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.

Halticus macrocephalus - A plant bug



Range & Status

Largely a Mediterranean species, and only known in Britain from the north coast of

Cornwall. Difficult to find due to extreme localisation of small colonies within areas of the foodplant, so possibly under-recorded.

Regional Distribution

There are only three records for Cornwall: Rock, near Padstow (in 1956 and 1957) and at Porth Kidney Sands, near St. Ives (in 1968). Recent searches at Rock have failed to re-find the species.

Habitat & Ecology

It lives in very localised colonies on Lady' s Bedstraw Galium verum on sand dunes. The nymphs form extensive feeding damage to the leaves, in the form of large white patches.

Threats

The 1956 colony is reported to have been destroyed by a wind-blow. Natural processes of erosion and deposition within the dune system are therefore a problem although one which the species has lived with for generations. Public access may exacerbate the problem. Development pressure, particularly holiday camps, camping and caravan sites, etc. can be a threat. Abandonment of coastal grazing also leads to habitat loss.

00 Conservation

See introductory section for general principles of habitat management.

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.