Critically Endangered
Tarphius wollastoni
Tarphius wollastoni
Tarphius wollastoni is a beetle in the family Zopheridae (order Coleoptera), recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Portugal.
The beetle
Beetles are the largest insect order. The hard forewings (elytra) cover the flight wings; larvae and adults often eat different things.
An insect has six legs and, in winged forms, one or two pairs of wings. Most named species in this catalog are known from a type series and a locality, not from a popular field guide.
Range and habitat
Tarphius wollastoni is a single island endemic species restricted to the island of Faial (Azores, Portugal), known from the Caldeira do Faial Natural Forest Reserve. The extent of occurrence (EOO) is 8 km² and the maximum estimated area of occupation (AOO) is 8 km². It is a very rare species, with a restricted extent of occurrence (8 km²) and area of occupation (8 km²).
Its habitat is located in a regionally protected area (Caldeira do Faial Natural Reserve on the island of Faial).
GBIF currently lists 65 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Life history
Life history follows the order: complete metamorphosis in moths and beetles, nymphs in grasshoppers and bugs. This page does not invent a host plant that no source named.
In crisis
A strategy also needs to be developed to deal with the future threat of climate change. More research into its ecology and life history is needed to find specimens existing in additional areas with native forest around the Caldeira do Faial (namely some small patches in waterways) and to obtain information on population size, distribution and trends.
Tarphius wollastoni is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the Portuguese Wikipedia article on Tarphius wollastoni, translated and retold in English, plus Wikidata item Q2171495 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Confirm status and range on iucnredlist.org.
