Striped Lychnis (Cucullia lychnitis)
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: | Shargacucullia lychnitis |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Cucullia lychnitis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Rambur, 1833 |
| 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): LC and no trend data available, but restricted to a limited area of southern England. Little evidence of recent decline but historically it was more widespread across southern England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Recovery of former range (beyond boundary of current distribution) likely to depend on bare ground creation and seeding with larval foodplant Dark Mullein. |
| 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: | The foodplant benefits from creation of early successional habitat by soil disturbance. The moth can disperse to colonise newly-available habitat. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Conservation of the moth away from chalk downland requires regular ground disturbance, which promotes establishment of the larval host plant Dark Mullein. Ensure road verge sites are managed on rotation by ground disturbance combined with seeding where necessary. Seek opportunities to introduce similar management on road verges outside the current distribution, to encourage spread of the plant and the moth.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: Sites in Hampshire, Sussex and Wiltshire.
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Currently no population trends are available for abundance or distribution due to insufficient data. Encourage annual recording of larvae on a more systematic basis to enable production of a distribution trend in future, so that species status can be better assessed.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: Larvae easier to record than adults; larvae conspicuous on host plants, adults are relatively infrequent at light traps.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Currently no population trends are available for abundance or distribution due to insufficient data. Encourage annual counts at a series of key sites to enable production of an abundance trend in future, so that species status can be better assessed.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: Larvae easier to monitor than adults; larvae conspicuous on host plants, adults are relatively infrequent at light traps.
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.