Erigone psychrophila
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > spider (Araneae) > Spider |
| 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: | Erigone psychrophila |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Thorell, 1871 |
| 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: | NT, criteria: B2a: likely to be lost from its single English hectad but recorded in 4 Scottish hectads (/x13) in last decade. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Extremely rare relative to apparently suitable 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 high arctic/montane species, mostly recorded in Scotland but with English records from a single site >40 years ago, despite recent targeted searches. Absent from Wales. Found in high altitude flushes and in the mossy (not necessarily Sphagnum) margins of tarns to 1140m. The Cheviot record is the most S in Europe, suggesting very low recovery potential because of likelihood of climate-change induced, N retreat. |
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: Cheviot summit and Cross Fell at slightly greater altitude, plus appropriate altitude habitat in the Lake District
Comments: Long time-frame for survey to assess whether species is RE in England. Same as area as Dismodicus elevatus, 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.