Beetle thought extinct in UK rediscovered

[gregorach]

Might be of interest to any entemologists out there...

A beetle thought to be extinct in the UK since the 1940s has been rediscovered in south Devon.

The short-necked oil beetle was found by an amateur entemologist during a wildlife survey on National Trust (NT) land between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail.

The beetles were last recorded at Chailey Common, Sussex in 1948.

Up to 40 of the insects, which survive by hitching rides on miner bees as larvae and then eating the bees' eggs, were found at the Devon site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6464531.stm

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

That's great news for the beetles

- but not too good for miner bees though.

Phil.

 

[gregorach]

Well... It's perhaps a good indicator for the miner bees - after all, for a parasitic species to survive the species it parasitizes has to be doing well. And as far as I understand from that article, the beetles were thought extinct because of the reduction in bee populations due to modern farming practices. So, if the beetles are resurging, the bees must be too.

 

[xylaria]

If you saw a miner bee or one of these beetles would you know the significance of what you are looking at?

i do wonder if our country is full of critically endangered critters which no-body knows anything about. How many little ugly bugs do we sweep out of tarp/tent corners and think they look nothing like anything we have ever seen before, and never think anything more about. You wake up and look up to an ecosystem of beetles eating spiders eating migdes eating you plus other beasties and have no idea what any them are. Make me wonder.

 

[nobby]

So how does this fit into global warming and species disappearing?
If we lived through a time thinking this beetle was extinct did we take any measures to counteract it being extinct, and if so did it make any difference to people, or beetle being as it isn't extinct after all. Of course, if we didn't take any measures we, and beetle, appear to have managed anyway.
Doe this give the global warm pessimists any hope for the future?

ps When I woke up and saw the snow this morning I cheered loudly and thanked Mr. Blair; he has obviously solved global warming.

 

[gregorach]

Nope, nothing to do with global warming this time:

But the flightless creature's natural habitats and the populations of bees they rely on have been decimated by intensive farming practices.

The NT said the coastal strip of land where the oil beetle was discovered by Bob Beckford had been managed less intensively as farmland, creating a habitat where the beetle could survive undisturbed.

 

[Venger]

i do wonder if our country is full of critically endangered critters which no-body knows anything about. How many little ugly bugs do we sweep out of tarp/tent corners and think they look nothing like anything we have ever seen before, and never think anything more about.

Well it gives you something else to learn

with over 450 species of spider and the 20,000 or species of insect (just in the UK) it'll give you something to do if you cant get out

a wonderful quote from David Attenborough - "for every pound of people on earth, there are 300 pounds of insect'

 

[2blackcat]

Me and the pup used to walk up there a couple of times a day when we were visiting a relative at the bottom of the hill (lovely little thatched cottages)

Anyhoo, all we ever saw was rabbits!!!

 

[spamel]

For a moment, I thought John Lennon had been found alive and well living it up in Kidderminster!!