Rare animals
regardless of the consequences to wildlife," said Jamie Roberts of the invertebrate
conservation group Buglife.
A last ditch attempt is being made to move the beetles to a
specially designed pile of rubble that replicates their existing
habitat and which has been constructed adjacent to the new
development. But experts stress that there is only a slim
chance that the translocation will succeed.
One of the difficulties is the beetle's life cycle the larvae of bombardiers prey on beetles in
the Amara genus, but it is not known precisely which ones. "This is the last chance saloon for
the beetle if nothing is done, the species will be lost anyway," Roberts said.
Only a handful of streaked bombardier beetles have been found and moved so far, and with
time running out before the building work begins, extinction is imminent for a species that
was only recently added to the UK's red list of endangered species.
Can China's rare `bear' survive?
annaabi.ee 
