76
The Essex Naturalist
Essex records are of a female at Rising Sun Wood, Walthamstow on 16th July
1984 (P Kirby) and male and female flying around an old fence post at
Heybridge gravel pits on 2nd July 1995.
Pemphredon (Pemphredon) lugubris (Fabr.)
Nests in dead wood, not necessarily rotten. Preys on aphids.
Listed for the Colchester area by Harwood (1884) without further detail. We
have recent records from Havering Country Park in 1984 (P Kirby), Great
Saling in 1989 (M Hanson), and from Watts Wood, St Osyth, Rushey Mead
N.R. and the East Ham N.R. in the years since 1989. At the last mentioned site,
the sphecids bred colonially up to 1990 in a dead elder tree that features on a
photograph taken in 1903, when the surrounding land was arable! This tree
blew over in the October 1989 "hurricane" and though sphecids were present
about the holes in 1990 they did not persist beyond that year.
P. (Cemonus) inornata Say
Nests in stems, the adult preying on aphids.
We have records for this species from Leyton Flats (M Hanson), Rushey Mead
N.R. - flying around an old apple tree trunk, from the City of London Cemetery
at Manor Park, Mill Wood Pit, Watts Wood, Dagenham Chase, Ferry Fields,
Mucking Heath and Thrift Wood, together suggesting that the species is likely
to prove widespread and common in the county.
P. (Cemonus) lethifer (Shuckard)
Nests in cut stems, especially bramble. Adult provisions the nest with aphids.
Listed for the Colchester area by Harwood (1884) without further detail. Apart
from a record at Plaistow in 1985 (C Smith) and another at Walthamstow
Marshes in 1992 all our records are from the Purfleet-Grays-Tilbury area. This
is a surprise as the species is generally common; searching for nests in bramble
stems in winter may prove productive.
P. (Cemonus) mortifer Valkeila in Valkeila & Leclerq - RDB 3
This species was only described as recently as 1970, prior to which it had been
included in the taxon P. wesmaeli - rather rarer and largely northern species.
Nests in rotten wood, preying on aphids.
Listed for "Essex" by Richards (1980) without detail. Listed for "Essex" by Falk
(1991) but without details. We know of no other records for Essex.
P. (Ceratophorus) clypealis (Thomson) - RDB 3
Nests in rotten wood, preying on aphids.
Recorded for South Essex by Richards (1980) without details. We know of no
other Essex records.
P. (Ceratophorus) morio Van der Linden - Notable B
Nests in rotten wood, the adult preying on aphids.
Recorded for North Essex by Richards (1980) without details. We know of no
other Essex records.