Scaphium immaculatum (Olivier) (Staphylinidae) new to Sussex

摘要

In inclement weather conditions on 23 April 2012 I sieved a single specimen of Scaphium immaculatum (Olivier) from a pile of garden rubbish deposited alongside Old Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex (TQ9618). Four days later, I revisited the site in more favourable weather and took a further four specimens from the same pile of debris. This distinctive beetle was recently rediscovered in Britain by Alex Williams (2009), who took three specimens on the sand dunes at Greatstone, Kent. The only previously known locality for the species was near St Margaret's Bay, Kent, where it had not been recorded in Britain since 1936 (Shirt, 1987). At the Camber site, the south side of Old Lydd Road passes alongside the adjacent dunes, being located some thirteen miles southwest of Greatstone. The Camber dunes are more extensive than those at Greatstone and are separated by the shingle promontory of Dungeness. The pile of garden refuse was approximately a wheelbarrow load in volume and also contained Calathus mollis (Marsham) (Carabidae) and Stenus clavicornis (Scopoli) (Staphylinidae), together with both the black and red forms of Silpha atrata Linnaeus (Silphidae). As residential properties are situated along the north side of Old Lydd Road, the debris was most likely of local derivation. Williams (2009) refers to the thermophilus tendency of S. immaculatum on the continent, the recent discovery of the species at Camber apparently representing a further extension in its known range.