Trox sabulosus
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Scarab beetle or ally |
| 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: | Trox sabulosus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Lane and Mann, 2016 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Only known from 6 sites since 1990 |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Trox sabulosus is reliant on a supply of dead dried animal material on dry sandy soils; most frequently found in association with desiccated rabbit corpses |
| 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: | The provision of dead animals is not a usual outcome of habitat management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Likely under recorded, but still evidence of an historic decline |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Where extant populations are known, implement management to maintain short sward and bare ground mosaic by scarification or grazing to maximise the chance of a corpse falling in the right situation to be appealing for T. sabulosus to use it for breeding.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Known sites should be sought from the Scarabidae Recording Scheme and Local Environmental Records Centres
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Encourage rabbit populations to increase and leave dead animals in situ. Fence off sensitive areas to allow rabbits to graze without pressures from dogs.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Known sites should be sought from the Scarabidae Recording Scheme and Local Environmental Records Centres
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Survey known sites using baited non-lethal trapping methods to establish population distribution in its known occupied landscapes
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Known sites should be sought from the Scarabidae Recording Scheme and Local Environmental Records Centres
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.