Eype Mouth
Encyclopedia
Eype Mouth is a natural break in a line of sea cliffs on the Jurassic Coast
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....

 World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 in west Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

 on the south coast of England. The small River Eype drains into the sea at this point. Eype means 'a steep place' in Old English. The village of Eype
Eype
Eype is a small village in south west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the Jurassic Coast, several miles west of Bridport.Eype means "steep place" and many of its buildings can be traced back to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries, but little is known in detail until the...

 (divided into the settlements Lower and Higher Eype) lies just upstream of the rivermouth, which is reached by a single narrow lane which runs down through Lower Eype to a shingle beach with car park.

The coast to the west of the rivermouth is a noted site for rare beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...

s.

Two species found here are unknown elsewhere in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

:
  • Sphaerius acaroides lives in mud and at plant roots at the edge of standing freshwater pools on the site; this species is particularly noteworthy in that it is the only British representative of the suborder Myxophaga
    Myxophaga
    Myxophaga is the second smallest suborder of Coleoptera after Archostemata, consisting of approximately 65 species of small to minute beetles in four families...

    .
  • the weevil
    Weevil
    A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than , and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae...

     Sitona gemellatus occurs on the site, being found at the roots of leguminous plants (although this species has been recorded in similar habitat at Sidmouth
    Sidmouth
    Sidmouth is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65....

    , Devon
    Devon
    Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

    , it has not been recorded from there recently.


Other rare beetles found at this site include the tiger beetle
Tiger beetle
The tiger beetles are a large group of beetles known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest species of tiger beetle can run at a speed of 9 km/h , which, relative to its body length, is about 22 times the speed of former Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson, the...

 Cicindela germanica, the ground beetle
Ground beetle
Ground beetles are a large, cosmopolitan family of beetles, Carabidae, with more than 40,000 species worldwide, approximately 2,000 of which are found in North America and 2,700 in Europe.-Description and ecology:...

 Drypta dentata and the weevil Baris analis.
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