Rockrose Pot Beetle
Endangered species
The RRBP is a very rare species now known from just a few grasslands in Gloucestershire, Dorset and Hampshire although there are historical records also from Perthshire in Scotland.
It is a species that lives in unimproved calcareous grassland. Adults typically appear in warm, dry, sheltered conditions on south-facing slopes, suggesting an underlying thermal requirement. A short sward and an abundance of the yellow flowered Common Rock-rose are important.
We have worked with the Back from the Brink Project to save this beautiful beatle from extinction.
A total of 67 adult beetles identified from Breakheart Hill in 2020 establishes it as the most important known site for the beetle in the country.
To put this number of sightings into context, from 1857 to 2003 there have only been authenticated records for just 40 individuals beetles in the UK!
Pot beetles get their name from the protective shell-like ‘pot’ that the larvae live in, created using their own droppings! This is believed to be the only known photograph of a RRPB with a pot.
