The Essex Naturalist
95
Genus: Lasioglossum. Mining bees. Twenty-one of the 32 British species have
been recorded for the county, but this includes two unconfirmed species. We
have recent records for 19 species.
Lasioglossum (Lasioglossum) laevigatum (Kirby)
There are four recent records, from the Backwarden Danbury, East Tilbury silt
lagoons, Thrift Wood Pits and Watethall Meadows.
L. (Lasioglossum) lativentre (Schenck)
Harwood records Halictus quadrinotatus for the Colchester district and Nicholson
also notes Billericay. However Falk (1991) notes that there has been past
confusion with the more frequent L. lativentre from which it was only separated
by R C L Perkins in 1913. Old records in the county may therefore refer to this
species, but we have no recent records.
L. (Lasioglossum) leucozonium (Schrank)
Recorded from the Colchester district by Harwood (1884) without further detail
and noted by Nicholson (1928) from Billericay and the Colchester district. It is
probably common and widely distributed with 19 recent records across the
county.
L. (Lasioglossum) quadrinotatum (Kirby) - Notable A
Harwood records Halictus quadrinotatus for the Colchester district and Nicholson
also notes Billericay. However there has been past confusion with the more
frequent L. lativentre (for which we have no recent records) from which it was
only separated by R C L Perkins in 1913. Falk (1991) states that the species is
extremely scarce and apparently declined, with post-1970 records for only six
sites. The bee was found in some numbers coming to buttercup flowers at
Wormingford Mere in 1995.
[L. (Lasioglossum) sexnotatum (Kirby) - RDB1 = nitidum misident.
Noted by Nicholson (1928) for the Colchester district but this is unconfirmed
(Falk 1991). It was presumed extinct in Britain until it was taken again in the
Brecks in Norfolk in 1985.]
L. (Lasioglossum) xanthopum (Kirby) - Notable B
Falk (1991) states the bee is a generally scarce species which has undergone a
serious decline in many areas (in Britain), especially inland. Nicholson notes
the species from the Colchester district, as local. There are recent records in the
county only from unimproved flower-rich grassland areas at Broom Hill (West
Tilbury) and Mill Wood Pit in Thurrock.
L. (Evylaeus) albipes (Fabricius)
Recorded from the Colchester district by Harwood (1884) without further
detail. Nicholson (1928) gives the species as generally distributed, a situation
probably still true today. However there ate recent records from only ten
localities across the county.