Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - butterfly > Butterfly |
| 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: | Boloria selene |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Fox & Dennis, 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | GB Red List (Fox et al. 2022): VU. Statistically significant 55% decline in abundance since 1978 and a 16% short-term (10 year 2010-2019) decline; 68% long-term decline in distribution since 1982 and a 24% short-term decline (Fox et al. 2023) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Once widespread occurring in woodland clearings, damp grassland, heaths and dunes and other damp habitats where its foodplants, mostly Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) and Marsh Violet (Viola palustris), grew. With the demise of coppicing and intensification of agriculture the species has disappeared from many of its former sites becoming scarcer throughout its range, and it is now extinct in nearly all of central and eastern England. Requires targeted woodland management/bracken grassland management to create conditions for food plant, microclimate for larval development. |
| 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: | Species now requires targeted, specific management in England. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | Recovery potential is limited by a combination of climate change, extinction debt, particularly available suitable habitat. It has been considered to have a broader niche compared to Pearl-bordered Fritillary but due to significant declines this species requires more focus in its own right. The ongoing declines in the open, damp grasslands, moors and bracken-mosaic habitats of northern and western England are more perplexing. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Autecological research on egg laying and larval development in light of climate change (increased grass growth during winter and nitrogen deposition); how are higher summer and winter temperatures impacting this species, that prefers damper locations?
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Can target the work in particular landscapes/locations where data demonstrates this is particularly concerning
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Design and implement experiment to trial different bracken management techniques to create ideal/known conditions required by females for egg laying and subsequent larval development and survival.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Increase advice and support to landowners, advisors, land managers on appropriate management practices as results of scientific research become available.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Advice & Support
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: More limited research completed on this species compared to Pearl-bordered Fritillary, but work is now required. Also, need to research impact of drainage on extinction at 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.