Miracle as beetle feared to be extinct present in bombshell first sighting for 200 years | UK | News | EUROtoday

Wren Franklin, a masters pupil at Bournemouth University, discovered two of the good silver water beetles (hydrophilus piceus) whereas surveying animal and vegetation in ponds in Blackmore Vale, north Dorset, as a part of analysis for his biodiversity conservation course.

When he checked with Dorset’s county recorder for beetles, he discovered the one different recorded sighting within the county was in 1821, by one in all Britain’s most influential entomologists, JC Dale.

Mr Franklin mentioned: “It was a really exciting discovery, as soon as I found them I knew I’d come across something special.

“Great silver water beetles are often found in the Somerset levels, so this begs the question, have they been hiding undetected in the Blackmore Vale for two centuries or have they recolonised recently whilst looking for new habitats.

“We’ll never know, but it is great to find them using newly created wetland habitat.”

The beetle is the heaviest beetle within the UK and may develop to 5 centimetres lengthy, however Mr Franklin described it as a “gentle giant” as a result of it largely scavenges plant materials for meals quite than as an aggressive predator.

Mr Franklin mentioned he hoped the invention would assist increase consciousness of the threats to biodiversity.

He mentioned: “People know about the threats faced by big animals in other parts of the world, but there are also loads of fascinating species in our own neighbourhoods which are equally imperilled.”