Dismodicus elevatus
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > spider (Araneae) > Spider |
| 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: | Dismodicus elevatus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (C.L. Koch, 1838) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Harvey et al., 2017 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | VU, criteria: D2: only recorded at single site in England, with 9 hectads in Scotland |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Not re-found for >40 years despite availability and targeted search of similar habitat. |
| 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): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Climate change |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | A northern species, only recorded in England at a single location (Cheviots heather moor) in 1981 and not re-found during subsequent, targeted searches. Seen only in 4 contiguous Cairngorm hectads this century, where it is easily swept from Juniper under Caledonian pines. Likely to be retreating N with climate change. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Targeted re-survey of former site and its vicinity, using standardised methodology to assess current status (and establish baseline for national monitoring programme)
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 6-10 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Yardhope, Cheviot
Comments: Long time-frame for survey to assess whether species is to assess whether RE in England. Same as area as Erigone psychrophila, so survey effort to be combined.
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.