Large Copper (Lycaena dispar)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - butterfly > Butterfly |
| Red List Status: | Regionally Extinct (GB scale) (Not Relevant) [RE(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: | Lycaena dispar |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Haworth, 1803) |
| 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): RE. Large Copper remains Regionally Extinct. The last record as a resident species in Britain was in 1864. Past reintroduction attempts failed to establish long-term, self-sustaining populations. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Reasons for extinction and subsequent failure of attempted reintroductions has been well researched. |
| 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 will require large areas of suitable habitat as species can be at low densities and availability of host plant can be at low densities and areas management as flower-rich fen. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Pressures acting outside England |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Currently extinct and only option for reintroduction will be captive breeding from populations in Netherlands. These populations are highly threatened. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Carry out genetic analysis of collected egg shells from the two populations in the Netherlands to compare the genetics of the Dutch batavus sub-species with the UK extinct dispar sub-species using museum specimens and compare with the current captive reared stock to establish their genetic suitability.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: Not applicable
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Carry out feasibility study to review areas of currently suitable/potential habitat and where habitat restoration/creation might be feasible at previous sites/known/potential range.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Norfolk Broads
Comments: Some currently being undertaken - steering group established and NE MSc research project being carried out
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Establish captive rearing project with Dutch sub-species for reintroduction
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Ex situ conservation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Only possible with Dutch permissions, disease risk protocols in place and when habitats are large enough and suitable.
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.