Tall Fescue Planthopper (Ribautodelphax imitans)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true bug (Hemiptera) > Bug |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Ribautodelphax imitans |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Ribaut, 1953) |
| 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: | Confined to southern England and East Anglia in a highly fragmented distribution. 3 historical (pre-1970) sites (Devon, Dorset) but 12 new sites discovered post-2010 across Norfolk, Essex, Bucks, Sussex, Oxon, Northants, Cambs. Hard to be certain whether this represents recovery or simply better search technique (suction sampling of host plant tussocks). Recently discovered around Tilbury, Essex in tall fescue tussocks. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Apparently a specialist on Tall Fescue (Schedonorus arundinacea), especially where tussock forming. |
| 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: | May benefit from structural diversity in a variety of rough grasslands (wet-dry) that allows tussock formation of host plant. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Autecological understanding constrained by uncertainty about exact requirements: host plant is widespread, although rarely common or dominant, but planthopper's distribution is very scattered geographically and across a variety of habitats (including flood-plain meadows, newly-sown calcareous grasslands). Dispersal ability unknown; normally brachypterous, macropters very rare. This species must be suction sampled to properly find it. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Detailed study of (micro-)habitat requirements across a variety of habitats containing the host plant.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Castle Hill NNR and Falmer, Sussex; Long Mead LWS (Oxon); Coe Fen, Cambridge; Canvey Wick (Essex); Thorpe Meadows (Northants)
Comments: Most records are of singletons suggesting generally low population densities, except at Coe Fen, Cambridge where a substantial population has been reported.
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.