New Forest Shieldbug (Eysarcoris aeneus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true bug (Hemiptera) > Shield bug or ally |
| Red List Status: | Endangered (Not Relevant) [EN(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: | Eysarcoris aeneus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Scopoli, 1763) |
| 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: | Yes |
| Justification: | Confined to England, with almost all recent records from its stronghold in the New Forest area and Parkhurst Forest/Ningwood Common on the Isle of Wight, where it has been known for many years. These areas are designated for nature conservation either as SPA or SSSI and it is recorded by visiting entomologists in the New Forest area on an annual basis. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | It's autecology remains not entirely clear, particularly in terms of the preferred hostplants in Britain |
| 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: | This species would not benefit from untargeted management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Conduct autecological studies to establish the main host plants used in Britain, via a combination of field methods and captive rearing experiments if necessary. Confirmation of its preferred hosts may inform future habitat management and further recovery efforts.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: New Forest Area
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.