Wasp Wood-soldierfly (Xylomya maculata)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > insect - true fly (Diptera) > Soldier fly or ally |
| 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: | Xylomya maculata |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Meigen, 1804) |
| 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: | Appearing to be in decline since 1990, there were three known areas for records, New Forest (VC11), Epping Forest (VC18) Windsor Forest area (VC22, VC21 & VC17) |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A number of recent records have been from gardens and built up areas, that said, they are all within the vicinity of parkland or woods. There is a known link between the fly and ancient woodland and wood pasture with damp/wet wood detritus in rot-holes in old trees. Targeting these areas and protecting these important habitats is critical. |
| 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 - Life history factor/s |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Larval association to dead and decaying wood and rot holes, known associations with rot-holes in Oak (Quercus) and Beech (Fagus) |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Tailored surveys of the required habitat in the adult flight period (May-June) to be completely sure whether the previous populations are present and where possible in suitable sites. Searching and breeding-out from rot-holes may be an effective approach as adults are rarely seen, thus there may be an element of under-recording.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Note: several areas are gardens/suburban; nearby woodland/parkland would be the target area. Buckinghamshire, (Garden) SP820800621), Berkshire, Reading (Garden) SU690731; Hertfordshire, St Albans (Centre) TL149073, TL136072, S Hampshire, Denny Wood, SU335065, Middsex, Gunnersbury Park, TQ18807876, Oxfordshire, Emmergreen SU72057652, Berkshire, Windsor High forest SU9373
Comments: May be best approached nationally through recording scheme or Dipterist's forum as well as specifically targeting known sites.
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: With protection of ancient trees in parks and woodland appearing to be critical, provide advice and guidance to land managers, especially in public access sites, to prevent loss of even more ancient/decaying trees.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Note: several areas are gardens/suburban; nearby woodland/parkland would be the target area. Buckinghamshire, (Garden) SP820800621), Berkshire, Reading (Garden) SU690731; Hertfordshire, St Albans (Centre) TL149073, TL136072, S Hampshire, Denny Wood, SU335065, Middsex, Gunnersbury Park, TQ18807876, Oxfordshire, Emmergreen SU72057652, Berkshire, Windsor High forest SU9373
Comments: The approach being based around information, training and support for land managers to help implement any guidance.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Explore use of rot-hole water traps to try passively recording emerging adults. Again collect some material to eDNA sequence with a view to later successful bulk analyses of breeding substrate.
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Note: several areas are gardens/suburban; nearby woodland/parkland would be the target area. Buckinghamshire, (Garden) SP820800621), Berkshire, Reading (Garden) SU690731; Hertfordshire, St Albans (Centre) TL149073, TL136072, S Hampshire, Denny Wood, SU335065, Middsex, Gunnersbury Park, TQ18807876, Oxfordshire, Emmergreen SU72057652, Berkshire, Windsor High forest SU9373
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.