Devil's bolete (Boletus satanas)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Fungus or lichen > fungus > Fungus |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Rubroboletus satanas |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Lenz) Kuan Zhao & Zhu L. Yang |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Ainsworth et al., 2013 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Redlisted as Vulnerable (2013) - Extant in New Forest |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Without evidence of the current national status of this species it will be very difficult to assess if there are any other species-specific actions required for its conservation; or if it is need of conservation at all. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | There is no evidence that an increase in the structural diversity of the habitat will directly benefit this species. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Policy conflict (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | There is an IUCN recognised redlist for GB, but that is over 10 years old and due for review. The recovery potential is low because of policies around nitrogen deposition, which has a negative effect on mycorrhizal species like this. Reversing habitat fragmentation (Wood pasture/Parkland on Calcareous soils) and improving habitat management are key to the conservation of this species |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: An assessment of the necessary national species records should be made according to IUCN guidelines to provide a recognised redlist status criteria for this species.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: N/A
Comments: As the IUCN recognised assessment for this species is out of date, this action should be prioritised.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: DNA survey of thermophilic boletus sites
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Bolete fruiting has anecdotally drastically diminished leading to fewer records. It's not clear whether this is an environmental issue, or some key sites like Windsor/New Forest where there have been obvious changes in recording patterns. eDNA survey would help to determine whether these species are still present as mycelium
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Research into inoculation of saplings with mycorrhiza of this species
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: N/A
Comments: tree inoculation should be trialled. Successful inoculation would allow for rapid colonisation of new sites
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.