Holocene archaeological evidence of extinct and very rare British Scarabaeoidea

Abstract

The analysis of British Holocene insect assemblages has discovered nine species of scarabaeoid dung beetles which are now extinct in Britain and two more that are extremely rare. Some of these species had been suspected as native by early 19th century entomologists but doubt had been cast on specimens in old collections of British Coleoptera. Eight are dung feeders which, although they would have initially been favoured by clearance for pasture and a possible warm climate episode in the middle Bronze Age, subsequently declined as a result of increasing cultivation and a slight cooling of the summer climate. The other three species probably became extinct due to human-induced habitat loss.