Limnephilus tauricus
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: | Limnephilus tauricus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Schmid, 1964 |
| 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: | There are only 3 post 2000 records being fens at Leckford, Hollesley and Market Weston. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | With only one three currently known English site this is clearly a vulnerable species and the actions are hopefully to locate more. It has proved very difficult to locate larvae, except at Market Weston Fen. |
| 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: | This seems to be a species of calcareous fens and as there are efforts being made to increase the amount of this habitat this general work could benefit this species. It is undesirable to manage the calcareous fens too enthusiastically for the low plant communities. The habitat seems to be moderately to highly calcareous fens where it seems to like slightly flowing water of streams and oozes under a low to moderate vegetation height, that dries out to some extent over summer. This may require general management to maintain those conditions. Cattle poached pools in reed swamp seemed to suit it too. This can be predicted to always be a very rare species but nevertheless will have a few other sites to be found in England. Many are likely to come as casual records as was the case for Leckford and Hollesley. It's occurrence with L. pati means that actions for that species can also provide data to benefit L. tauricus.. It is undesirable to manage the calcareous fens too enthusiastically for the low plant communities. The habitat seems to be moderately to highly calcareous fens where it seems to like slightly flowing water of streams and oozes under a low to moderate vegetation height, that dries out to some extent over summer. This may require general management to maintain those conditions. Cattle poached pools in reed swamp seemed to suit it too. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Light trap surveys for adults during July at Chippenham Fen (most hopeful and a historic site for the species) but also Royden Fen and Thelnetham Fen. This may not necessarily have to be trapping only for this species as moth recorders could be asked to retain likely looking specimens and the action would include production of such materials.
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 but other sites could be considered too.
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.