Thorne Pin-palp (Bembidion humerale)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Ground 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: | Bembidion humerale |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Sturm, 1825 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Telfer, 2016 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A habitat specialist confined to two hectads in England and known only from the two lowland oligotrophic peat-bogs of the Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve: Thorne/Crowle Moors and Hatfield Moors in south-west Yorkshire, where it was discovered in 1975. It's specialist habitat requirements combined with biogeographic factors mean that it is unlikely to be found elsewhere in Britain. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species is potentially threatened by changes to the hydrological regime and by ecological succession including Birch and Rhododendron invasion at both its localities. Targeted habitat management is therefore required to maintain its specialist habitat. |
| 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: | Although both its localities are relatively large and the species occurs in numbers, it inhabits quite restricted patches of moist, bare peat and on water margins within a matrix of wet heath and open birch woodland. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Survey both sites to determine fine scale distribution and abundance, identify key areas of habitat and areas where habitat might require restoration and further management. Both sites are already under active management to control encroaching scrub and remove Rhododendron.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Thorne/Crowle Moors, Hatfield Moors
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Habitat management (hydrological and/or scrub control) to reinstate suitable condition in areas identified by action 1.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Thorne/Crowle Moors, Hatfield Moors
Comments: Hydrological management might involve birch control, if rewetting prevents birch establishment or hinders growth.
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.