62 The Essex Naturalist
Colchester Natural History Museum (J. Bowdrey) and Southend Museum (R.G.
Payne) and important contributions have been made by A. Knowles and CW.
Plant. Other records have heen provided by J. Dobson, M. Edwards and R.W. J.
Uffen. In the course of pitfall trapping for various orders P. Mabbott has
provided important collections of ants from the Epping Forest area and S.J.
Etheridge provided specimens from several sites in South Essex. Hanson (1992)
lists records for the Epping Forest area.
The Nationally Scarce (Notable A) ant Lasius brunneus has clearly been
under-recorded in the past and has been found in a number of new localities in
south-west Essex as far east as South Woodham Ferrers and as far north as
Bishops Stortford.
Other species have been found to be much more widespread than previously
known. Pitfall trapping in particular has demonstrated Myrmica schencki to be a
widespread but very local species and the rare Myrmica bessarabica, previously
only known from Kent, has been shown to occur at coastal sites in Essex
between the Thames Estuary and Dovercourt and occurs on south-facing slopes,
grazing marsh grasslands where ant-hills provide drier thermophilic conditions
and relic sand dune.
The Wood Ant Formica rufa, still locally numerous in woods in the south-east
of the county, seems to have been almost lost from the north-east and west of
the county, presumably due to loss of suitable habitat brought about by a
cessation in coppicing.
Ant species can be elusive and colonies extremely localised so there may still
be other exciting finds to be made both in well-worked localities and remnant
sites. Recent rediscoveries after many years of the two species Leptothorax
albipennis (=tuberum) and Formicoxenus nitidulus in south-east Essex clearly
indicate that we should not he complacent. There are other species which
could yet be re-discovered such as Tetramorium caespitum, Formica sanguinea the
slave-maker and Solenopsis fugax a subterranean species rarely seen at the
surface.
The remarkable discovery of Formica rufibarbis at a most unlikely location
in the Medway valley in Kent during 1997 (E. Philp pers. comm.) suggests
that this species may be worth looking for in South Essex. Lasius meridionalis
occurs in sandy heath and has been recorded by the author in sand dune
habitat in Suffolk during 1989. It seems possible that the species might occur
in dune habitats in Essex such as those at Colne Point and around Hamford
Water. The occasional presence in other counties of the heathland species
Tapinoma erraticum in coastal locations such as soft rock cliffs and other sites
with sparse vegetation (Falk, 1991) and its occurrence in north Kent suggests
that this also may he worth looking out for in coastal locations in Essex. It
could have been overlooked because of its close resemblance to the common
Lasius niger.