Patience pays off for rare species in only Welsh location

Nation Cymru staff

A rare beetle has been rediscovered after a three-year search, confirming the site as its only known home in Wales.

The short-necked oil beetle (Meloe brevicollis) depends on solitary bees to complete its life cycle. Its newly hatched larvae climb onto flowers and hitch a ride on visiting bees back to their nests, where they feed on pollen collected by their hosts as they develop into adults.

This species needs a very particular habitat to survive, one that includes bare earth for egg laying, thick vegetation for shelter and dense flower coverage to reproduce. These specific conditions mean there are only a handful of suitable sites in the UK.

Castlemartin Range, Pembrokeshire, is one of these rare habitats suitable for the SNOB to call home and has been consistently surveyed and monitored by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust as part the Shrill Carder Bee project.

The project, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and part of Wales’ flagship species recovery programme, Natur am Byth, works to conserve the Shrill carder bee as well as several other species that share similar habitats such as the Short-necked Oil Beetle, Goldilocks Aster and Pale Dog Violet.

In 2022 and 2025, surveys found only dead adults of this particular beetle at Castlemartin which raised concerns about the future of this species and its continued presence on the site.

The latest surveys during 2026 discovered larvae of the beetle on a small area of the site. The number and distribution of the beetle larvae seen, along with the time of year, suggested that surveyors had managed to find some of the hatchlings from a larger batch of immature beetles.

Anna Hobbs, project delivery officer for Bumblebee Conservation Trust, said:

“It was very exciting to find this species and evidence of its breeding again, especially considering it will be the last survey for the species for our project.

“The Short-Necked Oil Beetle is an amazing creature and not only depends on a very specific habitat to survive, but the presence of solitary bees as well. So, the work we do needs to consider the needs of several species to be effective.

“We are very grateful to our partners and volunteers for persevering with us after two years without larval sightings and look forward to the continued management of the site so that this amazing species can survive now and into the future.”

This project, as well as others under the Natur am Byth programme, conducts surveys and volunteering events year-round. Head to www.naturambyth.wales or email [email protected] to find out more.

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