A second Irish record of the ring-legged earwig (Euborellia annulipes (Lucas)) (Dermaptera:Carcinophoridae)Author(s): Roy AndersonSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1 (September 2010), p. 57Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41419220 .

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A second Irish record of the ring- 1 egged earwig (Euborellia

annulipes (Lucas)) (Dermaptera: Carcinophoridae)

Euboriella annulipes (Lucas) is a small, dark- brown, flightless earwig which originated from coastal biotopes on the Mediterranean but now has a cosmopolitan distribution having been introduced to many areas with ships' ballast in the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are a number of records for mainland Britain where it is regarded as a casual introduction (Marshall, J. A. and Haes, E. C. M. 1988 Grasshoppers and allied insects of Great Britain and Ireland. Harley Books, Colchester). Most records are for indoor locations, although types of association, for instance with garden centres, are not indicated.

DOWN: Hillmount Garden Centre, Ballyhanwood, Belfast (J392712), 26 May 2009. One adult Ç found under matting on a table with potted pelargoniums in an unheated greenhouse.

This is the second Irish record. It was first recorded from a cargo of Nigerian mahogany at Dublin Docks in 1983 (O'Connor, J. P. and Nash, R. 1984 Irish Naturalists Journal 21: 351- 353). The female (above) went on to produce a large brood of young in captivity; however, the process of egg-laying and development was not observed. Brood care appears not to be practised but a large number of young have now been reared to adulthood. Garden centres seem to be at the epicentre of a wave of alien introductions of which Euboriella annulipes is an example and more records of this species may be anticipated.

Roy Anderson 1 Belvoir View Park, Belfast BT8 7 BL

Plea minutissima Leach

(Hemiptera: Pleidae) and

Helophilus trivittatus (Fab.) (Diptera: Syrphidae) in Co. Down

Plea minutissima Leach (= leachi MacGregor & Kirkaldy) known as the pygmy backswimmer, has been spreading northwards in Ireland in recent decades. It has recently been discovered in

Field Records - Insects

Cos Monaghan and Cavan (В. Nelson pers. comm.). It is a common species in midland and southern Britain and has been found recently in Wigtownshire, southern Scotland so was expected in Northern Ireland. Its distribution is probably limited by summer temperatures and has therefore benefitted from climate warming (Eyre, M. D., Woodward, J. C. and Luff, M. L. 2005 British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 18: 219-223).

DOWN. Pond beside Dundrum Coastal Path, J4 17389, 7 July 2009. Abundant in shallow water among the roots of Typha in a (freshwater) coastal lagoon formed between a railway cutting on the Dundrum Estuary and the former coastline.

Helophilus trivittatus (Fabricius) has also shown a similar northwards expansion since it was first recorded in Ireland in 1993 (Speight, M. C. D. and Nash, R. 1993 Irish Naturalists Journal 24: 231-236). Like Plea it has expanded northwards in Britain and is now in northern Scotland. I am aware of only one previous record for the northern part of Ireland, that of Speight and Nelson (2000 Bulletin of the Irish Biogeographical Society 24: 171-172) for Mona- wilkin, Co. Fermanagh. It was frequent at Rubus along the Coastal Path near the Plea site (J4 17389) and may have been breeding in the pond margins.

Roy Anderson 1 Belvoir View Park, Belfast BT8 7BL

Calathus ambiguus (Paykull) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) new to

Ireland, from Co. Wexford

Calathus ambiguus (Paykull) was erroneously recorded about eight times from Ireland in the 19th century, but Johnson and Halbert (1902 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 6(3): 535- 827) discounted these records and omitted it from their Irish list. The closely-related Calathus erratus (Sahlberg) has been recorded from Ireland but is rare, and unlike in Britain, appears to have a geographical (climatic?) restriction, to southern and eastern coasts (Anderson, R. 2003 Irish Naturalists Journal 27: 278). In recent years it has been seen only at Portmarnock Co.

Irish Naturalists' Journal 31 No.l 2010 57

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