Ron Carr published Cercyon castaneipennis Vorst as a new British species from specimens collected near Maidstone, East Kent (VC 15) on 4 May 2018 (Carr, 2018). On 15 October 2021 TB and MA visited Farthing Downs SSSI, Surrey (VC 17, TQ2957), a chalk grassland site which is seasonally grazed by cattle. In the course of dung beetle recording, both authors collected several examples of a large and intensely red Cercyon species which was frequent in the cow dung. These were later identified by MA as C. castaneipennis, prompting TB to check older Cercyon material in his collection from Farthing Downs and from other sites nearby. This uncovered a previously misidentified specimen of C. castaneipennis collected at Chipstead Downs SSSI, Surrey (VC 17, TQ2757) on 19 April 2014 (Fig. 1). This record thus becomes the first for Britain and also the first for VC 17. We suggest that C. castaneipennis may now be well-established in south-east England following its arrival from the continent, where it has been apparently replacing C. obsoletus (Gyllenhal) (Vorst, 2009).
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