Proteinus atomarius
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Rove beetle (macrostaph) |
| 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: | Proteinus atomarius |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Erichson, 1840 |
| 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: | Rare and much declined. Since 1980, P. atomarius has been found at the following sites: Knighton Wood, Langley Wood and Salisbury, South Wiltshire (vc8); Ambersham Common, West Sussex (vc13); Epsom and Ashtead Commons, Gipsy Hill and Richmond Park, Surrey (vc17); Childerditch Wood, South Essex (vc18); Wokefield Common, Berkshire (vc22); Bradwell Grove Wood, Oxfordshire (vc23); Barton Mills, West Suffolk (vc26); near Thetford and Stanford PTA, West Norfolk (vc28); Cockayne Hatley Wood, Bedfordshire (vc30); Moccas Park, Herefordshire (vc36); Crowle, North Lincolnshire (vc54); New Mills, Derbyshire (vc57); Blackmoorfoot, Brick Kiln Plantation, Drop Clough and Hawk’s Wood all South-west Yorkshire (vc63). Recorded from 72 hectads pre-1980 and only 20 after. Apparently continuing to decline. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | A patch habitat species predominantly associated with decaying fungi and sometimes rotting fruit and carrion. Relatively widely scattered in England. There are no obvious plausible threats and factors in decline are not understood. |
| 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 patch habitats, predominantly in woodland, and is not apparently dependent on a particular habitat or management regime. |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.