Short-necked oil beetle returns to Wales after 60-year absence

CARDIFF: The short-necked oil beetle is back in Wales after a 60-year absence, the nation’s environment agency has revealed.

The ‘oil’ in question is a yellow-orange goo, which the insect secretes from its knees when alarmed. It’s not the beetle’s only unusual feature: its larvae piggyback on solitary bees after hatching, then squat in their nests where they feast on pollen until adulthood.

The species depends on a specific habitat to thrive – bare earth for egg laying, thick vegetation for shelter and dense flower cover for reproduction.

Habitat loss drove the beetle to the brink of extinction during the 20th century, and isolated populations remained in a handful of locations in England and Scotland. However, surveyors revealed this week that they had found larvae at Castlemartin Range in Pembrokeshire, having spotted adults there in 2025.

“The short-necked oil beetle is an amazing creature and not only depends on a very specific habitat to survive, but the presence of solitary bees as well,” said Anna Hobb from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. “We look forward to the continued management of the site so that this amazing species can survive now and into the future.”