Anabolia brevipennis
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - caddis fly (Trichoptera) > Caddisfly |
| 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: | Anabolia brevipennis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Curtis, 1834) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Wallace, 2016 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recent successful surveys have revealed one Scottish and one Welsh site but the remaining sites are all English. It seems fairly secure from extinction in the near future but it remains a species with only a few populations. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | It's ground-water fed pools in carr may need action to maintain them, probably by digging new ones. |
| 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: | Carr woodland seems often to be regarded as self-managing but that could lead to loss of pools. Groundwater quality also essential for this species as far as nutrient is concerned e.g. from agriculture entering the water. The carr could also become too tall and dry out a site and carr must be allowed to naturally develop at site edges. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | In some parts of the country (north west England and East Anglia) this is almost an expected species if surveying pools in groundwater fed carr woodland. Such habitat is expected to increase with time, but in this country light trap data suggests it is not a species about much. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Advise land managers about the need to maintain the water regime, possibly digging new pools, and ensure they know the exact sites for the species. The needs of other rare species at the sites can be included. Giving advice can be achieved through site visits to obtain photos and accurate grid references and in-person advice to site managers including habitat management advice.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: One visit per site would probably suffice
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Revisit some sites from which there are no post 1980 records. Finding additional modern sites reduces risk of extinction from loss of sites. Target sites are sites are Askham Bog, Belham Bog, Little Haweswater, Redgrave Fen. If results of surveys are positive, details would be passed to land managers as per action 1.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Askham Bog, Belham Tarn Bog, Little Haweswater Fen, Redgrave Fen
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.