Michael JensenUnidentified bug roams London
July 18th 2008 01:10
The unidentified critter (photo: BBC)
It looks similar to the species Arocatus roeselii that is usually found in central Europe but that variant is bright red and feeds on alder trees. The new bug was first seen in the NHM gardens in March 2007, but there are no alder trees and scientists are supposing it may have switched to feeding on plane trees and therefore been able to breed to now be the most abundant bug in the garden.
As well as being common in the NHM grounds, it has also been seen in Regent's Park and Gray's Inn, so it is branching out.
If this is from Central Europe, the question arises of how it got to Britain. Of course, there are the obvious ideas, such as hitching a lift on a ship or something being carried on it (truck, container etc), but it's incredible how far flying insects can fly and be carried on the wind. This is actually one of the major issues for the quarantine service here in Australia as all sorts can fly in from further north, in addition to being carried.
We have some of the toughest quarantine laws in the world and I've always wondered that we can keep anything out at all given the amount of traffic coming through ports, let alone what nature is capable of bringing our way.
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