Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - butterfly > Butterfly |
| 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: | Melitaea cinxia |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| 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): EN. 25% increase in abundance since 1989 and a 7% short-term (10 year 2010-2019) increase; 30% long-term decline in distribution since 2005 and a 21% short-term decline (Fox et al. 2023) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A highly restricted species principally on the undercliff grassland on the Isle of White where it is dependent on frequent land slippage to provide the correct growth form of its larval foodplant, ribwort plantain. |
| 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 species would not benefit from untargeted management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | As climate change continues, an action to prepare an assisted colonisation strategy might be informative and reduce the risk from cliff stabilisation works on the Isle of Wight. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake a review of potential inland sites on the Isle of Wight and mainland locations where assisted colonisation might be appropriate in the long-term as climate change puts at risk the longevity of coastal sites.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Grassland sites on IoW and possible grassland sites on mainland
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.