A small red/brown bug (1.1 – 1.6mm) usually found in association with Hebrus spp in permanently wet places, usually in Sphagnum but also with other mosses. It occurs in lowland bogs and wet heaths, usually close to water level, or even below it, and nearly always where there is some water movement (Cook 2015). According to Southwood & Leston (1959) they probably over-winter as adults, to mate in early summer and produce the generation of the year in July or August.

It is widely distributed in Europe and was first recorded in Britain from Devon in 1907. Since 1990 records have come from Anglesey, Roxburghshire, Gloucestershire and Cambridgeshire.

The map is from QGIS using data from iRecord and NBN Gateway

They can be identified from C. alienum by their size but also that their pronotum is parallel sided rather than tapering.