Lesser Silver Water Beetle (Hydrochara caraboides)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Water beetle |
| 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: | Hydrochara caraboides |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Foster, 2010 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Hydrochara is not threatened in its Cheshire Plain & Somerset Levels strongholds but has been lost from eastern England, where it once occurred widely in lowland fenland areas from York southwards. There are no modern records for 16 hectads in eastern England from which this species was recorded previously. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Legally-protected species (Full protection, Sch.5 of WCA 1981). It has a specialist breeding habitat of seasonal/ephemeral water bodies (Boyce 2004). Reintroduction to Cambridgeshire Fens would require a species-specific approach. |
| 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: | Hydrochara caraboides is unlikely to benefit from untargeted habitat management, though it would benefit from measures which safeguard water quality and maintain the ecological quality of pond and ditch habitats in the Cheshire Plain and Somerset Levels. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | The ecology of this species is well-known and it has been repeatedly surveyed for within its current range as a result of its legal protection. Its legal status should afford some protection from development pressure. There is probably limited benefit to be had from further research but consideration should be given to reintroduction to the Cambridgeshire Fens. Ad hoc recording as part of GB water beetle recording scheme (Balfour-Browne Club/Aquatic Coleoptera Conservation Trust); surveys may be undertaken in response to development schemes within its range. Was once a UKBAP priority species but delisted in 2007, it is not included on S41. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Make an inventory of all protected sites with post-1980 records. Consider opportunities for listing this species as a site 'feature' (e.g. review of SSSI citations).
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Site protection
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: Records have been mapped in Atlas 2 (Foster et al, 2018).
Comments: Relevant to all sites in inventory.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Study the feasibility of re-introducing Hydrochara caraboides to the Cambridgeshire Fens (e.g. at Wicken). This should include consultation with managers of both donor and recipient sites, a draft introduction protocol, assessment against IUCN criteria, monitoring proposals and cost estimates.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Advise site managers on the presence and requirements of this species in consideration of SSSI, nature reserve management, and other land management, especially pond restoration and water level control.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
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.