British Lepidoptera Checklist
In 2013 A Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles was published by the Royal Entomological Society; Agassiz, Beavan & Heckford.
To date (16/03/2024) the authors have updated this checklist on 7 occasions, each published in the Entomologists's Record.
In theory the current version of the checklist is maintained at the Angela Marmont Centre at the Natural History Museum, London. In practice, if such a record is maintained it is not generally accessible. Personal communication with Bob Heckford suggests that the authors of the checklist and its updates accept no responsibility for making the checklist generally available for use by county recorders and other interested Lepidopterists.
I have transcribed the original checklist onto an Excel spreadsheet and updated it with all 7 of the updates. This can be downloaded free of charge below. A lot of work went into the preparation of this spreadsheet and so I ask anyone who does download it to consider making a donation towards the maintenance of this website.
To date (16/03/2024) the authors have updated this checklist on 7 occasions, each published in the Entomologists's Record.
In theory the current version of the checklist is maintained at the Angela Marmont Centre at the Natural History Museum, London. In practice, if such a record is maintained it is not generally accessible. Personal communication with Bob Heckford suggests that the authors of the checklist and its updates accept no responsibility for making the checklist generally available for use by county recorders and other interested Lepidopterists.
I have transcribed the original checklist onto an Excel spreadsheet and updated it with all 7 of the updates. This can be downloaded free of charge below. A lot of work went into the preparation of this spreadsheet and so I ask anyone who does download it to consider making a donation towards the maintenance of this website.
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The spreadsheet lists 2573 species on the main list (I have not listed species from the Appendix) and this agrees with the total quoted in the
7th update. I have not listed citations or synonyms - for these the original checklist and its updates should be consulted.
I have greyed-out 55 species that are deemed extinct in Britain. The official census has 60 extinct species - the discrepancy being due to 37.001 Augasma aeratella several specimens of which were found in 2024; 61.013 Large Blue, which has had a reasonably successful re-introduction; and an increase of 3 between the 5th and 6th updates where I have been unable to establish the species involved.
4 lines on the spreadsheet are now vacant:
11.008 Luffia ferchaultella having been assimilated under 11.009 Luffia lapidella
70.271 after acceptance that Small Engrailed does not qualify as a species
73.292 Matthew's Wainscot having been assimilated under 73.291 Mythimna pallens (Common wainscot))
73.231 Deep-brown Dart and Northern Deep-brown Dart having been merged under 73.232 Aporophyla lueneburgensis
For the 2024 update I have changed all the English names of the micromoths to match those provide in the 2nd Edition of Sterling & Parsons
(even though many of these are not an improvement on those previously assigned)
The spreadsheet has 14 columns:
A: Suborder, B: Infraorder, C: Superfamily - all transitions marked by a change in fill colour
D: Family - divisions marked by a thick line
E: Subfamily, F: Tribe - divisions marked by a thin line
G: Log number for the family, H: Log number for the species
I: Complete log number (formatted to work with the moth recording spreadsheet of the Essex Field Club)
J: Genus, K: Species
L: Full species name*
M: English name**
* Column L is concatenated from columns J and K. If you only want to use the detail in column L: Select column L > copy > paste special>values before deleting column J&K (If you delete J&K without doing this the content of L will disappear)
** If anyone wants to provide me with any of the missing English names I will update the spreadsheet
7th update. I have not listed citations or synonyms - for these the original checklist and its updates should be consulted.
I have greyed-out 55 species that are deemed extinct in Britain. The official census has 60 extinct species - the discrepancy being due to 37.001 Augasma aeratella several specimens of which were found in 2024; 61.013 Large Blue, which has had a reasonably successful re-introduction; and an increase of 3 between the 5th and 6th updates where I have been unable to establish the species involved.
4 lines on the spreadsheet are now vacant:
11.008 Luffia ferchaultella having been assimilated under 11.009 Luffia lapidella
70.271 after acceptance that Small Engrailed does not qualify as a species
73.292 Matthew's Wainscot having been assimilated under 73.291 Mythimna pallens (Common wainscot))
73.231 Deep-brown Dart and Northern Deep-brown Dart having been merged under 73.232 Aporophyla lueneburgensis
For the 2024 update I have changed all the English names of the micromoths to match those provide in the 2nd Edition of Sterling & Parsons
(even though many of these are not an improvement on those previously assigned)
The spreadsheet has 14 columns:
A: Suborder, B: Infraorder, C: Superfamily - all transitions marked by a change in fill colour
D: Family - divisions marked by a thick line
E: Subfamily, F: Tribe - divisions marked by a thin line
G: Log number for the family, H: Log number for the species
I: Complete log number (formatted to work with the moth recording spreadsheet of the Essex Field Club)
J: Genus, K: Species
L: Full species name*
M: English name**
* Column L is concatenated from columns J and K. If you only want to use the detail in column L: Select column L > copy > paste special>values before deleting column J&K (If you delete J&K without doing this the content of L will disappear)
** If anyone wants to provide me with any of the missing English names I will update the spreadsheet
Text following 5th update
The spreadsheet lists 2555 species on the main list (I have not listed species from the Appendix).
According to the 5th update there are 2559 species on the main list. I have included 2 species that are not yet on the official list. One of these has been accepted (73.1931 Spudaea ruticilla) and will appear in the 6th update, the other (15.0201 Dialectica scalariella) is likely to be accepted if/when I get around to writing it up. This means that there is a discrepancy of 6 species between the official census and the spreadsheet list. I do not know if this is the result of the authors having lost track of the number of species or if I have overlooked some species.
(The authors had lost track and corrected this in the 6th update)
The spreadsheet lists 2555 species on the main list (I have not listed species from the Appendix).
According to the 5th update there are 2559 species on the main list. I have included 2 species that are not yet on the official list. One of these has been accepted (73.1931 Spudaea ruticilla) and will appear in the 6th update, the other (15.0201 Dialectica scalariella) is likely to be accepted if/when I get around to writing it up. This means that there is a discrepancy of 6 species between the official census and the spreadsheet list. I do not know if this is the result of the authors having lost track of the number of species or if I have overlooked some species.
(The authors had lost track and corrected this in the 6th update)
