Beetle re-emerges after 60 years

BBC ^ | Monday, 19 March 2007, 01:26 GMT | na

[fishhound]

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 entomologist 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.

It's great that this oil beetle has survived against all the odds David Bullock, National Trust

The beetle, which gets its name from the highly toxic oil secretions it produces when threatened, is also known as Meloe brevicollis. he adult beetles, which live for about three months, lay up to 1,000 eggs in a burrow in soft or sandy soil and eggs hatch in the following spring.

Once they have hatched the young larvae crawl up on to vegetation, often lying in wait in flowers, for an unsuspecting mining bee to give them a lift to the bee's nest.

They then devour the bee's egg and also the protein rich pollen stores the bee intended to provide for its own larvae.

[swatbuznik]

Yeah, I was thrown off, too. I still have my "peoples' car" from my high school days. Maybe I'll fix it up for one of the kids.

[Liberty Valance]

The short necked oil beetle...

[JRios1968]

[daviddennis]

What on earth is the point of saving an ugly parasite?

Let it die off, I'd say.

D

[pcottraux]

[ozzymandus]

Aw, crap. I thought maybe they found a Kubelwagen in a river somewhere.

[Grizzled Bear]

Well it's down to Ringo or Paul,which one ???

---

They should call Pete Townsend and talk about forming "The Whotles."

[Grizzled Bear]

"I buried Billy"

[Minutemen]

I buried Paul!

[Grizzled Bear]

What on earth is the point of saving an ugly parasite?

---

Whoa! Diversity training for you mister! /S

[Minutemen]

Ha!

[Winniesboy]

As it happens the cliff between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail is one of our favourite stretches of the South West Coast path, and we're frequently walking along it on a winter Sunday...incidentally the famouse specimen of magnolia Campbellii at Overbecks is very close by also. Now, should we happen across an oil beetle the next time we're there, you, and indeed the entire FR community,will naturally be the first to know.

[MrNeutron1962]

Well, I for one, certainly miss him.

[MrNeutron1962]

Well, I for one, certainly miss him.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

...which survive by hitching rides on miner bees as larvae and then eating the bees' eggs

Sounds more like a Democrat/Welfare Beetle to me...

[SunkenCiv]

I want you on my team in Trivial Pursuit. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks P.

The short-necked oil beetle was found by an amateur entomologist...

...who had to be hospitalized from the excitement he experienced.