A Double Encounter with the Crowned Weevil

Badbury Rings: Dorset

On the afternoon of the 18th June , I found myself traversing the historic Iron Age earthwork of Badbury Rings. Mid-afternoon the weather became delightfully warm and increasingly sunny. As the breaking sun baked the chalk ramparts filling the air with the scent of herbs it seemed to stir the insect world into sudden  vibrant activity  with butterflies on the wing of all sorts Marble Whites, Common Blues, Large Skippers and the likes.

As I walked along the bare, white chalk track that cuts through the  vibrant green grass on top of one the ramparts. My attention was drawn to by not one ,but two magnificent specimens of the Crowned Weevil, Liparus coronatus. At first these appear to be black shiny beetles but on a close look they were robust roughly 12mm long the body an intense ,glossy jet-black, beautifully ornamented by a distinct crown of bright golden-yellow scales at the base of the throax.

Liparus coronatus.

What struck me the most beside their long elephant trunk like snout was their situation .

Emerging just as the afternoon heat peaked and the sun broke through, they were out in the open,

marching across the exposed chalky path, making their way directly to shelter of the grass margin of the pathway. The species is entirely flightless, so are true pedestrians of the insect world. I believe they were utilising  the bare chalk path  to travel along. The dense tangle roots of the surrounding grassland must be arduous and slow, yet the open pathway warmed by the afternoon sun they could travel with relative ease and speed to find out new feeding grounds or mates.

In my readings of the great naturalists ( namely Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace), I have learned that the distribution of animals is never accidental. And here in Dorset I believe that  Liparus coronatus is localised and possible scares and bound to the carrot and parsley family upon which its larvae feed upon underground. To find two individuals on such a fine summer afternoon a 1st for me . It proves with out doubt the ancient chalk grasslands of Badbury Rings supports a healthy breeding colony of these scarce creatures. How wonderful its to think right here on a pathway trodden by human feet for thousands of years, these patient little beetles continue their quiet struggle for existence, perfectly adapted to their ancient Wessex home. I left them to their journey and over joyed at finding these beetle.

Liparus coronatus.