Philodromus fallax
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: | Rhysodromus fallax |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Sundevall, 1833) |
| 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: B2ab(ii,iv): some evidence of decline but unlikely to meet VU criteria when next reviewed because of recent discoveries/rediscoveries. Sand dune (foredunes) specialist occurring on E, S and W coasts of England and Wales (not found in Scotland). |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Apparently much less widely distributed than its sand dune 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: | Unknown |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Found at forefront of mobile coastal sand dunes. Always likely to be under recorded because of crypsis but vulnerable to a range of pressures on sandy coastlines including coastal erosion, visitor pressure and development. |
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: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Autecological research to establish microhabitat requirements at contrasting and reliable sites
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Focus on reliable sites and contrast E and W coast dunes
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Improve understanding of distribution/status of this small and cryptic beach-loving species by increase sightings through awareness raising campaign with the many visitors to appropriate sandy beach habitat
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: Education/awareness raising
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Produce and disseminate locally to users of the dune-edge 'beach shelter' zone, 'have you seen this spider' ID and information cards, on-site information and QR codes with data directed to SRS iRecord from.
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.