Dingy Mocha (Cyclophora pendularia)
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: | Cyclophora pendularia |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Clerck, 1759) |
| 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): NT; no trend data available, but restricted to a limited area of southern England. Little evidence of recent decline but historically it was more widespread in southern England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Conservation and recovery of former range (beyond boundary of current distribution) likely to depend on management to encourage development of young sallows growing on heaths and damp grasslands. |
| 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: | Management to encourage greater diversity of successional stages on heathland and damp grassland, thus allowing sallows to develop, will benefit this species within its restricted range. |
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: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Conservation grazing of heathland and damp grassland threatens this species, as browsing damages the young sallow bushes on which the moth depends. Ensure site managers are aware of the requirements of this species at key sites, and include the needs of this species within site management plans. Also ensure that a proportion of young sallows is retained during scrub clearance work.
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 Dorset, Hampshire and Devon.
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 can be sampled using a beating tray. Recording using this technique is likely to require some volunteer training.
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.