Hypocaccus rugifrons
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Clown or False-clown beetle |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(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: | Hypocaccus rugifrons |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Paykull, 1798) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Lane, 2017 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Significant historical decline; two post 1990 locations in England from the coast of Suffolk. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Locally distributed in coastal dunes on the coasts of Wales, Devon and Cornwall, Kent and Norfolk. Near Threatened due to limited range and vulnerability of coastal habitats, but widespread in England with no particular evidence of decline so not a priority for action at this time. |
| 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: | Yes, if this involved grazing animals in the absence of endectocides. Its precise breeding requirements are unknown so a mosaic of different swards heights and bare ground could be beneficial to allow a dung to fall in a variety of situations. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Hypocaccus rugifrons has suffered a significant decline around England's coast possibly driven by a cessation of horse grazing on dune systems reducing the availability of high quality dung. It is possible that it loses out when in competition with Hypocaccus metallicus. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Implement year round low intensity horse grazing at sites across the key landscapes. Do not use endectocides. In winter horses should not be fed in silage, maize or soya since this affects the quality of the dung and its nutritional value to coprophagous invertebrate larvae.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Minsmere NNR, Pakefield beach
Comments: This would go towards implementing Action 2
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Manage scrub encroachment on sand dunes and upper stretches of beach.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Minsmere NNR, Pakefield beach
Comments: This could be achieved by implementing Action 1
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Investigate the life cycle of Hypocaccus rugifrons and its population dynamics when H. metallicus is present. It is suspected that Hypocaccus rugifrons feeds on diptera larvae, it is often found as adults in sand under dung and carrion. It would be beneficial to understand where the larvae develop and what conditions are required to reach adulthood.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Minsmere NNR, Pakefield beach
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.