The Essex Naturalist
47
Quarry at Purfleet and from Sandy Wood near Terling. Though we have only
the three records, the wide geographic spread suggests that this insect is likely to
he found widely across the county.
C. rutiliventris Abeille de Perrin
Cleptoparasitic on Ancistrocerus species, probably A. oviventris.
As for the preceding species, records are widely spread suggesting that the wasp
may itself be widesptead in Essex. We have records for Rowney Wood,
Heybridge Gravel Pits, Wormingford Mere, Broom Hill (West Tilbury),
Thorndon Park, East Tilbury and Grays.
C. schencki Linsenmaier - Notable A
Host unknown.
We have but a single record for this species, determined by J C Felton, of a
single female at Grays Chalk Quarry on 20th August 1993.
C. viridula L.
Recorded as a cleptoparasitic on Odynerus spinipes and (J. melanocephalus.
Known in Essex only from Grays Chalk Quarry (a single female on 20th July
1985) and the nearby Mill Wood Pit (singletons on 12th and 28th June 1994).
Chrysogona gracillima (Forster)
Probably a cleptoparasite of Trypoxylon clavicerum.
Known in Essex from a single female specimen on the Thames Terrace grassland
at Broom Hill (West Tilbury) on 15th June 1993 (Harvey 1993c).
Trichrysis cyanea (L.)
A cleptoparasite of Trypoxylon figulus and T. attenuatum, possibly also on
Pemphredon (Cemonus), the hee Chelostoma florisomne and bees of the genus
Hylaeus.
This is the most widely reported chrysid in the county with records from sixteen
localities distributed over twelve ten-kilometre squares.
Spinolia (Pseudospinolia) neglectus (Shuckard)
= Euchroeus neglectus (Shuckard)
A cleptoparasite of the wasp Odynerus spinipes (Eumenidae)
We have only a single Essex record for this species, from Mill Wood Pit at Grays
on 4th May 1995.
FORMICOIDEA
FORMICIDAE - ANTS
These will be dealt with in more detail separately at a future date. Coverage of
ants is now reasonably good in the county and a full account of the species with
distribution maps is planned. Provisional distribution maps were given in
Harvey (1993a).
Like most other Hymenoptera many species have undergone a decline
associated with agricultural improvements and loss of habitat. The Wood Ant