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
Widespread in England, Scotland and Wales but very local with about 35 sites since
1960.
Regional Distribution
Recorded in both vice counties in 1931-3, but since 1980 only recorded at Mullion (1981) and Redlake, Lostwithiel (1991), with a general record for Caradon district in 1992.
Habitat & Ecology
Associated with brackish and saline marshes along tidal rivers. The adults visit flowers between May and August; the larvae are probably aphid feeders.
Threats
Flood defences, fly tipping, draining of saline marshes for recreation or agriculture, and river pollution.
Conservation
The Mullion site is on National Trust land managed for invertebrate conservation.
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.