddenham, East Suffolk on 1 June 1983 when I beat several specimens from ivy growing on mature pines and a mature oak on the Shrubland Estate (TM1153). I have regularly found the beetle on ivy-overgrown trees there ever since, the last record being 19 July 2000 (TM1252). On 13 September 2000 I found the ladybird in two new East Suffolk parishes when I beat it from ivy-smothered oaks near Hemley Church (TM2842) and beside the road at Brightwell (TM2543). To these records from the eastern vice-county can now be added the first for v.c. 26: one beaten from ivy growing on a barn at Syleham, near Eye (TM2078) on 21 February 1999 (Martin Collier).

The national status of this species is plainly in need of reappraisal.

MELANDRYIDAE *Orchesia minor Walker Nb Buck (1954: 7) rather surprisingly does not comment at all on the frequency of occurrence of our three species, of Orchesia , merely contenting himself with stating that they are all widely distributed in England and that they occur in Scotland and Eire. The unicolorous pitchy brown Orchesia micans (Panzer) is quite common. Adults and the characteristic larvae are frequently found in the fungus Inonotus hispidus (Bull. ex Fr.) Karst on ash trunks. The variegated Orchesia undulata Kraatz is much scarcer and more localised and is mainly taken, in my experience, by beating fungus-encrusted branches or from under bark, especially of beech. It was new to Suffolk when I found it at Bentley Long Wood in 1974 (Nash, 1976). I have subsequently taken it as follows: 18 July 1999, Barnham Heath, West Suffolk (TL8879), one on beech log; 12 July 2000, Freston, East Suffolk (TM1639), beaten in some numbers from fungus encrusting a dead branch on a mature oak; 5 June 2001, one swept in Martin’s Glen, Bentley, East Suffolk (TM1036). Our third species, minor Walker (of a similar colour to micans although somewhat darker and smaller), seems to be very local and generally rare and I had not encountered it anywhere until last year. Whilst beating dead hazel in a very extensive under-storey area made up almost exclusively of this species and birch within Mellfield Wood near Rougham, West Suffolk (TL9260) on 16 June 2000 a small unicolorous brown Orchesia dropped onto the tray. From the beetle’s size and the habitat, I considered it unlikely to be micans, a species which seems rarely to be found far away from its fungus host. My surmise was proved correct when later microscopic examination showed it to be Orchesia minor new to the county.

CERAMBYCIDAE Mesosa nebulosa (Fabricius) RDB 3 Rare This fine, rare species of longhorn probably breeds most frequently in the topmost dead branches of oak but, as it is not attracted to blossom, is usually only taken when adults become dislodged from these and drop onto surrounding vegetation or when these branches fall enabling the beetles to be detected and dug out. The beetle was included by Morley (1899) (as M. nubila

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Ol.) on the authority of W. Garneys who reported it as very rare near Bungay, East Suffolk [TM38] and the presence of a single specimen in William H. Baker’s collection “taken many years ago at Battisford”. The latter specimen was almost certainly taken by Baker’s father who collected in the neighbourhood of Battisford, East Suffolk [TM05] in the first half of the 19th century. Surprisingly, given the date when he was writing, Morley comments of this collection in his preface (loc. cit.: iv) that it “contains many of the scarcer wood-feeders, which appear fast becoming extinct with us”. Morley (1938) adds two further records viz. one beaten at Assington, West Suffolk [TL93] in May, 1915 (B. S. Harwood) and a male beaten from oak at Bentley Woods [TM13], East Suffolk, 28 May 1938 (Percivale Burton). This last specimen is in the Morley collection. The late Edgar Milne-Redhead gave a specimen to Ipswich Museum which he had found in his sitting room at Nayland, West Suffolk on 10 May 1984 (TL972343) and which had almost certainly emerged from fire logs, mainly elm (Ulmus spp.), which had come from West Bergholt, Essex and Leavenheath, West Suffolk (TL93) with the latter site being relatively close to the definite Assington capture. This specimen is housed in the Morley/Doughty collection but, unfortunately, cannot be assigned definitely to either county. To these few captures I can now add a specimen swept on a fine but windy day from rank grasses under oaks etc. on the edge of Ramsey Wood, Hintlesham, East Suffolk (TM0642) on 31 May 2000. The beetle had probably been blown out of the canopy by the high wind.

CHRYSOMELIDAE *Lilioceris lilii (Scopoli) Until the late 1970s, the bright red Lily beetle Lilioceris lilii, a pest of cultivated lilies and not native to this country, was chiefly restricted to Surrey, Berkshire and Hampshire. Since the early 1980s, however, there has been a massive expansion in its range and it is now known from almost every vicecounty in southern England with established colonies as far north as West Lancashire, two records from Wales but none so far from Scotland or Ireland (Cox, 2001). A number of factors which are likely to have contributed to this expansion have been suggested, including the movement of planting material, global warming and resistance to DDT following its post-war overuse (Cox, op. cit.). The beetle appears to have first been noticed in our county in 1990 and I have records (presented here in chronological order) from gardens etc. as follows: 27 September 1990, Ipswich (TM14), anon., R.H.S. Wisley record; 11 April 1995, Bacton, West Suffolk (TM0466), Miss L. Stow (per M. Collier); 2 April 1999 et. seq., Brantham (TM1033), S. Gant; 13 September 1999, Kedington near Haverhill (TL64), anon., R.H.S. Wisley record; 24 April 2000, Dunwich, Bridge House Nursery, East Suffolk (TM4770) J. Bowdrey; 30 April 2000, Leiston, East Suffolk (TM4462), G. Ackers; 27 August 2000, Ipswich, East Suffolk (TM1845), C. Barham; 3 June 2001, Stonham Aspal, East Suffolk (TM1359) J. Foster; summer 2000 and spring 2001, Ipswich (TM1744), D. Sanford.

Cox (op. cit.) suggests that the beetle’s establishment in East Anglia may be hindered by the colder winters compared with southwest England.

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ANTHRIBIDAE *Platystomos albinus (Linnaeus) Nb This fine large weevil (Fig. 1) which feeds on fungoidal wood was first found in the county by Mark Telfer who came across two examples sitting on a deciduous log at the How Hill Track S.S.S.I (TL7576) on 24 May 1994 (Telfer & Eversham, 1995). The beetle was next taken by Stuart Gant who found a specimen resting on herbage at West Stow (TL7971) on 28 August 1999 and subsequently by Howard Mendel who swept one from around birch logs at Pashford Poors Fen S.S.S.I (TL7383) on 30 April 2000. All three records are from v.c. 26.

Stephens (1839) cites the species from Norfolk without locality.There appear to have been no further reported captures in Norfolk until Martin Collier beat one from a dead branch on a live alder at Santon Downham, West Norfolk (TL8188) on 14 May 1995. This capture is included here as it indicates that the species is well-established in the Suffolk/Norfolk Breck. The species may perhaps be another of those benefiting from climate amelioration.

Figure 1. Platystomos albinus (L.) (scale line = 2 mm)

Figure 2. Bruchela rufipes (Ol.) (scale line = 0.4 mm)

URODONTIDAE *Bruchela rufipes (Olivier) This species breeds in the fruits of Wild Mignonette Reseda lutea L. and Weld R. luteola L. I have been awaiting the arrival with us of this distinctive little beetle (Fig. 2). as it has gradually been extending its range since its rediscovery in Britain in South Essex in 1984 (Hyman, 1987). The first known

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Suffolk capture was made by Paul Lee who swept it from the grassy heath at Mildenhall Airbase (TL6871) on 7 July 1999. On 26 July 2000 I swept the beetle in numbers from both host plants on the edge of the Plains at Icklingham (TL7673) and from R. lutea on set-aside at Canada (TL7775). All captures are for v.c. 26 (vide also Nash, 2000).

CURCULIONIDAE Otiorhynchus raucus (Fabricius) Nb This weevil was added to the Suffolk list in Morley’s First Supplement (1915) to his “Coleoptera” (1899) on the basis of its discovery in June on Felixstowe cliffs , East Suffolk [TM33] by E. A. Elliott. The year is not given but it must have been between 1899 and 1911 as the record was repeated in identical fashion in the Victoria County History (Morley, 1911). The species appears to have been unrecorded again until Martin Collier found it in the sandpits at Homersfield, East Suffolk (TM2986) on 30 May 1986. I found single specimens on the wall of my bungalow at Brantham, East Suffolk (TM1134) in May 1998 and on 4 July 1998 I later found it on the shore under the sandy cliffs of the nearby Stour estuary at Stutton (TM1433) on 23 September 2000 (one in shore litter) and 9 June 2001 (several grubbed at roots of Atriplex prostrata Boucher ex DC etc.). *Cionus tuberculosus (Scopoli) The Figwort weevils are all readily detected as adults or larvae as they feed externally on the foliage of their host plants and when found are usually in numbers. That Cionus tuberculosus has been undetected here until now indicates its extreme localisation in Suffolk, since nationally it is only accorded local status. Allen (1974) from his experience in the south and southeast England, considered it very local stating that among our seven Cionini it was only exceeded in rarity by C. thapsi (now nigritarsis Reitter) and longicollis Brisout. I swept the species from Scrophularia auriculata L. by the Fairy Lake on the Ickworth Estate, West Suffolk (TL8160) on 5 May 1999 and later on 2 July. Fowler (1891) cited it from marshy places on both Scrophularia nodosa and S. auriculata and Cunningham’s detailed studies of the genus (1974; 1975) endorsed this finding although Allen (loc. cit. supra) indicated that the beetle also occurred on S. nodosa along hedgebanks. *Gronops inaequalis Boheman RDB K Insufficiently known This weevil was first found by evening sweeping at Murston on the North Kent coast in 1982 and subsequently under Atriplex prostrata Boucher ex DC which may be its preferred foodplant in this country (Clemons, 1983). It was not reported from elsewhere until 1997 when a singleton was found on the strandline at Gibraltar Point N.N.R. in Lincolnshire (Key, 1998). In the same year, a specimen turned up in a pitfall trap in an arable field being allowed to revert to lowland heath and grassland on the R.S.P.B Minsmere Reserve at Westleton, East Suffolk (Ashby, 1998). I have subsequently ascertained that the specimen was trapped near Walkbarn Farm, [TM4568]. I can now add a second Suffolk record: 21 July 2000, Hemley, East Suffolk (TM2842), one grubbed under mat of Atriplex prostrata among other ruderal weeds on the edge of a sandy arable field bordering the saltmarsh.

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*Trichosirocalus thalhammeri (Schultz) Trichosirocalus thalhammeri closely resembles the common T. troglodytes (Fabricius). The latter feeds on Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata L. but thalhammeri feeds on Sea plantain P. maritima L. in saltmarshes and therefore does not occur away from the coast.

This weevil was first recognised in Britain by John Parry of Tenterden, Kent from beetles which he collected in 1982, and published records also exist for Gloucestershire and Glamorganshire (vide Owen, 1994). Hodge & Jones (1995) indicate that it is “apparently widespread” although I am unaware of other published records. In 1997, Dr. M. G. Morris very kindly sent me a ms. list of his Suffolk captures. In his list there is a record of a Trichosirocalus troglodytes which he took by grubbing in the saltmarsh at Walberswick (TM368437) on 9 April 1963 and which he indicated needed checking against thalhammeri. At my request, he kindly dissected the specimen and the beetle proved to be a male thalhammeri.

Orobitis cyaneus (Linnaeus) (originally Nb in Hyman, 1986) This weevil is associated with Violet (Viola spp.) and was included by Morley in his “Coleoptera”(1899) on the authority of the eminent entomologist William Kirby’s comment to his friend William Spence (in lit. 11.08.1806) that he had found the beetle “In our old favourite haunt, the chalk pit”. Kirby was rector of Barham [TM15], East Suffolk from 1796–1850 and had originally been appointed to the curacy in 1782 so the locality can easily be assigned.Unlike many old records in the literature unsupported by voucher specimens, this one can be accepted without question given the singular appearance of the beetle and unquestioned competence of the recorder. The only other published record for Suffolk of which I am aware is that of Dr. G. W. Nicholson who found one in a sand-pit at Freckenham, West Suffolk [TL67] on 2 May 1917 (Elliott, 1936). I have only met with the beetle by sweeping under the beech canopy in the New Forest, Hampshire but Howard Mendel found a specimen crawling up his house wall at Martlesham Heath Village, East Suffolk (TM2344) on 6 June 2000. This capture has made me wonder whether O. cyaneus could be distributed with plants from garden centres.

Acknowledgements I thank: Messrs. Adrian Chalkley, Cliff Barham, John Bratton, Martin Collier, Nigel Cuming, Jim Foster, Stuart Gant, Paul Lee, Howard Mendel, Dan Sanford and Drs. Michael Morris, Mark Telfer and Colin Welch for allowing me to include their unpublished records; Dr. Mike Cox for details of Suffolk records of Lilioceris held on his database, Prof. Garth Foster for helpful correspondence and the distribution map of H. nigrolineatus, Mr. David Lampard (Keeper, Natural History) for access to the Morley and Doughty collections at Ipswich Museum; Dr. Brian Levy (Cardiff Museum) for details of the P. depressus in the MacNulty collection.; Alice Parfitt (R.S.P.B, Minsmere) for help in pinpointing the G. inaequalis site and a full list of captures from the Stone Curlew project; the following for allowing me to record on their property or that in their care – Mr. G. Agnew (Rougham

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Estate), Mr. K. Alexander (National Trust, Ickworth Park), Mr. O. Eley (East Bergholt Estate), Major C. Gurney (Great Martin’s Hill Wood), Mr. S. Paul (Freston Estate), the Earl of Iveagh and his Conservation Officer Mr. J. Rudderham (Elveden Estate), Mr. P. Strutt (Stutton Estate), Lord de Saumarez (Shrubland Park), Mr. R. Vonk (R.S.P.B Warden, Ramsey Wood).

Finally, I am very grateful to the Registrar, Royal Entomological Society of London for permission to reproduce from Morris (1990), the two fine drawings of weevils by John Read.

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