of the Bee-wolf (Philanthus triangulum) one of Britain's rarest aculeates collected at Snaresbrook,
Epping Forest (Leyton Flats) by a Mr. Harding in 1837. The species today has a rather tenuous hold at a
handful of sites in south-east England. The wasp is very large (Fig. 2): females are up to 17 mm. long and
nests are provisioned largely with honey bees (B.WA.R.S. Newsletter, Autumn 1989).
Bees, wasps and ants are important for many reasons to the Forest. The Forest provides a relatively
stable environment for many species which are under severe pressure elsewhere in the countryside
and many other animals are, in one way or another, associated with them. The first group of note are
the parasites. The flies of the family Conopidae are well known as parasites of bees and wasps. So
far seven species are recorded from the Epping Forest area, including the rare yellow and black
Leopoldius signatus, so far the only known record from Essex. It is usually found on flowering Ivy
and is thought to be an internal parasite of one or other of the social wasp species. Other Diptera
parasites include the Anthomyiid Leucophora personata: often seen sitting outside Andrena sp.
burrows on Wanstead Flats, this species parasitises the larvae of solitary mining bees such as Andrena
nigroaenea. The Bombyliid. Bombylius major is not uncommon in early spring in many parts of the
Forest. Bombylius is an external parasite again of solitary bees. Metopia argyrocephala and
Eustalomyia hilaris, both recorded from Lords Bushes, are rather grey looking flies - Metopia has a
silvery sheen to its face, hence its specific name. Metopia parasitises both wasps and bees while
Eustalomyia hilaris, a very rare species in Britain is one of a group of flies that lays its eggs on the
paralysed insects (often other flies) that solitary wasps provision their nests with. Many other flies
are found in the nests of social bees and wasps - often in the detrital areas but sometimes feeding on
the larvae of their hosts. Examples of these species in the Forest include the bee and wasp mimics
Volucella bombylans, V inanis. V. pellucens and V. zonaria, the latter being Britain's largest hoverfly.
V. zonaria and V. inanis have both been reported from nests of the Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris).
D. W. Vere (1946) reported finding the fly Dendrophaonia querceti (= Potamia littoralis) from a
Hornet's nest in Lords Bushes.
So far little mention has been made of the ants: to date 17 species are reported from the Forest.
There are old records (Buxton, 1905) of the Wood Ant (Formica rufa). This species is well known
for the huge mounds of vegetable matter it builds into nests, apparently in the Forest usually built
under Hawthorn bushes. Notable species recorded are few but include Ponera coarctata. Myrmecina
graminicola and Lasius brunneus. The latter is almost always reported from old wood-pasture sites.
Myrmica lobicornis, an unobtrusive species, was found by Mr. Peter Harvey in a small area of old
grassland opposite the Robin Hood public house in April, 1991. It may also be a typical species of
old wood-pasture sites, occuring often as isolated colonies in open woodland, pasture or heathland.
At this same site there are numerous Lasius flavus ant-hills. Ants have a lengthy list of other
invertebrates associated with their nests. In Epping Forest they include the extremely rare beetles
Batrisodes buqueti, Euryusa optabilis and Abraeus granulum, the latter reported from the nests of
Lasius brunneus near the Warren Pond. Other commensals include the blind white Woodlouse
Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi (see page 105) and the similarly evolved spring-tail (Collembola)
Cyphoderus albinus (Womersley, 1928). The conspicuous earth mounds of the yellow ant Lasius
flavus are reported from a few sites in the Forest, among them Sunshine Plain, Warren Hill. Wanstead
Flats, Yardley Hill and at various sites along the Ching Book. At several sites the mounds are
encroached by dense hawthorn scrub. Ant mounds provide us with the only record of Wild Thyme
(Thymus serpyllum) from the Forest (EN XXVII p. 165).
Historically the earliest record of any Hymenoptera for the Forest is in 1489. The lords of the manor
of Wanstead claimed the profit from bees, honey and wax in Wanstead Wood (Fisher, 1887). In the days
before sugar, bees were the only source of a readily available sweetener, in the form of honey, and also
of wax for candles. Today, honey bees, in a variety of forms, are found, throughout the Forest, many kept
by beekeepers. The Forest is an important source of forage, but wild colonies do occur in hollow trees.
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