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 12 October 2008 00:35 BST

Mystery bug puzzles insect experts

Wednesday, 16 Jul 2008 08:19
Experts are not sure what the insect is
A mystery bug has arrived in the UK that scientists have as yet been unable to identify.

The insect was first spotted last March in the grounds of London's Natural History Museum on the seeds of some of the plane trees and has since been seen in Regent’s Park and Gray’s Inn in London

Its numbers have spread so quickly that it is now the most common bug in the museum's garden.

While the insect appears to be harmless there is potential for it to spread throughout the UK.

It is almond-shaped, red and black and about the size of a grain of rice.

Experts checked it against the museum's national insect collection of more than 28 million specimens but no exact match was found.

"It seems strange that so many of these bugs should suddenly appear," said Max Barclay, one of the Museum's insect experts.

"With international trade and climate change, several new insects are showing up in London every year. Some of the invaders come from southern Europe, but others are from as far away as Australia. The fauna of the city is changing all the time now."

The bug closely resembles the species Arocatus roeselii, which is usually found in central Europe and the National Museum in Prague matched it to an Arocatus roeselii in its collection.

However, the roeselii bugs are brighter red than the new bug and they are usually associated with alder trees rather than plane trees.

"There are two possible explanations," said Mr Barclay. "That the bug is roeselii and by switching to feed on the plane trees it could suddenly become more abundant, successful and invasive. The other possibility is that the insect in our grounds may not be roeselii at all."

The Natural History Museum is working with international colleagues to analyse the bug's body shape, form and DNA to see whether it is a newly discovered species or if it is Arocatus roeselii.
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