Heath Threadwort (Cephaloziella stellulifera)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Non-vascular plant (incl. chromists) > liverwort > Liverwort |
| 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: | Cephaloziella stellulifera |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Spruce) Schiffn. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Callaghan, 2023 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Will likely become at risk of extinction in England in the future due to continuing decline on old metal mines |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | A species with low recovery potential where the main aim is to maintain/protect populations |
| 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: | The species has a restricted distribution and so is unlikely to benefit from untargeted actions |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | GB RL criteria: n/a. Mediterranean Suboceanic species. Recovery potential low due to natural rarity and permanent loss of industrial process that sustained most of its habitat (i.e. dumping of metalliferous waste from mining). Potential additional action to: undertake research to better understand the ecology and habitat requirements of the species. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Develop and implement national monitoring plan to ensure comprehensive and up-to-date information is available on range size, population size, occupied sites and threatening factors in England
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: A species with low recovery potential where the main aim is to maintain/protect populations
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: In consultation with landowners, assess habitat management requirements at surviving locations and produce a costed plan for any new actions required
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Advice & support
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
Comments: Management on The Lizard is presently favourable. What new habitat management can feasibly be undertaken at other sites is largely unknown. The matter is complicated because management needs to promote exposed metalliferous spoil, which can conflict with concerns over environmental pollution.
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Seek to restore areas of exposed metalliferous spoil in protected areas where the species occurs, through careful targeting.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites:
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.