The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Range & Status
Formerly widely recorded across southern Britain, but has become increasingly scarce in recent decades.
Regional Distribution
Known from Porth Hellick, St. Mary' s (Mackechnie-Jarvis, 1969) and much older records from Tresco, Truro, Penzance and Falmouth.
Habitat & Ecology
Associated with the dung of cattle, sheep and horses in pasture.
Threats
Agricultural improvement of semi-natural grasslands; abandonment of grazing, leading to coarsening and scrub development. The use of veterinary products such as avermectins which have insecticidal properties in the dung.
Conservation
Protection of semi-natural pastures from development and maintenance of rough
00 grazings.
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.