Oil of Wales Clare Dinham and Lucia Chmurova

www.buglife.org.uk @buzz_dont_tweet

Oil beetles

An extraordinary life cycle

©John Walters Female mason wasp (Odynerus spinipes) ©John Walters ©John Walters UK oil beetles – present in Wales

Black oil UK oil beetles – present in Wales

Violet oil beetle UK oil beetles – present in Wales

Rugged oil beetle Meloe rugosus ©John Walters UK oil beetles

Mediterranean oil beetle Short-necked oil beetle Meloe mediterraneus Missing in action for over 100 years – Rediscovered in 2007 rediscovered in 2012! ©John Walters UK oil beetles Extinct?

Autumnal oil beetle Meloe autumnalis

Rainbow oil beetle Meloe variegatus

Scarred oil beetle Meloe cicatricosus Citizen science: why oil beetles?

Large and conspicuous

(fairly) good chance of ? finding one Interesting/weird

Need for data

Help our conservation work How did it work? Results

Verified oil beetle records

Historic records

New records 2011-2012

Total 1353 972

Why the decline? Habitats Habitats Oil beetles in Wales

Black oil beetle Violet oil beetle Oil beetles in Wales

Rugged oil beetle Others? Identifying oil beetles

30mm Identifying oil beetles Identifying oil beetles Identifying oil beetles

Rugged 19mm • Shorter, more rectangular thorax

• Antennae not kinked

• Active Sept - Oct and mainly nocturnal Wales Oil beetle hunt https://www.buglife.org.uk/wales-oil-beetle-survey

Awareness raising Promote! Black oil beetle Species Champion - Rebecca Evans AM Oil beetle research

www.johnwalters.co.uk © John Walters Oil beetle survey 2017 - UK

Total n. of records 194

black oil beetles 115 violet oil beetles 79 indeterminate (17)

Wales 29 Scotland 10 England 97 Oil beetle survey 2013 - 2016

Total n. of Year records

2013 3 2014 73 2015 61 2016 67 204

2017 194 Oil beetle survey 2017 – Wales & South-West

Wales year records B / V 2013- 12 9 / 3 2016 2017 29 20 / 9 Black oil beetle 60+ Wiltshire

Violet oil beetle 50+ Dorset Female black oil beetle digging her borrow Creating a map – behind the scenes

total number of submitted records 252 deleted obvious duplicates 3 clarify on potential duplicates 6 contact people for missing coordinates 4 contact people for the correct coordinates 3 clarify on the aggregation records 4 clarify on multiple records 15 contact people that didn't submit pictures with 60 their online form convert grid references into coordinates 8

Total n. of photos 211 Indeterminate 17 Total n. of records 94 Taking pictures of oil beetles ✔ ✗

http://johnwalters.co.uk/research/oil-beetle-identification.php

Thank you….! Oil beetles of Wales Clare Dinham and Lucia Chmurova www.buglife.org.uk Tel: 01733 201210 @buzz_dont_tweet

Buglife is a registered charity at Bug House, Ham Lane, Orton Waterville, Peterborough, PE2 5UU Registered Charity No: 1092293, Scottish Charity No: SC040004, Company No: 4132695