Blue mint beetle Chrysolina coerulans (Scriba) (Chrysomelidae) breeding in Cambridgeshire

摘要

In September 2012 five specimens of the blue mint beetle Chrysolina coerulans (Scriba) were received by the Royal Horticultural Society's (RHS) members' advisory service, from allotments near Ely, Cambridgeshire (VC 29) (TL5478). The enquirer indicated that the beetles had also been present in 2011. A further specimen was received from Mepal, Ely (TL4480) in October 2012. As far as the authors are aware this is only the second time this species has been confirmed as breeding in England and are the first records from Cambridgeshire. The first breeding record of the beetle was from Newenden, East Kent (VC 15) in July 2011 (TQ8327) (Salisbury, Malumphy & Halstead, 2012). The authors' attention has also been drawn to a photograph showing what is probably a single C. coerulans on mint at Hounsdown, South Hants.(VC 11) (SU3512) which had been placed on the iSpot website in October 2009 (Martin Harvey, pers. comm., http://www.ispot.org.ukode/8032). However, without examination of a specimen this cannot be confirmed as it cannot be certain that it is not the rare blue form of C. herbacea (Duftschmid) (see Salisbury, Malumphy & Halstead, 2012 for notes on identification). Prior to 2011 only four individuals of adult C. coerulans had been recorded in England, from Dover and East Norfolk (Cox, 2007; Sage, 2009a; Sage, 2009b). As predicted, this species appears to be becoming established in Britain and is likely to become widespread (Malumphy, Anderson & Eyre, 2011).