Tag Archives: British bugs

Bug: Kleidocerys resedae 

27 Friday Jun 2025

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As I think I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been fortunate to find several new bugs and beetles this year. This is one of those, now seen twice one month apart. Let me introduce you to the Birch catkin bug (Kleidocerys resedae), a member of the Lygaediae, the seed bugs that live in, on and around the seeds of various plants. In this case, as you can tell from the name, Kleidocerys resedae can be found on Birch trees (Betula species), the nymphs in particular munching on the catkins.

These are attractive little bugs, generally red-brown in colour, with some paler markings and transparent wings. There is a darker form Kleidocerys resedae f. privignus, which can be found around Alder trees, and I wonder if the bug shown below might be one of those. I actually spotted it on scrub underneath some trees, one of which was an Alder.

Birch catkin bugs can be found throughout Britain, as well as in North America and Europe, and you might be lucky enough to see them at any time of year, as they overwinter as adults (though they are thought to hibernate in colder climates).

Rhopalus subrufus

06 Friday Jun 2025

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I felt a bit like a voyeur watching these handsome bugs doing their private business but I’d never seen their species before and, with them being preoccupied, it was the perfect opportunity to take a closer look and get some photographs. Rhopalus subrufus is one of four species in the genus Rhopalidae but, fortunately, R. subrufus is relatively easy to identify by the light and dark banding around the edge of its body (that flange is called the connexivum). The location where I found these two is typical of the habitat they favour: on low scrubby vegetation near trees or woodland.

Second hopper of the year

22 Wednesday Jan 2025

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Now you may be wondering ‘Did I miss the first hopper of the year?’ Well, the answer is no. I actually found my first two hoppers in fairly quick succession during last Sunday’s walk, simply by turning over Bramble leaves that were growing along a sunny sheltered lane. The first was a leafhopper, and I’m fairly sure of its identity but a valid query arose when I posted a photo on social media so I decided to wait until that was resolved before blogging about that hopper.

This second bug, a Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), was sitting on a Bramble stem, enjoying the sun’s warmth and, no doubt, hoping to be ignored. But a human came lumbering over, spotted it, and thrust a black object in its face. Fortunately, the human didn’t stay long, and the little froghopper returned to its basking.

A is for Alder spittlebug

06 Friday Dec 2024

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Today, scary as it may be that another year has seemingly passed by so quickly, we begin the run-up to 2025! As I’ve done a couple of times before, I’m going to review this year’s finds and posts, based on an alphabetical countdown. And so we begin with the letter A and one of my favourites of this year’s bugs, the Alder spittlebug (Aphrophora alni), which I blogged about on 31 August.

241206 a is for Alder spittlebug (1)

I don’t think this one was very impressed that I was taking photos while they were mating.

241206 a is for Alder spittlebug (2)

Spear thistle lacebug

10 Thursday Oct 2024

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My eye was drawn to this particular Creeping thistle by the presence of four Urophora cardui galls on the plant’s stems (for information on what those are, see More galls, part 2, 4 October 2017) and, when I leant down for a closer look, I noticed this tiny creature, my first ever lacebug. (There were also lots of aphids lurking amongst the leaves, as you can see.)

241010 Spear thistle lacebug (1)

I’m fairly sure I’ve identified this correctly, as the black tips to its antennae are apparently diagnostic, but, for some reason, it’s living on the wrong species of thistle – this is the Spear thistle lacebug (Tingis cardui). I think you can see why it’s called a lacebug – the intricacy of the structure and patterning of its body is really quite exquisite. You can read more about this beautiful bug on the British Bugs website here.

241010 Spear thistle lacebug (2)

Alder spittlebug

31 Saturday Aug 2024

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“High five!”

240831 Aphrophora alni Alder spittlebug (1)

The Alder spittlebug (Aphrophora alni) is very similar to the Common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), and I have a feeling I may have mistaken them in the past, as this was the first time I was certain this was the spittlebug. The British Bugs website explains that ‘The genus can be recognised by the keel running down the midline of the head and pronotum, and the species by the colour pattern with distinct white patches near the margin of the wings’. To my eye, the spittlebug is a noticeably bigger – the froghopper is 5-7mm long, the spittlebug is 9-10mm – and wider in the beam.

240831 Aphrophora alni Alder spittlebug (2)

Heterotoma planicornis

08 Monday Jul 2024

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Though I had never seen one of these before, with those flattened parts of its antennae there was no mistaking this little insect. This is Heterotoma planicornis, a tiny member of the Miridae family of plant bugs. It can be found throughout Britain, on various plant species – mine was on the leaf of an Alder tree. The NatureSpot website reports that the eggs hatch in May and the nymphs develop in to adults from June onwards. The tiny bug I found was still a nymph so I guess it will be making its final change fairly soon.

240708 Heterotoma planicornis

New bug: Cymus glandicolor

29 Wednesday May 2024

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As I’m stubborn and won’t use apps to help identify the things I find, it took me two and a half weeks to work out what these creatures are and then, truth be told, I only worked it out by using an app, Google lens, once I’d posted some images on Twitter and cried ‘help!’.

240529 cymus glandicolor (2)

I saw the tiny bugs first on this Pendulous sedge on 6 May, lots of them, mostly mating. After that sighting, I tried trawling through the images on the British Bugs website but couldn’t narrow down an identification. My excuse is that I focussed on checking through all the plant bugs, whereas this is actually a member of the Lygaeidae groundbug family.

240529 cymus glandicolor (3)

After seeing these little bugs on the exact same sedge (but not on other sedge plants nearby), still mostly mating, on 23 May, I decided to try again to find their name. And so, thanks to Google lens, I can at last introduce you to Cymus glandicolor, a lover of the damp places where sedges like to grow, mostly in England and Wales, though recently recorded also in Scotland according to the British Bugs website.

240529 cymus glandicolor (1)

Nettle groundbugs

07 Monday Aug 2023

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Considering how much nettle I see, I’m amazed I’d never seen a Nettle groundbug (Heterogaster urticae) before last Thursday, when I saw heaps, at various stages of growth between egg and adult, all out sunbathing in little groups on nettle leaves. And there are only 114 records in the Welsh database of flora and fauna, which also surprised me.

230807 nettle groundbugs (1)

They’re actually very attractive little bugs, rather hairy, with quite diverse markings in their different instars. The British Bugs website reports that they overwinter as adults so, in theory, we should be able to see them all year round. The website also says that, when they mate, the male and female ‘may remain coupled together for several days’ – nothing like making sure they’ve succeeded, I guess.

230807 nettle groundbugs (2)

Sorry my pics aren’t the sharpest – the bugs were moving around a bit – but I wanted to show as many instars as possible.

Galls: Psyllopsis fraxini

12 Monday Jun 2023

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There is a place locally I call the secret field because it has just a couple of quite well-concealed entrances and very few people visit it – in fact, of the many local people I know there’s only one who knows this place. It is surrounded by large mature trees, which means the location is quite sheltered, and the field itself seems to have been planted with saplings perhaps 10-15 years ago, judging by their size. This secret field is where I make many of my most interesting discoveries, and this is one of the most recent.

230612 psyllopsis fraxini on ash (1)

These are galls on the leaves of Ash trees (upper leaf above, lower leaf below) caused by the larvae of a small bug called Psyllopsis fraxini, also known as the Jumping plant louse according to the Naturespot website, though I’m not sure that’s an official name. There are, apparently, three species of this Psyllopsis bug whose larvae cause galls like these so when recording such finds the aggregate name is used, Psyllopsis fraxini agg. You can read more about these wee beasties and see photos of the adult on the British Bugs website here.

230612 psyllopsis fraxini on ash (2)