Jncc coastal Directories Project Region 11 The Western Approaches

5.3  Land and freshwater invertebrates
91
Table 5.3.2  
Coastal Red Data Book (RDB) species in region (continued)
Species
Description and notes on recorded occurrence in the region
RDB2 (continued)
Cryptocheilus notatus
Spider-hunting wasp, known from only about a dozen counties in southern England.  Always considered rare.
Nests in burrows of small mammals, especially moles.  Prey includes spiders of the genera Agelena, Trochusa,
Tegenaria and Drassodes.  Chapel Porth, 1954; Church Cove, 1991; Gurnard’s Head and Treen Cove, 1954; Loe
Pool SSSI, 1931; Sennen Cove, 1969; The Lizard, 1890-1899, Treen Cliff SSSI, 1954.
White spot moth
*On shingle beaches and chalk or limestone cliffs.  Larvae on Nottingham catchfly Silene nutans.  Very local on
Hadena albimacula
south coast: Kent, Hampshire, South Devon and Cornwall.  Mullion Cliffs to Predannack Head SSSI, 1958.
Lejops vittata
Large hoverfly of brackish ditches.  Closely associated with sea club-rush Scirpus maritimus, on which the
adults feed on pollen.  Larvae aquatic.  Scattered records from the coastal marshes of southern England
including the Thames Estuary, Kent, Sussex and Somerset.  Pawlett Hams, 1982-1983; Southlake Moor, 1982-
1983.
Odontomyia ornata
Soldier fly.  Larvae develop in shallow water of ponds and rivers, the adults visiting flowers nearby.  Locally
frequent, though declining, in the coastal levels of Sussex, Somerset and Gwent.  Known elsewhere from
scattered localities as far north as Norfolk, occasionally inland.  Catcott, Edington and Chilton Moors SSSI, 1982
- 1983; Gordano Valley, 1983; Gwent Levels - Redwick & Llandevenny SSSI, 1985; Gwent Levels - St. Brides,
1985; Gwent Levels - Whitson SSSI, 1985; Moorlinch, 1983; North Moor SSSI, 1982-1983; Pawlett Hams, 1982-
1983; Peterstone Great Wharf, 1991; Southlake Moor, 1983; Wentlooge Level, 1985.
Pherbellia argyra
Rare snail-killing fly found at the edge of permanent ponds.  Larvae have been found in the snails Planorbis
planorbis and Anisus vortex.  Probably several generations pass in a year.  The Lizard, 1981.
Psen bicolor
Small black and red solitary wasp nesting in moist sandy soil, predatory on planthoppers.  England north as far
as Yorkshire, uncommon.  St. Erth Pools, 1927.
Tychius quinquepunctatus Yellowish weevil associated with vetch species.  Recorded from southern Britain.  Kenfig Burrows & Pool, 1992.
pRDB2
Cardiophorus erichsoni
9 mm mottled grey click beetle living in sandy soil on the coast.  Larvae (wireworms) feed on grass roots.  Very
rare, restricted to Devon and Lundy,with small persistent colonies.  Lundy, 1985; The Lizard, 1977.
Cicindela hybrida
*12-16 mm bronze/purple tiger beetle.  Hunts over open ground, particularly sand and gravel, most often
though not exclusively on the coast.  Widely distributed north to Cumbria in the west, Norfolk in the east.
Nowhere common.  Braunton Burrows, 1950; Gwithian to Mexico Towans SSSI, 1958.
Dicronychus equiseti
8-9 mm mottled grey brown click beetle living in sandy places on the coast, usually dunes and cliffs.  Larvae
(wireworms) feed at the base of dune vegetation.  South-western species, Devon, Pembrokeshire and
Glamorganshire.  Braunton Burrows, 1984; Kenfig Burrows & Pool, 1992; Merthyr Mawr Warren, 1988.
Monochroa elongella
Moth apparently primarily associated with sand dunes.  Larvae thought to feed on silverweed Potentilla
anserina.  Braunton Burrows, 1984.
Nephrotoma quadristriata *Cranefly confined to the major dune systems on the west coast of England and Wales.  Usually found on the
backs of mobile dunes, especially near the edges of slacks.  Braunton Burrows, pre 1970.
Psylliodes luridipennis
3-4 mm flea beetle feeding on Lundy cabbage Coincya wrightii on cliff sites on Lundy Island.  Currently thought
to be endemic to the island.  Lundy 1990s.
RDB3
Andrena alfkenella
Widespread but very local solitary bee occurring in sandy places on heathland and at the coast, or on chalk
grassland or chalk heath.  Nests probably in burrows in dry, bare soil or short turf.  Rare and local, seldom
numerous at a site, records confined to southern England north to Lincolnshire.  Harlyn Bay, 1955; Millook
Valley, 1951; Tintagel Cliffs SSSI, 1984.
Andrena proxima
*Mining bee known from coastal landslips and soft rock cliffs, and inland on heathland, the banks of country
lanes and other disturbed situations.  Also on chalk downland in Kent and Berkshire.  Closely associated with
the flowers of umbellifers.  Nest burrows probably in warm, sunny ground with short turf or sparse vegetation.
Extremely scarce: about 20 post-1970 sites, mostly in S. Devon, the Isle of Wight and Kent.  Single records from
Berkshire and E. Sussex.  St. Gennys and Crackington Haven, 1951; The Lizard, 1910.
Arachnospila consobrina
5-9 mm spider-hunting wasp; burrows in sand mainly in coastal dunes.  Biology unknown.  Scattered sites on
the south coast, the Norfolk and Suffolk coast and from south Wales north to Cheshire on the west coast.  Rare.
Kenfig Burrows & Pool, 1993; Merthyr Mawr Warren, 1991.
Marsh moth
*Marginal fenland and marshy places in sand dunes.  Larvae feed on hemp agrimony Filipendula ulmaria and
Athetis pallustris
other fenland plants.  Secretive; found locally in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk; old records
elsewhere.  Gweek Woods, old unconfirmed record.
Cathormiocerus maritimus Weevil recorded from coastal cliffs and rough open ground near the coast.  Probably varied plant diet.  Often
associated with buck’s-horn plantain Plantage coronopus.  Known only on the coast from South Hampshire to
North Devon.  Penrose Estate, 1988.
Cathormiocerus
Weevil recorded from coastal cliffs and rough open ground near the coast.  Probably varied plant diet.  Known
myrmecophilus
only on the coast from East Sussex to West Cornwall.  The Lizard, 1981.
Clubiona genevensis
Spider found under stones and among low vegetation near the coast in south-west England and S. Wales.
Kynance Cove SSSI, 1959-1969; The Lizard, 1977.
Coelioxys mandibularis
Cuckoo bee.  Confined in Britain to coastal dunes where its probable hosts Megachile maritima or M. leachella
occur, digging their nest burrows in sunny, sparsely vegetated areas.  Very local, recorded from the Merseyside
and Wallasey area of S. Lancashire and Cheshire; Glamorganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire; and
W. Sussex and E. Kent.  Merthyr Mawr Warren, 1980.

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