English Assassin Fly (Empis limata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Fly |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Empis limata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Collin, 1927 |
| 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: | Only three English records in the past 110 years from Shropshire 2014, Worcestershire 2010 and Herefordshire 1985, records prior to this are from 1913 and before. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | The biology of the individual species is unknown although both larvae and adults are predaceous on other insects. The fly has been recorded from flowers of ground elder by the River Monnow and associations are probably to damp broad-leaved woodland, or wooded streams or rivers. All of these should in theory be common and with an increase of recording it would assumed that if present adults would have been discovered. |
| 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: | Although the biology is unknown, any approaches that protect or expand areas of damp broadleaved woodland and maintain water levels should be beneficial. Conservation management of woodland such as maintenance of woodland rides and glades and clearings along rover banks should in theory benefit if there are any remaining populations. |
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.