Nicrophorus vestigator
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Carrion beetle |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Nicrophorus vestigator |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Herschel, 1807 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Lane, 2020 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Rare and much declined. Population remains relatively stable in Breckland stronghold but may still be declining elsewhere. Remaining populations outside the Breckland are fragmented and vulnerable. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Vagrant in England |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Nicrophorus vestigator depends on the continued provision of sufficient small carrion and loose (most often sandy) soils in which to construct burrows. Habitat fragmentation and reduction due to agriculture and development and intensive agricultural practices have been highlighted as key threats. Provision of sufficient carrion resources for a viable long-term population may require large areas of suitable habitat. Heavy disturbance - e.g. ploughing or heavy grazing - will reduce the suitability of soil for burrows. Maintenance/creation of large areas of lightly managed habitat on sandy soils - e.g. the Brecks, where this species is doing relatively well - would be beneficial. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Establish soil types favoured by the species, map those and look at agricultural land use to identify larger grassland areas, both in site protection and not, with a view to targeting survey. Establish locations of records from the last 20 years.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Implement best practice for conservation of Nicrophorus vestigator at suitable sites - e.g. conversion of arable to grassland, low-intensity management of existing grasslands and encouraging provision of carrion resources through non-intervention.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.