144
Nelima gothica Lohmander
National status Local County status Essex Rare
Threat status Essex Vulnerable
Frequency Ratio 1.0 Tetrad Percentage 0.2 Tetrad Frequency 0.6 Monad Frequency 0.5
Distribution
Very rare in the county, with only two
records, one specimen taken by Peter Kirby
on the 9th October 1984 at North Woolwich
in S. Essex and a second specimen taken by
Chris Spilling on the 26th June 1993 at
Toppinghoehall Wood in N. Essex.
Habitat and Ecology
The North Woolwich site is a disused
railway track and Toppinghoehall Wood an
ancient deciduous woodland.
Sankey (1988) records the species
occurring in rank grassland and other
vegetation, hedgebanks, ditchbanks, gardens
and suggests a preference for a moist
ecosystem.
Threats
The North Woolwich site is in the 'Thames Gateway' and must therefore be vulnerable to
development. Toppinghoehall Woods are near to existing gravel extraction sites and the
southern part of the woodland is identified on the Essex Mineral Plan for future extraction.
References
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Yorkshire. A Red Data Book. University College of Ripon and York St. John.
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Watsonian Yorkshire, with the introduction of a new national quality scoring system. British Journal of
Entomology and Natural History 8: 49-59.
ARCHER, M. E., 1995. Aculeate wasps and bees (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) of Blaxton Common in
Watsonian Yorkshire with the introduction of a new scoring system. Naturalist 120: 21-29.
ARCHER, M. E., 1996. The aculeate wasps and bees (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) of Herm and Sark,
Channel Islands. Entomologist's Gazette 47: 53-59.
BRATTON, J.H., 1991. British Red Data Books: 3. Invertebrates other than insects. JNCC.
HARVEY, P .R, 1998. The modern distribution of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Essex with their
regional rarity and threat status. Essex Naturalist (New Series) 15: 61-111.
HILLYARD, P.D. & SANKEY, J.H.P., 1989. Harvestmen. Synopses of the British Fauna (New Series) No.
4 (Second Edition).
JERMYN, S. T, 1974. Flora of Essex. Essex Naturalists' Trust, Colchester.
LEVY, E.T. & LEVY, D.A., 1998. Somerset Hoverflies. E.T. & D.A. Levy, Somerset.
MAHON, A. & PEARMAN, D. (eds), 1993. Endangered Wildlife in Dorset. The County Red Data Book.
Dorset Environmental Centre. Dorchester.
PEARMAN. D., 1997. Presidential Address, 1996. Towards a new definition of rare and scarce plants.
Watsonia 21: 225-245.
PLANT, CW., 1993. Larger Moths of the London Area. LNHS London.
SANKEY, J.H.P, 1988. Provisional Alias of the Harvest-Spiders (Arachnida: Opiliones) of the British
Isles. Biological Records Centre.
SHIRT, D. B., 1987. British Red Data Books: 2. Insects. Nature Conservancy Council
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 16 (1999)