Eagle's Claws (Anaptychia ciliaris subsp. ciliaris)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Fungus or lichen > lichen > Lichen |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(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: | Anaptychia ciliaris |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L.) Körb. ex A. Massal. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Woods & Coppins, 2012 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Large widespread declines apparent from records and site-based evidence (anecdotal largely). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Large widespread decline has been attributed to air pollution and loss of elm but research needed to confirm this. Conservation action needed to stem loss at remaining locations. |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | Likely to benefit from availability of well-lit neutral-acidic bark trees in the landscape |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Formerly widespread species in decline. Possible or likely causes include loss of elm and air pollution is thought to be a key driver, although this is not conclusively known. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Establish direct impact of air pollutants on the species.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: This seems to be a fundamental question to answer. Potential to bundle this with other species thought to be sensitive to air pollutants e.g. Breckland terricolous specialist, Bryoria
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Establish a national monitoring programme and baseline, to determine current trend and condition of population.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 500 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Undertaken with a sampling method
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Produce species dossier including identifying actions required to address issues following A1 and A2.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: Essential to produce a plan to implement conservation actions identified through Key Actions 1 and 2. This will need to be costed and with individuals/organisations assigned tasks.
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.