Hydropsyche exocellata
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - caddis fly (Trichoptera) > Caddisfly |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered/Possibly Extinct (Not Relevant) [CR(PE)(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: | Hydropsyche exocellata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Dufour, 1841 |
| 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: | The last record was 1903. It seems reasonable to assume this is extinct. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | It would require re-introduction from continental material. |
| 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: | It can be presumed that the mix of habitats that river restoration produces, especially faster flowing areas would be beneficial. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | No known populations therefore no potential for recovery without re-introduction or hope for natural colonisation. (Protocols exist for breeding to provide larvae of this pollution-tolerant species for pesticide testing. This species would be predicted to establish well in lowland rivers, hopefully not competing with other rare species. It would also be expected to not need any specific habitat modification or enhancement to establish itself. It is common on the continent so there may be no value to the species in establishing an outpost of the continental stock. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Trial a captive breeding programme so that information is available if it is required to provide stock for a re-introduction programme.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites:
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.