Poplar Borer (Saperda carcharius)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Longhorn 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: | Saperda carcharias |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Alexander, 2019 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | Note spelling difference between column D and G |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Near Threatened. The range in eastern England is centred on the fen district and the species has also been recorded, albeit rarely and rather erratically, as far afield as Kent, West Wales, Lancashire and North Yorkshire. In Britain reported from 18 hectads (1990-2018) but previously known from 60, a marked decline in range, particularly apparent across England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Minimum intervention management will not provide conditions suitable for the development of suitable host trees |
| 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: | An intensive study of the species in the Scottish Highlands was made in 2000 and 2001. The larvae develop over two to four years and pupate in the wood of basal parts of living stems of aspen and of introduced Populus species, and occasionally willow. It is said to prefer shaded stands of its host trees inside river gorges. The circumference of inhabited trees was 13-187cm CBH, with a mean circumference of 47.4 cm; the females were selecting for small trees, with thinner bark. The height of the tunnel entrances above ground level lay with the range 1-19cm, the mean being 7.19cm. Most tunnel entrances were found to be at the edge of the stand, next to open ground. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Research to characterise the ecology of the beetle, in terms of the size, condition, situation and management of host trees
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Unknown
Comments: The ecology in Scotland has been described though comparable data are lacking for England
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: At sites where the species occurs, plant trees or promote natural regeneration on sites where there has been insufficient recruitment of younger age classes.
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 at all sites where the species occurs
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.