Phasia hemiptera (Diptera: Tachinidae) is a large and unusual-looking fly which, in the male sex, has very distinctively shaped and coloured wings which it is suggested make it look rather like a member of the order Hemiptera (hence the specific name of the species).
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Phasia hemiptera (Diptera: Tachinidae) is a large and unusual-looking fly which, in the male sex, has very distinctively shaped and coloured wings which it is suggested make it look rather like a member of the order Hemiptera (hence the specific name of the species).
21 May 2020
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
Attracted to light on 25/04/2020 in Newhaven
Photo: Steven Teale
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
Attracted to light on 25/04/2020 in Newhaven
Photo: Steven Teale
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
A cluster of four males around a female, Poverty Bottom, 20/04/2020
Photo: Steven Teale
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
Attracted to light on 25/04/2020 in Newhaven
Photo: Steven Teale
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
Attracted to light on 25/04/2020 in Newhaven
Photo: Steven Teale
Rhizotrogus aestivus (Striped Summer Chafer),
A cluster of four males around a female, Poverty Bottom, 20/04/2020
Photo: Steven Teale
This month it has been confirmed that a beetle which was previously unknown in the UK outside of the Channel Islands is alive and thriving in Newhaven, East Sussex.
The beetle, Rhizotrogus aestivus, is a chafer similar in appearance to the familiar Summer Chafer (Amphimallon solstitialis), but smaller and less hairy. Like many other chafer species, it feeds as a larva on the roots of plants. Adults of the Striped Summer Chafer appear slightly earlier in the year than other closely related species, from April until June. As the name suggets, the wing-cases have a stripe running along them.
The adults appear shortly after sunset each night and are active for only about 25 minutes before settling down again. During this short time the males search for females, which perch low down on grass stems and appear to produce pheromones to attract the males. Although this chafer is much less clumsy than Cockchafers and Summer Chafers, it is still quite clumsy and can take some time to home in on a female. Clusters of several amorous males can be found clambering over a female and, where more than one female is in the same patch of ground, up to several dozen males have been found in a scrum around them.
The story of their discovery is rather unusual and slightly embarrassing. The first indivudual recorded in 2020 was attracted to a light trap I run each night in my Newhaven back garden. This is the embarrassing bit: I had been catching this chafer for at least two years, maybe even three or four, but passing it off as a Summer Chafer. It was only because the first one this year turned up on 20th April that I realised I had been wrong. It took several days of searching to find that it resembled Rhizotrogus aestivus. It was only when I checked the NBN Atlas and found no records of the species that I began to think it might be a special find. This was my email on 27th April to Bob Foreman at the SxBRC and Graeme Lyons:
“I’ve been recording Rhizotrogus aestivus in my moth trap for a few years, but have never bothered to record them. I saw today that there don’t appear to be any records on the NBN Atlas, so I thought I’d check whether this species of interest to you. If it is I’ll start recording it!”
After an initial flurry of excitement, Graeme forwarded my photos onto the national specialist for scarab beetles, Darren Mann. Darren was confident that the ID was correct, but needed to see the beetles up close. This was arranged and, on 12th May, Darren wrote:
“You’ll be pleased to hear that they are indeed Rhizotrogus aestivus (A.G. Olivier, 1789), I’ve given it a common name ‘striped summer chafer’ , by the numbers you’re seeing (as long as they’ve been confirmed by you) it can be given a status of ‘Established Introduction’.”
In the meantime I had checked back through my records and realised, to my shame, that I had not bothered to record when I’d found it in my trap in the past. The oldest record I could find was of one photographed at the end of April 2019 in Fort Road, Newhaven by my friend Sue Cross. This is the first sighting we can make a record from.
The discovery of this species is remarkable for a few reasons. Firstly, it is rare for such a large, conspicuous and charismatic beetle to have been overlooked until now. It is most likely that it hitched a lift, possibly on more than one occasion, on a boat across the English Channel rather than making the journey under its own steam, this being because of its bulk and poor command of the air. This is not uncommon; newly colonising species are often first recorded around ports such as Newhaven.
The astonishing thing about this previously unknown beetle is that we have found it in its thousands and in all places with well established grassland between Cliff Road in Peacehaven to the west and Poverty Bottom in the east. This area covers six tetrads. It could have colonised the area around Newhaven many years ago. Further searches will be made this year, so it might be even more widespread than we have already found.
It would be especially interesting if anyone else comes across this beetle while out just after sunset, or if it is attracted to a light trap. Please report this to Bob Foreman ( bobforeman@sussexwt.org.uk), along with a photograph, if you do.
Steven Teale
