Species

BackScobicia ficicola (Wollaston, 1865)

Scobicia ficicola (Wollaston, 1865)

  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Order: Coleoptera
  • Family: Bostrichidae
LC Least Concern
IUCN Red List Status:

Countries of Occurrence:
Spain - Canaries

Archipelago(s):
Canaries

Assessor/s:
Nardi, G. & Mico, E.

Reviewer/s:
Alexander, K. & Nieto, A.

Contributor/s:

Facilitators / Compilers/s:


Assessment Rationale:

European regional assessment: listed as Least Concern because although the species has a relatively small range and there is no information on the population size or trends, it is a polyphagous species not dependent on wood of large diameter (rather the opposite) and can tolerate modified habitats, thus making it unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

EU 27 regional assessment: listed as Least Concern because although the species has a relatively small range and there is no information on the population size or trends, it is a polyphagous species not dependent on wood of large diameter (rather the opposite) and can tolerate modified habitats, thus making it unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.

Geographic Range:

This species is only found in the Spanish archipelago, the Canary Islands.

Regions:
Spain - Canaries
Extent of Occurrence (EOO):
(km2)
Area of Occupancy (AOO):
(km2)
Elevation Lower Limit:
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Elevation Upper Limit:
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Biogeographic Realms:
Paleartic
Presence:
Extant
Origin:
Endemic Canaries
Seasonality:
Resident

Population:

There is little information available on the abundance of this species. In the Canarian archipelago, S. ficicola is present on all major islands except for Fuerteventura (Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación Territorial). The Zoological Museum Lund holds 30 specimens.

Habitat and Ecology

This is an obligate saproxylic species. Its name suggests an association with fig trees (Ficus), but probably it can use a variety of dry woods, including small branches, as is the general rule in the genus Scobicia. It has been collected in woods of Ceratonia siliqua(Lesne 1904) and has been reared from Vitis vinifera (Lesne 1905).

Major Threat(s):

The main overall threat is likely to be degradation or loss of habitat quality, involving structural changes in the tree populations arising from changing land use – affecting age structures and tree density. Exploitation from forestry is often a key immediate issue, but equally damaging can be long-term changes towards canopy closure and loss of ancient trees as a result of non- or minimum-intervention management systems which all too often exclude grazing by large herbivores. Fragmentation and increasing isolation of beetle populations are also key factors.

Conservation Actions

The species is present in at least one protected area.