Blue Ground Beetle (Carabus intricatus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Ground 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: | Carabus intricatus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Linnaeus, 1761 |
| 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: | Restricted distribution in England in South Devon and Cornwall. Rare throughout its range. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | C. intricatus is inherently vulnerable as a large, flightless species. Inhabits mossy, deciduous pasture woodlands usually on south facing slopes, particularly on the slopes of Dartmoor in South Devon. Threatened by habitat loss and inappropriate habitat management. |
| 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: | Would benefit from expansion of native woodland cover in areas surrounding occupied sites |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Though thought to have contracted in range in the southwest there is evidence in the recording scheme data of a more recent expansion into new sites, or more likely increased survey effort for this species. Actions proposed here may well already be in progress through ongoing work by Buglife, The University of Exeter and other partners. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Targeted monitoring of core sites to record annual population fluctuations and finescale distribution
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Dartmoor fringe woodlands and Bodmin Moor Fringe Woodlands
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Build on the results of Key Action 1 along with habitat and wider invertebrate surveys to investigate finescale habitat selection by foraging larvae, and overwintering adults. These results should inform ongoing habitat management advice.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Sites identified by Key Action 1
Comments: PhD currently being undertaken at Exeter Uni to investigate micro habitat preferences of BGB at Hawnes and Dendels Wood.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Analysis of landscape connectivity, to assess viability of known populations. University of Exeter currently planning 2nd PhD to extend work, incl. genetic studies.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
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.