Pale Shining Brown (Polia bombycina)
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: | Polia bombycina |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Hufnagel, 1766) |
| 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): EN; no long-term trend data available. In the last 10 years there has only been a single record and it may be on the verge of extinction. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Ecology completely unknown. If extinction is to be prevented there is an urgent need to resolve what its requirements are. |
| 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: | Because no-one knows what its requirements are. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | There is a suggestion that populations of this species undergo a boom and bust cycle. At the moment it is at a low ebb and no known populations exist. Previous attempts to resolve the larval ecology were unsuccessful. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: As soon as an extant population is rediscovered, undertake urgent research into the larval ecology so that management recommendations can be made.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites: Salisbury Plain
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.