I have been collecting beetles since 1984 and over that time I have collected around 3,000 of the 4,200-odd species that live in these islands. At this point I would like to make plain that it is necessary to take voucher specimens which are killed and carded and then kept in a collection. Often this is for future reference, [The Natural History Museum has one of the largest and most important reference collections in the world], also it is usually necessary to examine the specimen under a microscope to see the very slight differences that separate one species from another.
Sometimes dissection is required as the only way to make a determination is by examining the genitalia. This is where the value of a good reference collection comes in, as one is able to compare one species with another, rather than in isolation. So, that is my justification for my hobby. taking a very few specimens is not going to jeopardise the existence of that species, it is the loss of habitat that does that. Often, when an amateur entomologist like myself comes across a rarity, that discovery may be instrumental in giving the site a degree of protection.
And so to my recent discovery. I had been doing a favour for a friend who lives in Rye Harbour, on September 10, and was on my way home when my eye was taken by an interesting looking brown-field site near the church. I have done quite a lot of collecting around Rye Harbour, but not in that particular spot. I determined to have a look and went home to get my equipment.
Upon my return I noticed that there several accumulations of rabbit droppings . These accumulations, about the size of a large dinner plate, can be fertile areas for many insects, most of them beetles. Some will be feeding off the dung, some will be feeding off each other, and some will be laying their eggs in it. I then proceeded to sieve the droppings and then spread the sievings very thinly over a white plastic sheet. There were quite a few beetles, some of which I took, but nothing that struck me as being unusual.
Then I saw a minute beetle. I put my lens to it and even though it was less than one and half millimetres long I thought that it was something that I had not come across before. I put it and a companion one in a tube and returned home, That evening they were despatched and carded. I had a pretty good idea which group it was in and made a pretty confident identification. The name of the beetle is Hypocoprus latridioides. The reference book gave it as very rare, found only in Suffolk and Sussex. At this point I didn’t know how rare it was and did some more research. It turned out that it been found once in Victorian times and once at Camber Sands in 1902! It has been considered extinct in this country, but no longer!
I know that Barry Yates, manager of the Rye Harbour reserve will be delighted and will most probably take steps to encourage it on to the reserve, if it is not there already. So, that was my red letter day.