Cornish Biodiversity Network  -  Supporting Wildlife Recording

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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Xylocoris cursitans - A bark bug



Range & Status

Widespread across much of England and Wales, but scarcer in the far west.

Regional Distribution

Very uncommon in Cornwall. Recorded in the Victoria County History (Clark, 1906)

but then not seen again until discovered at Boconnoc Park, Lanhydrock Park and Ethy Woods in 1989 (Alexander & Grove, 1991), and Higginsmoor Wood, Lanhydrock in 1993 (Alexander, 1994). Subsequently found at Trelissick Park by Paul Gainey in 2006.

Habitat & Ecology

A predatory species living beneath bark on deadwood which is in the early stages of decay, and often still sappy; it feeds on the larvae of beetles and other insects. The adults are mostly flightless, but full-winged individuals are not uncommon. A relatively immobile species, with poor powers of colonisation, and accordingly confined to the older parks and wood-pastures.

Threats

Loss of old trees and deadwood through over-tidy management of historic parks and wood-pastures.

Conservation

Management for a wide age distribution of trees on the known sites is required, together with the retention of standing and fallen deadwood. The Lanhydrock, Ethy and Trelissick sites are owned by The National Trust, while Boconnoc is an SSSI.

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.