Gyrinus natator
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Water beetle |
| Red List Status: | Regionally Extinct (GB scale) (Not Relevant) [RE(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: | Gyrinus natator |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Foster, 2010 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | NB Gyrinus substriatus, one of our commonest water beetles, is still mis-named G. natator in some popular insect guidebooks, which may give rise to erroneous records. |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | There have been no English records since 1928; G. natator is likely extinct in Britain, though Fery (2020) highlighted continuing problems in separating it from G. substriatus. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | There is a very remote chance that G. natator survives undiscovered on peatland somewhere in Britain but this seems unlikely. If G. natator is re-discovered in England, its conservation needs should be re-assessed. |
| 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: | N/A |
| Justification: |
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.