Beetles found after going missing for 100 years

12:10pm Wednesday 1st April 2009

SEVEN species of beetle have been rediscovered at Dunham Massey Park after last being recorded there more than 100 years ago.

John Hooson, a National Trust nature conservation adviser, said: “Dunham is one of the most studied parklands in the UK, making this a very special discovery.

“These beetles are small and finding so many that haven’t been seen since Queen Victoria was on the throne is remarkable and confirms that this is a special place for wildlife.”

The rare flat bark beetle Pediacus depressus, last recorded here in 1889, is normally found south of the line between the River Severn and the Wash, and the nationally scarce false darkling beetle Abdera quadrifasciata was last reported at Dunham in 1867 and is at the northern limit of its range.

Other major discoveries included the darkling beetle Pseudocistela ceramboides, the furthest north it’s ever been found, and the hister beetle Aeletes atomarius, which had not previously been recorded in the north west.

Dunham Massey Park is one of the top sites in the UK for veteran trees – an old tree that has had time to develop a variety of features such as fungi and sap runs.

The continuity of such trees has made the park an ideal location for wood-decay beetles.

Results from this latest survey of the parkland, by expert zoologist Dr Keith Alexander, have confirmed that the park is the fifth richest site for such specialist beetles in the British Isles, supporting national and international rarities.

Famed for its diverse variety of wood-decay beetles, searching for them at Dunham Massey Park became popular in the 1860s and the site has been visited by countless experts ever since.

Entomologist Joseph Chappell was the first person who published notes on the rarities found in the parkland.

John Hooson added: “All species go through periods of relative scarcity or abundance due to a range of factors, such as a sudden abundance of habitat or lack of predators or parasites.

"It's possible that this latest survey coincided with a population peak for these species at Dunham – they’ve been here all of the time but just hiding away from the countless entomologists that have been looking for them.”

Seven endangered species of fly were also found during the survey, including a Fungus gnat, Scythropochroa quercicola, which is only found at two other sites in Britain, a milichiid and Madiza britannica, previously recorded at three sites in Somerset and Cambridgeshire.

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