Two Phytobia species are added to the County Durham Diptera list
Jill Cunningham visited West Park, Darlington, County Durham VC66 on 30 December 2023 and photographed the larval feeding signs of Phytobia carbonaria (Zetterstedt, 1848) in Hawthorn and Phytobia cerasiferae (Kangas, 1955) in Blackthorn.
On the same day, Edward Pritchard found larval signs of P. cerasiferae at RSPB Saltholme VC66.
Jill’s and Edward’s records are the first reported occurrence of both species in the vice county.
At the time of writing, the records of P. cerasiferae represents the most northerly to date.
Many thanks to Jill and Edward for submitting the records.
