Gonatium paradoxum
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Invertebrate > spider (Araneae) > Spider |
| 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: | Gonatium paradoxum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (L. Koch, 1869) |
| 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: | EN, criteria: B2ab(ii,iii,iv). Apparent ongoing decline, recorded at only 1 site (/6) since 2000. Confined to SE England. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Much less frequent than suggested by habitat availability |
| 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 - Relict or natural rarity |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Restricted to dry, mature heath and chalk grassland in the extreme SE. Apparently lost from Ashdown Forest, with only post-2000 records from Blean, Kent, where it appears to have become confined to heath remnants along woodland rides. Recovery likely to be limited by apparent thermophilic restriction to extreme SE England and by loss of suitable habitat there. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Targeted re-survey of all former and nearby sites, 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: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Blean Woods and South Hill, Upper Halling, Kent; Box Hill and Limpsfield, Surrey, Ashdown Forest, E. Sussex.
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Autecological research to better characterise habitat requirements and inform management
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Scientific research
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Blean Woods, Kent
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Habitat management to restore/extend/reconnect open heathland within the Blean complex.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: 1 site
High priority sites: Blean Woods complex
Comments: Link to objectives for Wilder Blean project
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.