York: Rare tansy beetles get new home to secure future

Rare tansy beetles are being protected in a new "ark" habitat at York St John University

A number of rare green beetles are settling into a new home at a Yorkshire university where they have been moved in a bid to secure their future.

Tansy beetles were thought to only live by York's River Ouse until they were found in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

The creatures have been prioritised for conservation due to declining numbers and vulnerability to flooding.

Now 40 of the shiny creatures have been placed in an "ark" habitat at York St John University.

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The sparkling beetles take their name from their main food source of tansy, a perennial herb, on which which they depend for survival.

The site at York St John has been specially developed by university staff and students, with "hundreds of tansy plants cultivated to sustain the rare beetles", a spokesperson for the university said.

The new habitat was set up as an "insurance population" in case of serious flooding on the Ouse during a "vulnerable period in the beetle's life cycle", they added.