Aploderus caelatus
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Rove beetle (macrostaph) |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(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: | Aploderus caelatus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Gravenhorst, 1802) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Boyce, 2022 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | 115 pre-1979 hectads and only five post-79. Post-79 AoO (20 km²) is very small and coupled with its presence at only five post-79 locations and a continuing decline in AoO, EoO and locations. This species has declined steeply and is now known from only five sites in the UK, four in England and one in Scotland. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species is associated with a wide range of patch habitats including grass heaps and particularly dung. Occurs in a range of open and wooded habitats and so is not apparently dependent on a particular habitat or management regime. |
| 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 is associated with a wide range of patch habitats including grass heaps and particularly dung. Occurs in a range of open and wooded habitats and so is not apparently dependent on a particular habitat or management regime. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | One of a suite of patch habitat associated rove beetles that have experienced significant declines in recent decades. The species is not apparently dependent on any particular habitat, region or management as long as suitable patch resources are provided. The most significant factor in these declines is likely to be the widespread use of veterinary chemicals such as Avermectins to treat livestock, making dung toxic to dependent invertebrates. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Work with landowners/managers to minimise use of veterinary chemicals that pass out in animal dung on known sites and surroundings.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Pressure mitigation
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Ambersham Common in West Sussex (vc13); Laughton Common Wood, East Sussex (vc14); Taprow, East Norfolk (vc27); Dunstable, Bedfordshire (vc30)
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.