New 'Pied' Shieldbug species: Tritomegas sexmaculatus

[tristanba]

Originally Posted by Acutipuerilis

Wow - a bit of BBC I can actually watch from China.
Good to see them getting a bit of publicity - well done, if it was you who sorted that out (although you seem to have missed out on your potential five minutes of fame)...

I couldn't really make the morning they wanted but spent a long time talking to the journalist on the phone. They said they would be giving the piece a climate change angle so I told them to discuss Colletes and Nezara in addition to T. sexmaculatus. Not only do they completely fail to mention climate change as the most likely explanation for these new arrivals, but also start talking about Leptoglossus, labelling it a 'pest', when in fact it is likely to have minimal impact in UK!

[Acutipuerilis]

I did wonder where all the pine nut plantations were that I'd somehow missed in the UK... Oh well. No accounting for journalists, alas. I've been lucky the few times I've dealt with them, but I've heard horror stories too (for example, an archaeologist being asked just before going on air if there were any subject areas they should avoid... and then focussing on those). Whatever gets a reaction, I guess.