Nail Fungus (Poronia punctata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Fungus or lichen > fungus > Fungus |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Poronia punctata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) Fr. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Assessed as Near Threatened (2006) - Once widespread, it is now found chiefly in the South of England, with a stronghold in the New Forest, and more recently Norfolk. |
| 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. It should also be possible to increase the distribution of this species by trialling methods of translocation |
| 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: | This habitat requirement for this species is a high density per area of 'organic' horse dung… so 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: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | This species reproduces in horse dung. The huge reduction in societies' use of horses has negatively effected population sizes, and it is thought that the use of antibiotics and other medicines may negatively effect 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 no IUCN recognised assessment exists for this species, this action should be prioritised.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Discovering which pesticides on feed, or which medicines given to horses have a negative effect on this species is critical to its recovery
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: New Forest
Comments: There is some evidence that this species only thrives on dung with considerable dung beetle activity, and so any chemicals that affect those beetles may also need to be considered as a threat to species recovery for this fungus.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Translocation of this species to areas with high horse population densities has already been successfully trialled, and should be regularly repeated to reintroduce the species to more regions of the country.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: N/A
Comments:
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.