Reddish Buff (Acosmetia caliginosa)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - moth > Moth |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Acosmetia caliginosa |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Hübner, [1813]) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| 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. 2019): CR. No long term data available but numbers much reduced at last UK site since the turn of the century and hadn't been found for 3 years until two were seen in 2023. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Confined to a single site where numbers have declined considerably under current management regime. |
| 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): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Survey efforts in recent years have concentrated on one area of the occupied site. This needs expanding to other areas in different ownership and under different management regimes. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Expand monitoring to other parts of occupied site to determine status and whether different management regimes are beneficial.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: 1 site in Isle of Wight
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Undertake detailed research into the autecology and reasons for decline under the current management regime.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: 1 site in Isle of Wight
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Removal of invading scrub and management of increasingly dominant Molinia at occupied site.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: 1 site in Isle of Wight
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.