The beetle’s exacting habitat needs include bare ground for laying eggs, dense vegetation for protection, and abundant wildflower cover for reproduction, meaning only a handful of locations across the UK can support it.
Natural Resources Wales classifies the species as nationally rare in Great Britain, and it is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
Before its Welsh rediscovery, the Short-Necked Oil Beetle went unreported anywhere in Britain for almost six decades after 1948, until it turned up in Devon in 2006.
Researchers later identified populations on the Isle of Coll in Scotland in 2009, with further colonies on Tiree, Islay, Barra and Uist in the Hebrides.
Additional beetles have also been recorded on Salisbury Plain.
Anna Hobbs, project delivery officer at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, described the discovery as a significant moment.
