Box bug

I was at an event today organised by Chesham & District Natural History Society to celebrate their 50th anniversary. It was a survey of a lovely fragment of chalk grassland overlooking the town which has recently been designated a local nature reserve. I was there partly as an invited naturalist and partly as the current president of the society, a position I'm afraid I do very little to deserve, but I'm trying harder in this special year. A number of other botanical and entemological experts joined the local members of the society to record as much as we could at this site and discuss ideas for future management. Amongst the four species of shieldbug I recorded was this Box bug, Gonocerus acuteangulatus, a new species for me. This is a late-stage nymph, looking quite colourful; the adult stage is a reddish-brown colour, but still has the very pointed shoulders. It is an interesting bug, traditionally only known from Box Hill in Surrey where it was associated, unsurprisingly, with Box scrub and classified as 'very rare'. In the 1990s it was recorded spreading to nearby downs and commons and found on other species of shrubs. During the 2000s it continued to spread and to be found on a wider range of plants. I know it has been found in Bucks, but I think this may be a new record for the Chesham area.