Bug ID help, please

[tristanba]

Well done Arp - Box Bug it is! I keep forgetting this is now quite common in UK I don't think Coreus nymphs ever show a green abdomen actually.

I wonder what foodplant these are using in your garden?

[Jason Green]

I wonder

I thought the species was spreading for a sec, but then I read Kent - of course G. acuteangulatus always was South-east, albeit just Surrey. Of course now it's quite... 'common'? in London, Surrey and perhaps Kent...

[tristanba]

It's intriguing why this bug has recently switched to feeding on other plants besides Box and is spreading from its Surrey stronghold - maybe climatic factors? On the continent it is catholic and feeds on a range of plants. Hawthorn seems to be a common foodplant in the UK now but others have been reported; the only specimen I saw this year in north London was on a Bay tree, but I suspect it was just intending to hibernate there!

I reckon it is quite a common bug now in the south-east and maybe even further afield, but still a nice find especially in your garden

[Jason Green]

Originally Posted by tristanba

...On the continent it is catholic and feeds on a range of plants.

Wow, a religious bug

Yes, I too suspect it's climatic... or maybe it just got bored eating the same old stuff

A nice find, I agree, and breeding to boot

[Pudding4brains]

This Dutch document (Aukema et al, 2005) mentions that (goofy xlat by me):

Gonocerus acuteangulatus is one of the species that probably has reestablished itself in the Netherlands and has expanded it's range notably. In our country (=NL) three periods of records for this species can be distinguished:

• Before 1878, with records from Gelderland en Central- en South-Netherlands (5 records)
• From 1947-1950 with records from Central-Limburg only (12 records)
• And 1997 onward, with records in an expanding range of provinces and even on the Dutch isles.

... <snip> ...
In addition to the usual berry-carrying host plants Sorbus, Hawthorn (Crataegus) and Rosa sp. (including Rosa canina), Prunus spinosa and Buckthorn Rhamnus frangula, these authors also mention the coniferous Thuja sp., Box (Buxus sempervirens) and the coniferous Taxus baccata as host plants.

Interestingly, here Box is mentioned as a notable 'new' host plant

I'm no good with plants at all, but I found an egg that developed into a Box Bug nymph on this leaf:


Cheers, Arp

[specimin]

Fantastic you guys,
I shall try and find what plant it is using later on in the year. I found this one on the garden waste bin, but we have several of the plant species mentioned in the garden and close by.

Specimin