Chestnut Coloured Click Beetle (Anostirus castaneus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Click beetle |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Anostirus castaneus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Extremely localised and therefore vulnerable to extinction |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | There are insufficient data to assess trends at subspecies level and so it is assessed the same as the species as EN due to a dramatic decline in its extent of occurrence since the 1950s (Stroh et al., 2014). See line in data for Hypopitys monotropa. |
| 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: | No |
| Justification: | This species would not benefit from untargeted management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | A distinctive species, widespread across the Palearctic as far east as Korea, but extremely localised in the UK. Probably on the very northern edge of its range in the UK. Habitat requirements are less constrained in more southern parts of its range. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Targeted survey of known and similar sites
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Sites along the south coast similar to known localities and areas with sheltered rocky outcrops in more northerly areas
Comments: Period of adult activity is rather fleeting, making detection of this species difficult. Perhaps make use of AI algorithms to define areas of potential occupation
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Define autecology of larvae and adults at known sites
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Luccombe Chine, Isle of Wight
Comments: Important questions to try and answer with targeted research include: What do the larvae need? What are the dispersal abilities of the adults? How will existing populations be impacted by climate change, especially rising sea levels
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Raise awareness among the public of this species as it's fairly large, distinctive and would be noticed by casual observers. Given the disjunct population, other populations are probably to be discovered.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Education/awareness raising
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: N/A
Comments: Partner with relevant organisations to highlight this species in apps and explore other channels to target casual observers as this is a fairly large, distinctive species. This will build on SRP Buglife project from 2008-2010 period.
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.