Invertebrates of reedbeds

More than 700 species have been recorded from reed dominated communities. About 40 of these feed exclusively on reed. All the stages in reedbed succession are important for invertebrates. Reed in deeper open water is the least favoured. Species include:

• Phragmataecia castanea (reed leopard moth), which overwinters (for two years) as a larva*;
• Lathrobium rufipenne (a rove beetle)*;
• Lipara lucens (a fly) whose larvae develop in galls on reeds;
• Odacantha melanura (a ground beetle) which lives in ground litter;
• Anthocomus rufus (the sailor beetle) a predator;
• Archanara geminipuncta (twin-spotted wainscot moth) whose larvae bore into the stems of reed.

* Two of five GB Red Data Book invertebrates closely associated with reedbeds.

Caveat: The last species is a potential threat to commercial reedbeds.