Gonocerus acuteangulatus
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Gonocerus acuteangulatus is a herbivorous species of true bug in the family Coreidae. It is commonly known as the box bug in the UK as it once only occurred in Box Hill in Surrey where it fed on box trees. This species was formally described by the German zoologist Johann Goeze in 1778, under the name Cimex acuteangulatus.
This species commonly occurs throughout the Mediterranean region and extends to Central Asia and parts of northwestern Europe. These heat-loving bugs inhabit mainly dry and warm, south-exposed environments, bushes and forest edges with shrubs that bear berries and small trees of various families, especially Buxaceae and Rhamnaceae, as well as Rosa canina and Crataegus species (Rosaceae) or Lonicera xylosteum (Caprifoliaceae).
Gonocerus acuteangulatus is a medium-sized insect, between 11 and 14 mm long as an adult. These bugs are speckled reddish-brown with a slightly expanded abdomen. The nymphs have a green abdomen. This species is rather similar to Coreus marginatus, but it shows a narrower abdomen and has sharper lateral margins of the pronotum (hence the Latin species name acuteangulatus).... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 5 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 9 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Box Bug sighting in London on a given day, based on 177 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 192nd most-seen of the 1504 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Box Bug in London on a given day, against about 10% in March to December, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Box Bug sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 25 cities where we can rate Box Bug sightings, London ranks 6th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Lyon (France, about 10%), Vienna (Austria, about 10%) and Paris (France, about 10%).
Same family: Coreidae
The closest relatives of the Box Bug that you can see in London (family Coreidae, Leaf-footed Bugs) are Dock Bug (about 20%) and Western Conifer Seed Bug (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Box Bug is recorded against all the insects logged in London (177 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
