Paragus tibialis
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Hoverfly |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(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: | Paragus tibialis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Fallén, 1817) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Ball & Morris, 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Most British records are from southern heathland districts of England, and post-2000 records are relatively few, suggesting a decline, though this tiny hoverfly is easy to overlook. There are also a few pre-2000 Welsh records. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Poor understanding of its specific needs. It seems to be associated with dry ericaceous heathland and larvae are presumed to be aphid predators (root aphids are suggested by some but it is unclear if this has been proven). |
| 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: | The species would probably benefit from heathland management that promotes varied conditions including bare ground, flowers such as Heath Bedstraw and Tormentil, and patches of acid grassland. |
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: Specific targeted surveying/monitoring in its key area to investigate its current status (to feed into a revision of the Red List), extent of populations and whether there are specific habitat needs.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: Heaths of Dorset, Hampshire & Surrey .
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.