Hop Flea Beetle (Psylliodes attenuata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - beetle (Coleoptera) > Leaf beetle or ally |
| 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: | Psylliodes attenuata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Koch, J.D.W., 1803) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Hubble, 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Previously widespread in England and Wales, also recorded as far north as Perthshire, Scotland. Following a large decline, now known from a small number of widely scattered locations, mainly in south-east England. Has probably tracked agricultural practices, historically becoming very abundant from a much lower baseline, when its foodplants were cultivated more widely. Pest status in many other parts of its global range, especially of hemp. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Historical abundance is probably an artefact of widespread cultivation of foodplants. Initially, there is a need to assess if the population here is significantly different to others across its range before any further actions are considered. |
| 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: | Creation of habitat mosaics would likely benefit this species |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Small and easily overlooked. Similar to some other species in genus. A pest species through much of its global range. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Population genetic work on UK and EU populations to determine if there are significant differences warranting UK based actions
Action targets: 1. Taxonomy established
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Sites from across the global range of this species
Comments: Is there significant genetic divergence between the UK populations and those in other parts of its range? If there is, further actions could be considered.
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.