A REVIEW OF NOTABLE BEES, WASPS AND ANTS RECENTLY
RECORDED FROM ESSEX.
P. R. Harvey
The following report includes recent records made in the county for
aculeate hymenoptera that are listed in the Red Data Book (Shirt, 1987)
or A Review of the scarce and threatened bees, wasps and ants of
Great Britain (Falk, 1991) as well as several records for species that
appear particularly rare in the county such as the ant Myrmica lobicornis
Nylander. The national status and much of the information on
distribution and habitat preferences for the bees and wasps is taken
from Falk, 1991 since there seems little knowledge available at a county
level.
The conservation status of insects and other organisms is published in
the British Red Data Books and in a series of reviews of various
invertebrate groups produced by the Nature Conservancy Council (now
English Nature). The categories quoted in this article are RDB2, RDB3,
Notable A and Notable B. A brief summary of these is as follows: RDB2
(Red Data Book, category 2 = Nationally Vulnerable, taxa believed likely
to become Endangered in the near future if the causal factors continue
operating); RDB3 (Red Data Book, category 3 = Nationally Rare, taxa
with small populations that are not at present Endangered or Vulnerable
but are at risk, species that are estimated to exist in only fifteen or
fewer post 1970 10 Km squares; Nationally Notable A (nationally scarce
species estimated to occur within the range of sixteen to thirty post
1970 10 Km squares) and Nationally Notable B (nationally scarce
species estimated to occur within the range of thirty-one to one hundred
post 1970 10 Km squares).
Ants (Family Formicidae)
Ray Ruffell has recorded two species of Myrmica ant of interest in North
Essex in 1993, M. lobicornis Nylander from Middlewick Ranges,
Colchester (TM0023) and M. schencki Emery from a roadside verge at
Ardleigh (TM0521). Myrmica lobicornis seems to be very rare in the
county, with modern records from only a few sites, all old grassland
areas. The other ant M. schencki, although nationally notable has now
been found in quite a few localities in South Essex and several recent
records from North Essex suggest that it may turn out to be generally
widespread but very local in the county.
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