Four-spotted (Tyta luctuosa)
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: | Tyta luctuosa |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) |
| 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 long-term trend data available. Has suffered severe historical losses of distribution throughout its range and now highly fragmented. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Requires Field Bindweed growing in a range of situations but particularly in otherwise sparsely vegetated ground. Recent colonisations of newly created habitat on arable sites in East Anglia will be short-lived unless further management takes place. |
| 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: | Would benefit from creation of early successional stages with the foodplant but would require ongoing management in order to maintain populations. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Structured - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Changing climate may increase the range of microhabitats that are suitable but this is not yet certain. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Undertake research into larval microhabitat requirements under different climatic conditions to inform management.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Sites in different geographical areas and on differing geology.
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Undertake habitat creation / restoration by creation of unmanaged bare ground which can be colonised by the foodplant in suitable microclimate. This can be by creating dry ditches or by scraping nutrient poor vegetated ground.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments: Likely to be best achieved by providing bespoke advice to landowners
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Undertake research to ascertain the most effective management to provide long term viable sites for Four-spotted and to understand are the ecological requirements of the larvae.
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.