A rare endangered beetle that was found in Kent for the first time in 60 years is to feature on a new set of Royal Mail stamps.

The Noble Chafer beetle, which has an iridescent bronze and green body, was found during an organised search for insects at a traditional orchard in Swale by the People's Trust for Endangered Species.

The exact number of the species is unknown but populations have dwindled during the last century as much of its favoured orchard habitat has disappeared. The bug is harmless and depends on the decaying wood habitat found within old fruit trees.

Records show that more than 60 years ago they used to be found at various places across Kent, including Dartford and the Isle of Thanet.

Traditionally-managed orchards have declined by nearly 60 per cent since the 1950s. Competition from cheap, overseas imports of fruit has led to orchard habitats becoming economically unviable and increasingly rare and many had been cleared to make way for other crops or redeveloped as modern orchards.

The featured insects are endangered but are benefiting from action plans to conserve them.

They were photographed by the Natural History Museum from its own collection of 28 million insect specimens.

The Royal Mail consulted with the Museum and experts on the selection of rare insects, many of which are on the 'danger list' due to issues like habitat loss and pesticides, but with help some are fighting back.

A bug's life

Size: Approximately 2cm
Distinguishing features: metallic bronzy-green body, wrinkly wing cases with pale flecks (easily confused with the slightly larger rose chafer beetle, Cetonia aurata, whose wing cases are much smoother and less speckled)
Habitat: Dead and decaying wood - in particular ancient fruit tree
Life-cycle: Female Noble Chafers lay up to about 35 eggs which hatch after about two weeks. The larvae are white c-shaped grubs of around 3cm long which feed on rotting wood debris for around two years before emerging as adult beetles in early summer. The adult lifespan is approximately 4-6 weeks
Distribution: Recorded sightings are limited to key fruit-growing areas of Britain, including Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, plus limited outlying populations sighted in Oxfordshire, the New Forest and most recently Kent.

The other insects appearing on the new collection are:

Adonis blue butterfly (Lysandra bellargus) – status: scarce
Southern damselfly (Coenagrion mercuriale) - status: rare
Red-barbed ant (Formica rufibarbis) - status: endangered
Barberry carpet moth (Pareulype berberata) - status: endangered
Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) - status: rare
Hazel pot beetle (Cryptocephalus coryli) - status: endangered
Field cricket (Gryllus campestris) - status: endangered
Silver-spotted skipper (Hesperia comma) status: rare
Purbeck mason wasp (Pseudepipona herrichii) - status: vulnerable.