Bilberry Shieldbug (Elasmucha ferrugata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true bug (Hemiptera) > Shield bug or ally |
| Red List Status: | Critically Endangered/Possibly Extinct (Not Relevant) [CR(PE)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Elasmucha ferrugata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fabricius, 1787) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Bantock, 2016 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Only ever known as a British species on the basis of four specimens from four widely-scattered locations and last recorded in 1950. Considered native but probably extinct, although large areas of potentially suitable habitat exist in upland Britain and the possibility of undiscovered populations cannot be totally ruled out. On this basis the species is not a suitable candidate for recovery actions. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Only ever known as a British species on the basis of four specimens from four widely-scattered locations and last recorded in 1950. Considered native but probably extinct, although large areas of potentially suitable habitat exist in upland Britain and the possibility of undiscovered populations cannot be totally ruled out. On this basis the species is not a suitable candidate for recovery actions. |
| 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: | N/A |
| Justification: |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
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.