{"id":2231727,"date":"2026-10-31T22:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2231727"},"modified":"2026-10-31T22:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:07:56","slug":"fascinating-rare-beetle-found-in-wales-again-after-three-year-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2231727","title":{"rendered":"‘Fascinating’ rare beetle found in Wales again after three year search"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/3bc3\/live\/07a4ce50-d37d-11f1-bf63-739fb2907d03.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Oil beetle is a general group name for beetles in the family<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A rare species of beetle has been found in Pembrokeshire after not being seen in Wales for 60 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Short-Necked Oil Beetle is dependent on solitary bees for its lifecycle and needs a particular habitat to survive, with thick vegetation for shelter and dense flower coverage both essential.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They were not reported in the UK for almost 60 years after 1948 as habitat loss brought the species to the brink of extinction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Anne Hobbs, from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said it was “very exciting” that the evidence suggested the species was breeding in Wales again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SuzanneSuzanne Burgess<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Experts praised the discovery as a positive sign for the species future<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Last year, the survey at Castlemartin found only dead adults of this particular beetle, raising concerns about the future of this species and its continued presence on the site.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But this year, after three years of searching, experts discovered larvae of the beetle on a small area of the site, suggesting that surveyors had managed to find some of the hatchlings from a larger batch of immature beetles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The number and distribution of the beetle larvae seen also supported this, according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Short-Necked Oil Beetle is classed as nationally rare within Great Britain and listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They can typically be found from March to June in flower-rich coastal grassland and sand dune habitat, and are most active on warm, sunny days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Adults can grow up toe 24mm (0.9in) in length and the life span of an adult is approximately one year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NRW said these conditions mean there are only a handful of suitable sites in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They were rediscovered in Devon in 2006 and on the Isle of Coll, in Scotland, in 2009. Since then, populations have been found on Tiree, Islay, Barra and Uist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Castlemartin Range, in Pembrokeshire, is currently the only place in Wales where the species can be found and it is being consistently surveyed by conservationists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The project is part of Wales’s “flagship species recovery programme”, said NRW, which works to conserve the Short-Necked Oil Beetle Sand other species that share similar habitats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hobbs described the Short-Necked Oil Beetle as an “amazing creature” and said their work needed to consider the “needs of several species to be effective”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She thanked their partners and volunteers for their continued support, despite having two years without a larval sighting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We look forward to the continued management of the site so that this amazing species can survive now and into the future.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cry8317pdp5yo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/3bc3\/live\/07a4ce50-d37d-11f1-bf63-739fb2907d03.jpg”] Getty Images Oil beetle is a general group name for beetles in the family A rare species of beetle has been found in Pembrokeshire after not being seen in Wales for 60 years. The Short-Necked Oil Beetle is dependent on solitary bees for its lifecycle and needs a particular habitat to survive, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2231727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2231727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2231727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2231727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2231727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2231727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}