Good managment practices for the conservation of protected saproxylic beetles

Stag beetle, Cucujus cinnaberinus, hermit beetle, Alpine longhorn beetle, great capricorn beetle and violet ground beetle are all habitat directive species. Brown click beetle is a Flemish priority species. For a number of these species there are objectives that Flanders wants to pursue while knowledge is often insufficient to assess the effects of management and protection measures and spontaneous succession.

For stag beetle a species protection plan is currently being drawn up that will list a number of knowledge gaps and propose further tasks to be followed up.

As Cucujus cinnaberinus is a habitat directive species, population destruction should be avoided. The beetle is currently mainly found in unmanaged poplar forests with large amounts of dead wood, a temporary phenomenon due to the wetting and removal of such forests from management.

Hermit beetle is a habitat guideline species that was observed in Flanders in 1994 and 2008. Because of these observations, the species was assessed as 'threatened with extinction'. There are currently no known populations, so no protective measures can be taken.

The brown click beetle is considered a good indicator for the occurrence of hermit beetle in many countries, but seems to be much more widespread in Flanders. Research on this species is still relevant to detect hermit beetles.