Cosnard's Net-winged Beetle (Erotides cosnardi)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Soldier beetle or ally |
| 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: | Platycis cosnardi |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Erotides cosnardi |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Chevrolat, 1831) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Alexander, 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Endangered, based on apparent restriction to old-growth woodland in the Wye Gorge and the West Sussex Downs. Conservation requires future veteran trees to be developing at an adequate rate and in adequate numbers. |
| 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: | Based on the results of survey in 2024, larvae can develop in soft white-rotten dead wood of Beech. Flight interception trapping results suggest that Ash in a similar condition will also be suitable. Adults found in association with standing snags, fallen trunks or hollowing trees in semi-shaded or shaded situations. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Develop a pheromone lure to enable more sites to be surveyed
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: Not applicable
High priority sites:
Comments: There are considerable gaps in knowledge about species distribution in both occupied areas (the Wye Gorge and the West Sussex Downs) other potentially suitable locations between these (e.g. Savernake Forest).
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Establish monitoring protocol for host trees and potential future host trees, to identify whether there is an adequate rate of replacement. At Little Doward, extensive Grey Squirrel damage to young trees may prevent the development of future canopy trees, so the development of oral contraceptives for these may be important.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: To be determined based on the results of Action 1
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Create primers to allow eDNA sampling.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Little Doward Woods (Herefordshire)
Comments: To allow a focus on larval development sites through less invasive detection in saproxylic substrates.
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.