This forum is a place to discuss matters related to BWARS and general matters related to aculeates.
It is not intended as a forum for identification queries. We may add this feature in due course, but meanwhile, if you need help identifying bees, wasps and ants, please use either iRecord or UK Bees, Wasps and Ants Facebook page, for recording your find.
A crib sheet by Steven Falk to aid the identification of bumblebees with bands and red tails (i.e excluding those with unbanded black bodies and red tails) - 2021
I am aware that there are plenty of records on NBN for many of these, but they are often dated. What I am after is recent info. where someone knows now where a species can be found. I have limited time for this (this field season basically) plus, I may well have to make quite long journerys so I would like to be as sure as I can that I will find what I am looking for when I get there. Your reward, acknowledgement in the book! I will take only photographs and maybe a few specimens. However, I am not collecting as such but getting photos for the book.
The eusocial wasp Polistes biglumis was formerly added to the British list on the basis of several females and males present in July to September 2020 at a country park on the Kent coast (Hazlehurst, 2020). The number present implied at least one nest. It is a larger species than other Polistes - queens can reach a length of up to 16 millimeters, worker up to 14 millimeters.
Distribution:
Kent
South and Central Europe, northern France and the Benelux countries, north to Norway and Sweden south of 65°. Eastwards to Turkey and Central Asia.
Identification:
A useful key is available in Falk and George 2021
Habitat:
In Europe the species is primarily associated with alpine habitats being found up to 2400m in the European alps. Further north it is found in cooler low land open habitat.
Flight period:
From May-June to August-September.
Nesting biology:
Polistes biglumis, like other primitive eusocial species exhibits flexible caste expression. Populations living under severe conditions have no workers, all females are gynes. Those living in less severe conditions do have workers. Gynes have more fat bodies and spend less time foraging. Colonies are always founded by a single foundress. However nests have frequent queen turnover, caused by mated gynes usurping the nests of unrelated queens.
The paper nests can be attached to bushes, rocks or on the walls of buildings but not in enclosed spaces such as lofts.
Polistes nimpha is a primitively eusocial species with poorly-differentiated queens,
Added to the British mainland list by Falk and George 2021 (Falk, S.J. and George, S. 2021. Polistes nimpha (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Another Paper Wasp New to Britain. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History. 34: 1.
Download the paper adding Polistes nimpha to the British list below:
Distribution:
Warwickshire and Jersey
Europe north to S. Finland, Palaearctic Asia east to Mongolia, China, and Russia Far East.
Identification:
A useful key is available in Falk and George 2021
Habitat:
Prefers open habitat. Avoids heavily wooded areas.
Flight period:
In Poland P. nimpha emerges and starts to build nests from April until early May. Colonies begin to disintegrate in late summer following emergence of males and decline throughout autumn.
Nesting biology:
The foundresses usually build nests at a height of 10-20 cm above ground. These can be attached to assorted herbaceous plants (including grasses), dwarf shrubs such as heather Calluna vulgaris, thickets of shrubs and Rubus spp., young trees, and reed beds of Phragmites australis. The nest is attached by a more or less horizontal petiole so that the comb faces to the east and can warm up more rapidly in the morning sun. The nests comprise a single spherical comb constructed of wood pulp, as in vespine wasps, but there is no outer insulating envelope around the comb. Nesting can also be associated with man-made structures such as eaves of buildings or attics. Colonies on natural vegetation are usually haplometric (i.e. founded by a single queen), while some of the colonies associated with buildings are pleometric (i.e. with two or more queens assisting each other) (Cervo & Turillazzi 1985; Rusina et at, 2007). Young nests are prone to predation by badgers, foxes and ants but this lessens as workers establish and defend the nests (Kozyra & Baraniak, 2016). Colonies do not normally exceed a few dozen individuals.
Added to the British list by Falk & Early 2021 (Falk, S.J. & Early, J. 2021 Pemphredon fabricii (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae) New to Britain. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History: 34: 1.
Download the paper introducing this species to the British list below. Includes a revised key to British Pemphredon species.
This guide uses a combination of size, colour pattern and biological information to provide an identification key of 14 fairly distinctive species of solitary bees known
from Scotland. The key applies to female bees only: their male counterparts are often much harder to identify and are not discussed. Most of the bees in the key should also be identifiable from good close-up photographs as long as their critical features are visible.
The second edition of the Bees, Wasp and Ants of Kent by Geoff Allen has been published by the Kent Field Club. Priced at £16 including postage and packing (£12 at Field Club events), it has 198 pages in full colour in A4 format, with notes on all species recorded in the county updated from the first edition (2009) plus distribution maps and photographs. Copies may be ordered at https://www.kentfieldclub.org.uk/publications/books.
Hylaeus signatus male emerging from roost
Pseudomalus auratus
