CYNLLUN GWEITHREDU BIOAMRYWIAETH LLEOL SIR GAERFYRDDIN – ANIFEILIAID DI-ASGWRN-CEFN CARMARTHENSHIRE S42/BAP – INVERTEBRATES OVERALL OBJECTIVES • To identify new sites for survey in the county. • Encourage volunteer interest in the range of invertebrates in the county. • To use key species as a focus for public/school engagement. • To raise awareness of these species and the issues affecting them. SPECIES PHOTO HABITAT/CARMS SITES ISSUES/ACTION REQUIRED Asilus crabroniformis • Lowland Grassland and Heathland • Apart from the loss of habitat, it Hornet robberfly • Much declined species of has been seriously affected by the Pryf llofrudd unimproved cattle or horse-grazed use of ivermectins (and other pastures and now very rare in animal medications) to control bot Carmarthenshire. fly, etc. in horses and other internal • Last recorded in 1997 but may parasites in cattle. These chemicals survive at a few of the small numbers are excreted in the dung and kill off unimproved pastures in the county. the larvae of dung beetles on • It flies in late summer (July-early which Asilus larvae are predatory. © Sam Bosanquet Sept) • Specialist survey is needed to Length: 25 mm check formerly known sites and other potential new sites. • Potential for public participation survey Bembidion quadripustulatum • Found on wetland margins, • Specialist survey is needed to Scarce Four-dot Pin-palp including bare sand, mud or chalky-clay check formerly known sites and Chwilen ddaear margins, well-vegetated fen margins, other potential new sites and bare silt lagoon margins. • Found on the banks of the Tywi near Llandeilo in 1996. Bidessus minutissimus • Lower reaches of rivers in association • Specialist survey is needed to Minutest Diving Beetle with sand and fine gravel banks. check formerly known sites and Chwilen blymio • 1950 record at Llangadog Bridge, other potential new sites Afon Tywi, Llangadog. • Best conserved by maintaining suitable habitat as part of the Afon Tywi SSSI/SAC. © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London Length: 1.5 mm Bombus humilis • Lowland Grassland and • The key factor in our bumblebee Brown-banded Carder-bee Heathland/Coastal declines has been loss of flower-rich Cardwenynen • Records from the Carmarthenshire habitats, particularly wildflower Lwydfrown coast – Pembrey Burrows and WWT, meadows and pastures. There are a Penclacwydd. Most recent was at number of other issues which are affecting bumblebees (e.g. pesticides, Kidwelly Quay/Canal in 2013. disease, viruses, inbreeding, etc.) which compound the problem. • Advice for managing habitats for bumble bees can be found at: © BCT http://bumblebeeconservation.org/ge t-involved/managing-your-land/ • Specialist survey is needed to check formerly known sites and other potential new sites. Bombus ruderarius • 1970s records from Rhandirmwyn • The key factor in our bumblebee Red-shanked Carder-bee area and another from 1993 from declines has been loss of flower-rich Cardwenynen Pembrey Burrows. habitats, particularly wildflower Goesgoch meadows and pastures. There are a number of other issues which are affecting bumblebees (e.g. pesticides, disease, viruses, inbreeding, etc.) which compound the problem. • Advice for managing habitats for bumble bees can be found at: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/ge © BCT t-involved/managing-your-land/ SPECIES PHOTO HABITAT/CARMS SITES ISSUES/ACTION REQUIRED • Specialist survey is needed to check formerly known sites and other potential new sites Ruby-tailed wasp This was recorded for the first time in Chrysis fulgida Wales from Pembrey bombing range in Cacynen gynffon ruddem 2005 by Liverpool Museum (during a CCW-funded survey of Welsh dune aculeates). It was recorded again in Pembrey Forest in 2008, 2012 and 2013. There's also a single record from Whiteford Burrows in 2007. It is a qualifying feature of Pembrey Coast SSSI and is an important feature of the forest. Cylindera germanica • The species depends on slumping to • Specialist survey is needed to Cliff tiger beetle expose new areas of bare cliff/soil and check formerly known sites and little of that habitat is found in other potential new sites Carmarthenshire. • 1954 record from Craig Du–Wharley Point cliffs west of Llansteffan. © Roger Key Length: 8–11 mm Dipoena inornata • Coastal – a species of dry grassland, • Specialist survey is needed to Silky Gallows-spider shingle and coast and, like most spiders check formerly known sites and Copyn/corryn coes under-recorded and its true status is other potential new sites gribog unknown. • 1991 record from the Carmarthenshire coast at Dolwen Point. Hydroporus rufifrons • Wetlands/ Freshwater – shallow and • Adult only active in the autumn Oxbow Diving Beetle temporary waters in old oxbow and spring so may be overlooked Chwilen blymio systems, unimproved pastures, in surveys. marshes fens and dune systems. • Populations are highly vulnerable • 1959 record from castle moat, to drainage and infilling of pools Kidwelly. The site was checked in 1988 and nutrient enrichment from and none were found. agricultural runoff. • Specialist survey is needed to check formerly known sites and other potential new sites © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London Length: 4–5 mm Lipsothrix nervosa • Wetlands/woodlands – wet rotting • Highly vulnerable due to its Southern Yellow Splinter twigs and branches in seepages in specialist habitat. Pryf teiliwr gïeuog deciduous woodlands. Thought to need • Specialist survey is needed to continuous shade and constant supply check formerly known sites and of rotting timber. other potential new sites • 1996 record from Dinefwr Deer Park Margaritifera margaritifera • Freshwater • Specialist survey is needed to Freshwater pearl mussel • Most recent records are from the check formerly known sites and Misglen berlog yr River Tywi but it is now thought to be other potential new sites Afon extinct. • Previously also recorded in the Taf. ©Pearlsinperil Nigrobaetis niger • Wetlands/ Freshwater • Threats are: changes to the Iron Blue Mayfly • Record from the River Tywi structure and management of Gwybedyn Mai marginal and riparian vegetation; haearnlas low flows caused by abstraction; high levels of suspended silt; unsympathetic dredging • Specialist survey is needed to SPECIES PHOTO HABITAT/CARMS SITES ISSUES/ACTION REQUIRED check formerly known sites and other potential new sites Panagaeus cruxmajor • Coastal (Carms) – recorded from • Access difficulties has meant Crucifix ground beetle dune slacks. In S and E England it used that casual recording has ceased at Chwilen ddaear to occur locally in marsh and fen Tywyn Point. habitat. • Loss of dune slack habitat • Recorded at Tywyn Point in April • Specialist survey is needed to 1985 having been previously thought check formerly known sites and to be extinct in the British Isles (with other potential new sites. the last record being at Wicken Fen). It © Roger Key Length: 8–10 mm has been seen since during surveys from Tywyn Burrows from 1985 to 1998. The new early-successional slack where it occurred was lost by erosion. It may still occur. It has since been found at a tiny handful of other sites in Britain and in Northern Ireland; it may be associated with certain species of chrysomelid beetles (Cassida spp?) in wet situations. It has been recorded on north Gower (Llanrhidian Marsh) in 1915 and it may very conceivably occur at MOD Pendine, where there is a greater extent of wet fen habitat. Spiriverpa lunulata • Freshwater – lives on depositional • Specialist survey is needed to A fly stretches – associated with sandy river check formerly known sites and banks. other potential new sites • Recorded new to Carmarthenshire on the Llanwrda shingles in the late 1980s; here it is found on sandy areas within the shingle habitat and it is just one species within an important shingle © Roger Key Length: 10-11 mm assemblage. The site is part of the Afon Tywi SSSI/SAC and has been subject to monitoring. Thinobius newberyi • Freshwater – subterranean, species • Its habitat is at risk from river Newbery's Rove Beetle living deep in stream side gravel. Has management both directly (sand Chwilen grwydr been found under stones and amongst and gravel removal) or by actions fine grass roots on stream and river that affect fluvial processes. banks. • Specialist survey survey is • Has been found on the banks of the needed to check formerly known River Tywi. Probably under recorded sites and other potential new sites due to its small size and elusiveness. Vertigo angustior • The shell is pale yellow-brown in • Vulnerable to changes in Narrow-mouthed Whorl snail colour with many thin growth ridges hydrological conditions, reduced Malwen droellog geg gul and five whorls. The mouth of the shell grazing pressure and physical has five to six teeth and is thickened. disturbance. The shell is sinistral, which means the • Specialist survey is needed to body whorls are coiled in a clockwise check other potential new sites direction with the mouth opening on the left-hand side of the body. © John Harper • Largest known population in Wales From left to right Vertigo angustior and V. substriata found in Whiteford Burrow NNR(CCS). In Carmarthenshire it has been found in Pembrey Forest and on RAF Pembrey. It NB. Note that the V. angustior normally occupies the interface shell twists to the left (sinistral) between sand dune and upper wheras V. substriata are ‘right- saltmarsh habitats as at Whitford handed’ (dextral). Burrows. The site at the rear of Pembrey Forest where it has been Both angustior and substriata are found was, historically, an arm of the ribbed but obviously differ in their sea, i.e. the saltmarsh–sand dune ‘whorling’. interface favoured by this species. The shells are about 1.5mm long SPECIES PHOTO HABITAT/CARMS SITES ISSUES/ACTION REQUIRED and 1mm wide • Such an easily overlooked tiny snail may still be present at the latter Carmarthenshire sites. .