Downland Horsefly (Tabanus glaucopis)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Soldier fly 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: | Tabanus glaucopis |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Meigen, 1820 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Drake, 2017 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Seems to be confined to three areas over the past 35 years, recent records (2022, 2013) are from Denbies Hillside in Surrey, (2013) Box hill, Surrey. Prior to this there is a record from Oxfordshire in 2006. Most records prior to this are from Surrey going back to the mid 1980's |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | The required habitat seems to be chalk grassland and scrub which is not uncommon within the historical range of the species (Southern England). Reasons for the decline in populations are unknown. The risk to the habitat is minimal and continued grazing would provide large mammals for females to feed on for egg development. |
| 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
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.