Known status of the endangered western Palaearctic violet click beetle (Limoniscus violaceus) (Coleoptera)

Abstract

The monitoring of many threatened saproxylic species is still challenging. As a result, knowledge of their ecology and distribution is often patchy, even for species that are crucial for environmental policies, such as Natura 2000 species. Here we compiled 436 data entries on the occurrence of one of these species, the Western Palaearctic violet click beetle Limoniscus violaceus. The beetle is currently listed in 58 Sites of Community Importance (SCI) of the Natura 2000 network, covering an area of 3859 km². We conclude that 15 of these SCIs have no proven evidence of the presence of L. violaceus. However, the species has been recorded in 16 new SCIs. The beetle was associated with basal hollow trees in 187 localities from 17 countries. We also provide an overview of the current knowledge about the species and comment on its distribution in each country.

Keywords:

• Limoniscus violaceus
• ecology
• distribution
• Natura 2000
• endangered species

Acknowledgements

We thank Samuel Danflous and Karen A. Brune for linguistic revision of the manuscript. We thank the following people, who kindly provided valuable information on L. violaceus: Keith N.A. Alexander (UK), Didier Belin (France), Pierre Berger (France), Mickael Blanc (France), Laura Bower (PTES, London, UK), Boris Büche (Germany), Benjamin Calmont (France), Lionel Casset (France), Jacques Chassain (France), Léo Chékir (France), Karel Chobot (Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic, Praha, Czech Republic), Julien Delnatte (France), Didier Delpy (France), Manfred Egger (Austria), Radek Hejda (Agency for Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection of the Czech Republic, Praha, Czech Republic), Frank Köhler (Germany), Attila Kotán (Budapest, Hungary), Tibor Kovács (Mátra Museum, Hungary), Gábor Magos (Bükk National Park Directorate, Hungary), Howard Mendel (Natural History Museum, UK), Ottó Merkl (Hungarian Natural History Museum, Hungary), Georg Möller (Germany), Jörg Müller (Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany), Nicklas Jansson (Sweden), Nikola Rahmé (Budapest, Hungary), Karel Rébl (Nové Strašecí, Czech Republic), Iñaki Recalde (Villava-Atarrabia, Spain), Ondrej Šauša (Bratislava, Slovakia), Ulrich Schaffrath (Germany), Radovan Schles (Brno, Czech Republic), Ludger Schmidt (Germany), Eric Serres (France), Martin Škorpík (Podyjí Nacional Park Directorate, Znojmo, Czech Republic), Ivo Smatana (Košice, Slovakia), Béla Szelenczey (Győr, Hungary), Valentin Szénási (Duna-Ipoly National Park Directorate, Hungary), László Urbán (Bükk National Park Directorate, Hungary), Lionel Valladares (Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan, France), Jiří Vávra (Ostrava, Czech republic), Laurent Velle (France), Arnaud Ville (France), Kaljo Voolma (Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia), J.H. Yvineck (France), and Petr Zabransky (Austria).