Limnephilus pati
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: | Limnephilus pati |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | O'Connor, 1980 |
| 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: | IUCN status given on the basis of no modern records but possibly was still on the Isle of Man (last recorded 1987). Now found in England and Scotland. Only one modern English site (Market Weston Fen Suffolk). (Also a modern Outer Hebrides site as well as the 1987 Isle of Man record). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | With only one currently known English site this is clearly a very vulnerable species and the actions are hopefully to locate more. |
| 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: | A very rare species with probably very specific needs |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Highly calcareous fens are a habitat that was much more common in the past but efforts are being made to redress that. A current distribution of East Anglia, Isle of Man, and Outer Hebrides suggests a species that was more common in the past and could be again. Managing the calcareous fens too enthusiastically for the low plant communities. It likes spring fed streams and oozes under medium to low plant cover in fens. This can be predicted to always be a very rare species but nevertheless may have a few other sites to be found in England. It has potential for establishment of a breeding programme. Managing the calcareous fens too enthusiastically for the low plant communities. It likes spring fed streams and oozes under medium to low plant cover in fens. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Light trap surveys for adults during June at Chippenham Fen (most hopeful additional site from which it has been historically recorded) but also Roydon Fen, Diss and Thelnetham Fen. This could involve asking moth recorders who work the sites to look out for this species so the action would include preparing identification materials for that purpose.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Chippenham Fen, Royden Fen Thelnetham Fen
Comments: It would be most cost effective to bundle this species with other insects that need summer light trapping at those sites. These sites have not been recently surveyed for this species. Larvae have been reared from adults from Market Weston Fen so a captive breeding programme for re-introduction could be devised.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: IF action 1 produced records then a larval search would be desirable to see if the microhabitat was the same as found at Market Weston Fen.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Supplement existing water surveys at larval sites to get better data on the water regime and water chemistry
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Market Weston Fen and any re-discovered 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.