Hypoponera eduardi is a small brown ant with a functioning sting, a single substantial petiole and a constriction between the first and second segments of the gaster. It is an underground species with both winged and wingless males; gynes can be either alate and gyne-like or worker-like. This species is known from northern France and has recently been recorded from the Isle of Wight, Guernsey and London Zoo
Distribution:
Recorded from the Isle of Wight, Guernsey and London
Primarily a Mediteranean species but found in much of Europe. It is a tramp species and has been recorded in many parts of the world.
Status (in Britain only):
This species is not regarded as scarce or threatened.
Identification:
Seifert (2018) gives a method of separating the species including a measurment of the head width and scape length. Scapes are longer compared to H. punctissama and H. ergatandria. For Head width, HW and Scape length, SL: If SL/HW > 0.87 you have H. eduardi
Sorry that the site has been down for the last few days. We have had a problem with the domain BWARS.com and this is unlikely to be fully resolved for several more days. In the meantime the site is available via the alternate temporary domain BWARS.uk. It is possible that some links might not work but access to species profile pages seem to be working. Mike Fox 2022-09-07
Sphecodes albilabris is a large (body length 11-15 mm) solitary parasitic bee that is endemic to Central and Western Europe. It also occurs in North Africa and is thought to have been introduced to the United States and Australia by accident.
Distribution:
This cleptoparasitic species has only recently been found in the UK when it was discovered in Britain in 2020 (Layham, Suffolk). In 2022 S. albilabris was recorded in Oxon, suggesting it is spreading at a fast rate.
Abroad, it is found in association with its host, which is spread widely in continental Europe.
Status (in Britain only):
It is too recently discovered to have been accorded scarcity or rarity status.
Identification:
The largest British Sphecodes by some margin (body length 11-15 mm). It is also the only one with the red markings extending to the tip of the abdomen, though the final tergite of the male can be dusky. It is a robustly-built, densely-punctured (and therefore rather dull-looking) species with the lower face noticeably produced. The male antennae are not especially long and the individual flagellar segments are bulbous. The male genitalia has claspers that resemble those of S. puncticeps in shape.
Habitat:
Found in the same habitats as its host, sandy areas with sallows and willows growing in abundance.
Flight period:
Univoltine. Females are flying from March to August, males from July to October
Pollen collected:
As this bee is a cleptoparasite no pollen is collected.
Nesting biology:
A cleptoparasite of Colletes cunicularius; no information is available on the parasitic behaviour in the UK. In southern Sweden, the female parasite has been seen entering and leaving the nest burrows of its host in a disused sand quarry (GWA, pers. obs.).
Flowers visited:
This includes a variety of Asteraceae including Hemp Agrimony, Creeping Thistle, and goldenrods; also sea hollies.
Meeting to be held via Zoom hosted by Tanyptera Trust
The event is free to members, but you are asked to register in advance by email to the Membership Secretary, Clare Boyes (address on BWARS website Contacts page, or in BWARS Newsletter) by Weds 14th Sept. An email with link will be sent to attendees a few days prior to the event.
The Committee gives notice of a proposed change to the BWARS Constitution (also notified in Spring 2022 Newsletter). This will be put to members at the AGM on 18th September 2022. Any comments by email or letter must reach the Chair, Louise Hislop, by 1st September to be considered. A copy of the full Constitution is available to members on application to the Secretary, Clare Boyes.
Section 7, Conduct of an AGM and Elections, an additional clause to be added to define quoracy at an AGM:
Solitary wasps are a diverse group, with thousands of species in the UK alone. They are often brightly coloured, making them a delight to look at – but with such diversity species level identifications can be difficult. Join our expert tutor to learn more about solitary wasps, and gain the skills needed to identify them to family, genus and species level.
The social wasps most familiar to us, sometimes called yellowjackets, belong to the superfamily Vespoidea. This group is however far more varied than one might expect with around 50 species recorded in Britain. Join our expert wasp tutor to capture, examine and identify vespoid wasps to species by examining key morphological characters in the field and under a microscope.
Join like-minded people with an interest in field recording for a day identifying and surveying invertebrates in an informal environment at Tolworth Court Farm. At over 50ha its size and location along the chalk stream of the Hogsmill River in Kingston mean it is an important place for nature. A haven for Brown Hairstreak butterflies and other butterfly species, this site has not been well recorded for other invertebrate groups.
Hylaeus signatus male emerging from roost
Pseudomalus auratus
