Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries

What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Order | Coleoptera |
| Family | Apionidae |
| Genus | Protapion (1) |
This black weevil has bright orange swellings on the upper parts of the legs. The taxonomic status of this weevil is not clear; it is thought that it may be the same species as P. assimile, which is common. Further work is therefore needed to determine if this is the case (1).
TopLittle is known of the biology of this weevil. Adults are found in spring and autumn and spend the winter in hibernation. The larvae feed in the heads of red clover (Trifolium pratense) in summer (1).
TopThis potentially endemic weevil is found only in Shetland, the Hebrides and Orkney. Although this range is very restricted, the species is fairly abundant where it occurs (1).
TopInhabits grassland, machair and wasteland (1).
TopClassified as Nationally Scarce and endemic in Britain (1).
TopThe potential threats facing this species are not known at present (1).
TopThis weevil is listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and a Species Action Plan has been produced to coordinate its conservation. The most pressing requirement is for the taxonomy of this weevil to be determined (1). If it does prove to be an endemic species, conservation action can begin. In the mean-time, however, monitoring is in place to keep track of the populations.
TopMore »Related species
Image credit
© Roger Key
Dr Roger Key
Tel: +44 (0) 1845 567 292
key_r_s@yahoo.co.uk
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.