Bruchidius siliquastri Delobel， 2007 (Chrysomelidae, Bruchinae) new to Britain

摘要

The seed beetle Bruchidius siliquastri Delobel, 2007 (Fig. 1) is associated with leguminous trees of the genus Cercis (Fabaceae), particularly the Judas tree Cercis siliquastrum Linnaeus. It was described from southern France by Delobel in Kergoat et al. (2007), who also cite specimens from Hungary and China (not included in the type series). They assume a Chinese origin. The species has since been reported from Slovakia (Kollar et al., 2009), Belgium (Hanssens, 2009), the Czech Republic (Sefrova et al., 2010), Bulgaria (Stojanova et al., 2011), Serbia (Gavrilovic & Savic, 2013) and Turkey (Hizal & Parlak, 2013), as well as from Spain, where its life history and immature stages have been explored (Yus Ramos et al. 2009a, 2009b, 2009c). I have anticipated its arrival in Britain for some time, and with this in mind have regularly.kept pods of Cercis siliquastrum, including from Silwood Park (2010/11) and Chelsea Physic Gardens (2011/12), but have not previously found any evidence of the beetle or any other seed predator.