Always on the lookout for snippets of information to include in White Admiral I was pleased to find on the BBC news web page an item headlined “Rare beetle is found in fenland”. The article went on to say that Stuart Warrington has rediscovered the crucifix ground beetle, one of the UK’s rarest beetles in Wicken Fen on the border of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, 50 years after it was last seen at the site. A Google search turned up some fascinating references, including copies of correspondence in 1858 between Charles Darwin (who was fond of the beetle) and J.D. Hooker. Wondering if there were any Suffolk records of the species, I contacted David Nash, the Suffolk Beetles Recorder. This is what he said:

“Panagaeus crux-major is recorded from Suffolk on the basis of an old mid C19th record by William Garneys who found several in a flood near Bungay. Around that time the beetle used to occur locally in marshes and fens throughout southern and eastern England (also in Ireland) and I, therefore, see no reason to discount the record despite its antiquity.

There are only four recent records of P. crux-major for this country – Galway, south Wales, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire - and the beetle is decreasing elsewhere in the north of its range.

We have a second British species, Panagaeus bipustulatus (F.), which is not uncommon in both our vice-counties. It has essentially the same general appearance as P. crux-major but is a local beetle of drier habitats – sandy or calcareous grasslands, dunes, sand and gravel pits etc. It does, however, occur near water if the substrate is appropriate as, for example, around the ditches on Orford Beach.” What the extract above does not show is David’s dislike of the ‘common’ name of the beetle, a name acquired not by virtue of common usage, but I believe agreed by a committee. Is there any point to assigning common names to organisms that have previously been without? The benefits of using Latin binomials apply more than ever in these days of the internet. Had the BBC said ‘Panagaeus crux-major’, people across the globe would know what they were referring to, just as Darwin & Hooker did.

Many thanks to David Nash for his ever helpful advice.

David Walker