Lyctus linearis
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Wood boring beetle or ally |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered (Not Relevant) [CR(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: | Lyctus linearis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Goeze, 1777) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Alexander, 2017 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Critically Endangered. A single record in the previous ten years at the time of red-listing, giving an Area of Occupancy of just 4 km2. |
| 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: | Larvae occur in freshly dead sapwood of hardwoods, while the starch content is at the right concentration – the wood needs to be killed suddenly, so that the tree is unable to withdraw the starch before death; also the wood needs to be relatively large girth timber. Suitable trees are generally in open and well-lit situations, in the warmer and drier parts of the country. The species has had a long history of exploiting wood that has been cut and fashioned by people, though as untreated freshly cut timber has become a rarity in the countryside, it has virtually disappeared. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Survey to establish whether the species still occurs in England
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Unknown
Comments: Confirmation is needed that this species is still extent in Britain.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: At sites where the species occurs, document age structure for potential host veteran trees and future veterans, to determine whether there is an adequate rate of replacement
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: To be determined based on the results of Action 1
Comments: The conservation of saproxylic invertebrates relies on continuity in the availability of dead wood resources, which can take centuries to develop, so there is a need to identify if there is insufficient recruitment of younger trees at sites where the species occurs. In general the loss of veteran trees at protected sites and in the wider landscape exceeds rates of recruitment.
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.