The Essex Naturalist
75
P. (Mimesa) lutarius (Fabr.)
Nests in sand, preying on froghoppers, especially Jassidae and Cicindellidae.
Mill Wood Pit, Grays is the only currently known Essex site, though it was fairly
numerous there in 1994.
P. (Mimesa) bicolor Jurine - RDB 2
Nests in sandy soils and preys on Cicadellid froghoppers.
Recorded at Fingringhoe Wick in 1963 (Stebbing 1965). Listed for North Essex
by Falk (1991) but without details. We have no other records.
Psenulus concolor (Dahlbom)
Nests in stems, allegedly preferring Ash, provisioning its young with psyllids.
We have two recent records for this species at Mucking Heath (Orsett Golf
Course) and Sandy Wood (Terling).
P. pallipes (Panzer)
An aphid predator, nesting in cut stems, straws or old beetle holes in timber.
This species was noted at Berwick Pond (P Kirby) and the East Ham N.R. (C W
Plant) in 1984. Our more recent records come from only four sites, at Mill
Wood Pit, Dolphin Quarry, Dagenham Chase and Mucking Heath. The wasp is
surely present elsewhere in Essex.
P. schencki (Tournier) - Notable A
A predator of psyllids, nesting in cut stems or decayed wood.
Listed for South Essex by Falk (1991) without details. This species was not
added to the British list until as recently as 1954. We have no records to hand.
Spilomena troglodytes (Van der Linden)
This very small species nests in old beetle holes in timber and preys on the
nymphs of thrips.
Our only record is of a single female taken at Mill Wood Pit on 19th July
1995.
Stigmus pendulus (Panzer) - RDB K
This species nests in stems, especially brambles, provisioning each larval cell
with about 25 aphids.
Falk (1991) records Leyton Flats (one female) and Wanstead Flats (one female),
both South Essex, collected by M W Hanson, also noted in Hanson (1992).
There are only two other British localities at present: Smarden, East Kent on 23
August 1986 (G W Allen) and in a malaise trap in the garden at Buckingham
Palace, Middlesex, in May 1995 (C W Plant).
Stigmus solskyi Morawitz
Nests are constructed in stems, with elder, apple and pear all recorded, but are
also occasionally found in deserted anobiid beetle tunnels. Aphids form the
prey.