Dear Adastrans,
I was undertaking a woodland assessment near Ebernoe on Friday with Lou Parkinson when we found a very distinctive golden, 4-spotted beetle sitting on some buckthorn. It was later identified as
Dendroxena quadrimaculata; a nationally rare species.
This carrion beetle is an active predator of moth larvae and hunts among the foliage. It is no doubt keeping busy as The Weald is currently being defoliated by huge numbers of larvae who have benefitted from a cold winter.
There are no previous records of this beetle in the Sussex BRC database and county beetle recorder Peter Hodge notes that the Sussex VCH list (1905) describes it as "Rare; Laughton, Brighton".
Today, whilst surveying Pheasant Copse near Petworth with Clare Jeffers, I found another one.
It was sat on some nettles hassling a Mottled Umber caterpillar.
As the species is distinctive I thought I would share these pictures with you
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38274126@N04/3519010435/and ask you to keep an eye out for this beetle on your travels around the county. If you see this species send your record to the nice folk at Woods Mill so we can find out more about its status and distribution in Sussex.
best regards,
Michael Blencowe
