The Essex Naturalist
107
Recorded (as N. ruficornis L. part) hy Harwood (1884) and Nicholson (1928)
gives Billericay, Colchester district, Hale End, Woodford. Today clearly a very
common Nomada, very often numerous and found in a variety of habitats. We
have recent records for 41 localities widely distributed across the county.
N. flavoguttata (Kirby)
Another very common Nomada, cleptoparasitic on mining bees in the
Andrena minutula group. Nicholson notes the species for Billericay and the
Colchester district. We have recent records from 25 localities spread across the
county.
N. flavopicta (Kirby) - Notable B
= jacobaeae misident.
A cleptoparasite of mining bees in the genus Melitta. B. S. Harwood (1902b)
records the bee from the Colchester district and Nicholson (1928) also notes
Billericay. Falk (1991) gives the main host in Britain as M. leporina and M.
tricincta as a subsidiary host. In our recent Essex localities, M. tricincta is much
more numerous than M. leporina and may be the main host. There are recent
records from four localities in Thurrock at Dolphin Pit, Grays Chalk Quarries,
Mill Wood Pit (where it is found in some numbers) and an old pasture at Old
Church Hill Langdon Hills.
N. fucata Panzer - Notable A
A cleptoparasite of the mining bee Andrena flavipes and possibly other hosts.
Harwood (1902b) records the species from the Colchester district in 1902 and
this is also noted by Nicholson (1928). Falk (1991) lists the species for S and N
Essex. At present it seems to be quite common and widespread near the coast in
Essex with 17 recent records from localities between Dagenham Chase in the
south-west of the county to Walton Naze in the north-east. At many of these
sites it can be one of the most common Nomada species. In 1995 it was also
taken inland in the county at Elsenham Sand Pits near Bishops Stortford.
George Else notes the remarkable expansion of its range in the last two or three
seasons in the Spring 1993 BWARS Newsletter.
N. fulvicornis Fabricius - RDB3
= lineola Panzer
Harwood (1902b) records the species from the Colchester district in 1902 and
Nicholson (1928) also notes it from Billericay. It is a cleptoparasite of Andrena
bimaculata, A. pilipes (*now split into A. nigrospina and A. spectabilis) and A.
tibialis, all scarce species. We have recent records for Grays Chalk Quarry, PH's
garden in Grays, Linford Sand Pit and Mill Wood Pit in Thurrock and Walton
Naze undercliffs in North Essex, where there is a very strong colony of Andrena
pilipes*. The Nomada has occurred in some numbers at the Mill Wood Pit site,
where all three hosts occur.