Sphaerophoria potentillae
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Hoverfly |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(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: | Sphaerophoria potentillae |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Claussen, 1984 |
| 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: | British records confined to a handful of sites in SW England, notably the Culm grasslands of North Devon which are vulnerable to agricultural improvement and have been substantially reduced in extent over recent decades. Vulnerable in Europe (IUCN). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Currently there is Insufficient understanding of the specific needs of this species |
| 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: | Management of unimproved grassland (especially that with Purple Moor Grass), that promotes structural diversity will be of benefit |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 4. Autecology and pressures understood |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Strong association with Culm grassland - a flagship species for this scarce and declined grassland type. |
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), the 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: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Culm Grassland areas
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.