114
The Essex Naturalist
England hut has declined considerably and is absent from large areas of its
former range, even where the host is abundant (Falk 1991). There are post-1980
records from six 10km squares in the county.
P. sylvestris Lepeletier
A social parasite of Bombus pratorum. The species appears to he widely
distributed in the county with post-1980 records from twenty-six 10km squares
in the county.
P. vestalis (Geoffroy in Fourcroy)
A social parasite of Bombus terrestris. Much the commonest and most widespread
Psithyrus with post-1980 records from forty-nine of the fifty-seven 10km squares
in the county.
SUBFAMILY APINAE
Apis mellifera L. Honey bee
Common and abundant throughout the county.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the many people who have submitted records for inclusion in
this list or specimens for identification. We also thank the various experts who
have identified or verified our own identifications of difficult specimens for us;
these people are all mentioned in the text at the appropriate points. The
distribution maps were produced using the mapping programme DMAP by Dr
Alan Morton.
References
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Cole, W., 1885. Observation in Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London, iii.
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