Moccas Beetle (Hypebaeus flavipes)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Soldier beetle or ally |
| 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: | Hypebaeus flavipes |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fabricius, 1787) |
| 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: | Vulnerable. Only known from Moccas Park (Herefordshire). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | This species had only been recorded from 16 oak trees in Moccas Park up to 2019. It is vulnerable to chance events that might cause the loss of key trees, such as storm damage. |
| 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 - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | This always been a very rare species, and although the larval ecology is unknown it is likely that is a predator in red-rotten heartwood of ancient oaks growing in open sunny situations. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Document age structure for host trees and potential future veterans, to determine whether there is an adequate rate of replacement to ensure habitat suitability and continuity at occupied sites
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Moccas Park
Comments: This has already been studied at Moccas Park (Kirby, 2015) which suggested that 15 oaks per hectare are missing from the expected tree population structure to maintain the current number of ancient trees over 400 years old. The tree age classes at Moccas have also been characterised by the site warden by number by size by tree species. That work should be added to that of Kirby if not already done. This is a generic action for all the park's important saproxylics.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Assess trees where Hypebaeus flavipes has been recorded for vulnerability to wind throw and instigate sensitive tree works if threat is detected from major splits occurring to ensure suitable habitat continuity for the species at occupied sites
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Moccas Park
Comments: Trees should be left to mature and decline naturally, Cooter (2020) identified one tree at risk of catastrophic failure and suggested removing part of the trunk. DBH data will help to inform assessments of how sustainable the tree age structure is for this beetle.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: At Moccas Park plant oak trees or promote natural regeneration where there has been insufficient recruitment of younger trees, to provide habitat continuity over time at occupied sites. Also survey more large oaks for this species as there is no reason why it should not occur in other large trees in the park. There is a danger of only looking in the known areas. This is especially true in the higher areas of this park and more widely across the Moccas estate.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Moccas Park
Comments: Either planting or natural regeneration should not be allowed to create crown competition or cast shade on existing veteran trees. If the Moccas study was based on 100 ha (which isn't stated) this suggests that 1,500 trees are missing from a sustainable age structure. Kirby states that addressing this would increase canopy density from 22% to 29% so it would be important to confirm these figures as it has implications for maintaining current levels of openness. If there is no space within a site to achieve this, then planting on adjacent land is a priority.
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.