Cornish Biodiversity Network  -  Supporting Wildlife Recording

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Cornish Red Data (2009)

The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.

Aphanisticus pusillus - A jewel beetle



Range & Status

Sparsely distributed across southern Britain, rarest in west.

Regional Distribution

Discovered in Cornwall by D.A. Sheppard at a site on the Lizard Peninsula (1981) and recorded more recently (1997) at Kennack Sands by Ian Hoare.

Habitat & Ecology

Localities tend to be coastal or south-facing calcareous grassland, suggesting a need for warm micro-climates. The foodplants have not been identified but are

believed to include Black Bog-rush Schoenus nigricans in marshy situations and sedges Carex spp. such as Glaucous Sedge Carex flacca .

Threats

Agricultural improvement of the semi-natural grasslands of the Lizard Peninsula.

Abandonment of grazing, leading to coarsening and scrub development.

Conservation

Much of the remaining undisturbed Lizard grasslands are now protected by The National Trust, Natural England and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Source:

I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.

The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.



Cornish Biodiversity Network. 2017.