The Essex Naturalist
81
Myrmica bessarabica Nasonov
National status RDB3 County status Essex Scarce
(=specioides Bondroit) Threat status Regionally Important
Frequency Ratio 1.3 Tetrad Percentage 1.4%
Recorded 1km sq. percentage 3.3%
Myrmica bessarabica Nasonov
Distribution
Listed only for East Kent in Falk (1991). This ant was first collected in Essex by
the author in 1988 at Shoebury Old Ranges but remained identified only as
"Myrmica sp." until later. Some Myrmica workers thought to be M. specioides
were collected at Colne Point in 1990. Geoff Allen and then John Felton
confirmed the identity of this species, which has since been found to occur at
fourteen localities on or near the coast in Essex, stretching from Barking PFA
lagoons in south-west Essex to Dovercourt in north-east Essex. Specimens from
most of these localities have been confirmed by the late John Felton. It seems
very likely that this ant previously remained undetected in the county, but the
possibility that the species is expanding its range cannot be dismissed.
Habitat and Ecology
The ant has always occurred in thermophilic situations, on sparsely vegetated
sand dune (at Shoebury Old Ranges, Colne Point, Crabknowe Spit neat Little
Oakley and Dovercourt), on sections of unimproved south-facing sea wall at
The Cliff (Burnham-on-Crouch) and Ironworks Meadow (Maldon), a sparsely