Rare beetle find shows the value of our hill country forests

For Marlborough science and biology teacher Mark Anderson, finding out what lives on the forest floor of the hills above Whakatū has become his mission.

Mark has spent several years searching for Mecodema pulchellum in his spare time, a large, flightless ground beetle. The beetle is classed as nationally endangered and is only known to be found at Mt Stokes in the Marlborough Sounds and Mt Malita in the Bryant Ranges of the Roding Water Reserve, Nelson.

In September, Mark found the remains of two beetles at Mt Malita. It was an exciting find - as significant as finding an endangered native bird in this area.

Why does one little black beetle matter so much? Mecodema beetles live in very small areas, which makes them highly vulnerable, and with no wings, they can’t fly away from danger. Loss of habitat, introduced predators such as rats and hedgehogs and changes to native forest all put them at risk.

The find also shows how special Council’s hill country reserves and water catchment forests are. These areas still hold large stretches of native forest. They give rare species a safe place to survive, and some of these species live nowhere else.

Council carries out weed and animal pest control in these areas to help protect native habitats and wildlife.

You can help by staying on marked tracks, joining a local trapping group, or reporting sightings of beetles on the iNaturalist app.