oil beetle (credit: benimoto)
There’s only about a month to go before Buglife’s spring oil beetle hunt begins. Now is a good time to head over to their web site to register and take part in this survey. Once registered they will send you a ID form that will enable you to identify which species of oil beetle you have found.
Oil beetles are fascinating creatures.
Oil beetles are wonderful creatures, at one time the UK used to have 9 species living here. Sadly it’s believed that only 4 species now remain and those are dwindling in number. All may not be lost however, in 2007 a short-neck oil beetle was spotted in Devon – it had thought to be extinct in Britain since the 1948. Who knows what this nationwide survey may produce. It’s important for a national survey to be undertaken as of the 4 remaining species only 3 have been seen recently.
Oil beetles are fairly large beetles that can grow up to 40mm long and are most active between April and August. They have a fascinating life-cycle that means their survival depends very much on that of some species of solitary bees. The adult female will lay hundreds of eggs in the soil close to a bee colony. The eggs can take almost a year to mature and hatch in to larvae. The larvae then climb the stalks of flowering plants and wait for a visiting bee. They then hitch a ride on the back of the bee to the bee nest where they spend the rest of their development feeding on pollen and bee eggs.
Oil beetles at risk in the UK.
Oil beetles in the UK are still at risk from a wide range of threats. Obviously the declining wild bee populations are interfering with the life cycle of the beetle. But there is also habitat lost and changing agricultural practises which makes life tough for the beetles.
The four species of oil beetles which are believed to be still active in Britain are;
- Black oil beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus),
- Violet oil beetle (Meloe violaceus),
- Rugged oil beetle (Meloe rugosus),
- Short-necked oil beetle (Meloe brevicollis).
Amateur naturalists have an important role to play.
To register and take part in the oil beetle hunt of 2011 visit the Buglife website and register for your free beetle id guide.
For me one of the exciting things about wildlife is that there is still an important role to play for amateur naturalists. anyone who takes part in this sort of survey has the opportunity to discover a species in an area that it has not been previously recorded in. The short neck oil beetle that was rediscovered in 2007 was found by an amateur naturalist.
Wildlife watching can be a fascinating and rewarding past-time especially if you take an interest in our insects and other arthropods. We know so little about this phylum of animals but they play such an important role in our natural world.
