Violet Click Beetle (Limoniscus violaceus)
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: | Limoniscus violaceus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Müller, P.W.J., 1821) |
| 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: | A relict species surviving in very few pasture woodland sites at Windsor Forest (Berkshire), Bredon Hill (Worcestershire) and Dixton Wood (East Gloucestershire). Conservation requires future veteran trees to be developing at an adequate rate and in adequate numbers. No red-list assessment is available, although this is planned and so is excluded from the review actions. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recently extinct in England. A boreo-arctic montane species that may not survive possible reintroduction due to climate warming. |
| 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): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Limoniscus violaceus larvae develop in larger rot-holes of post-mature trees, in damp or soggy mulch developed from rotting fungoid wood, decaying leaves and other organic debris including bird or squirrel nest material, food remains, and dead insects. Suitable cavities are mostly protected from adverse weather and larvae do not survive for many years on fallen timber in open situations. Beech is used at Windsor, and Ash at Bredon Hill. High probability trees have a trunk diameter exceeding 360 cm at 30 cm above ground level, and a category 4 or 5 rot hollow (Gouix, 2015). |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake further work on primers to allow eDNA sampling.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Windsor Forest
Comments: To allow less invasive detection in saproxylic substrates. This can run in parallel with Action 2. Work to achieve this before until 2018 was apparently unsuccessful.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: At sites where the species occurs document age structure for potential host veteran trees and future veterans, to determine whether there is an adequate rate of replacement. Also assess requirements for management of the veteran tree stock to reduce the risk of wind throw, by undertaking tree surgery to reduce the crown of excessive bough weighting.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Windsor Forest (Berkshire), Bredon Hill (Worcestershire) and Dixton Wood (East Gloucestershire)
Comments: Probability mapping of trees likely to be occupied by Limoniscus violaceus has largely been completed for Bredon Hill, though only for parts of the SSSI. This has also been partially completed at Dixton Wood where it is a much more achievable task as the site is small, and across the main beeches at High Standing Hill in Windsor Forest. It should be expanded across as much of the sites as possible. Long-term monitoring of wood mould boxes already put in place should be factored into the monitoring costs here.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: At sites where the species occurs, plant trees or promote natural regeneration where there has been insufficient recruitment of younger trees. These are likely to be beech or ash, depending on the site.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Prioritisation is subject to assessment of tree age structure on all occupied sites
Comments: Either planting or natural regeneration should not be allowed to create crown competition or cast shade on existing veteran trees. If there is no space within a site to achieve this, then planting on adjacent land may also be a priority.
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.