A wave of southern European insects, including a newly identified Verge cricket and UK mainland’s first breeding praying mantises, has arrived across the UK amid rising global temperatures and a record-breaking summer of insect migration, according to entomologists and researchers tracking the shift.
Verge Cricket Discovered in West Sussex Following Southern Wildfires
Matt Phelps, an ecologist working at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex, first heard a piercing, whirring sound resembling a film cricket effect on a July evening. Alongside entomologist Graeme Lyons, Phelps spent three hours tracking the ventriloquial noise before finding a female Verge cricket, also known as the Bordeaux cricket (Eumodicogryllus bordigalensis), in a crack in parched clay. Following the announcement, reports emerged of a wave of the species arriving during a major wildfire in Bordeaux, prompting Phelps to question whether the insects fled southern European flames.
Rare Moth Discoveries Expand UK Mainland Species Records
Amateur and professional collectors have recorded multiple first-time insect sightings across the UK mainland this summer. Jackie Harmer, a retired secretary in North Cheshire, discovered an Iberian native moth, Odice pergrata, during her first week of moth-trapping. In north Essex, city trader David Cousins opened his moth trap in June to find a white moth with bluish markings identified as the spotted-seal enolmis moth (Enolmis acanthella), marking an undiscovered genus in Britain.
Did you know? Mantises are the only insects capable of turning their heads from side to side without moving the rest of their body, providing a key hunting advantage that allows for minimal movement while stalking prey.
Praying Mantises and Grasshoppers Establish New Breeding Populations
Olly McKeown, an 18-year-old in Truro, discovered praying mantises crawling across his keyboard, chair, and walls, with subsequent reports confirming UK mainland’s first breeding in locations like the New Forest, as noted by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Meanwhile, Harry Witts of the Essex Wildlife Trust discovered a slender blue-winged grasshopper (Sphingonotus caerulans) at Colne Point, Essex, alongside a new species of big-eyed bug (Geocoris megacephalus) found on a piece of driftwood with colleague Joss Carr.
Climate Change and Migration Drivers Behind Insect Shifts
Liam Crowley, an entomologist at Oxford University and fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, stated that the simplest explanation for these geographical shifts is a warming world pushing insects northwards. Crowley noted that an explosion of migrating insects arrived this summer, utilizing high-altitude air streams from the continent and northern Africa. Record-breaking heat drove a bumper year for migrating species, including hummingbird hawk moths, hoverflies, cicadas, striped hawkmoths, painted lady butterflies, and clouded yellow butterflies, some of which may begin breeding and surviving southern winters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused the influx of new insect species in the UK?
According to Liam Crowley of Oxford University, a warming global climate is driving insects northward, combined with a bumper year for migrating insects carried by high-altitude air streams from continental Europe and northern Africa.
Are these newly arrived insects harmful to local ecosystems?
Matt Phelps noted that while occasional species may become problematic by out-competing native wildlife, many unassisted arrivals find their own ecological niches, settle in, and can even enhance existing ecosystems if they survive the winter.
How were species like the Verge cricket and praying mantis discovered?
Ecologists and amateur enthusiasts located them through acoustic tracking, moth-trapping, and incidental indoor sightings, which experts later verified as the first mainland breeding populations or UK records.