Currant Shoot Borer (Lampronia capitella)
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: | Lampronia capitella |
| 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: | (No GB Red List for micro-moths.) Suffered historic declines and currently known from less than 10 sites scattered across the southern half of England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Larvae feed on currants and Gooseberries. These foodplants will not benefit from generic woodland management. Research is needed into why the moth is as restricted as it is, precise habitat requirements, larval ecology, etc. |
| 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: | Larval foodplants will not benefit from these actions. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: | The recovery potential is unknown at this stage as we do not understand why the species is as restricted as it currently is. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake research into larval ecology and factors affecting the presence of the species at sites with abundant foodplant (e.g. waterlogging, deer browsing pressure)
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority 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.