Crossocerus styrius (Kohl,1892)
Synonyms
Crabro pauxillus (GUSSAKOVSKIJ,1932); Crossocerus pilicornis TSUNEKI,1977; Crabro sugiharai (IWATA,1938)
Description and notes
A small black solitary wasp about which very little is known. Identification keys are given in Yeo & Corbet (1995), Lomholdt (1984) and Richards (1980).
Distribution
Confined to southern England from Somerset to Kent, and north to West Yorkshire. Overseas found throughout much of western, central and eastern Europe. The range extends to the Far East.
Status (in Britain only)
None.
Habitat
Has been found in open, deciduous woodland, especially damp woodland although is often associated with dappled shade along river corridors.
Flight period
Not known, but probably univoltine, on the wing in mid-summer. In France, regarded as bivoltine.
Prey collected
Unknown in the UK, but reported to stock nest burrows with a range of small Diptera in the families Dolichopodidae, Empididae, Ephydridae, Phoridae, Sciaridae and Sphaeroceridae in France.
Nesting biology
Bitsch & Leclerq (1993) state that “the branched nests are constructed in twigs of birch, elder and some other species”.
Flowers visited
None recorded, but it is reported to forage for nectar at the extra-floral nectaries of wayfaring trees (Bitsch & Leclerq 1993).
Parasites
None recorded.
Year profile last updated
2009