Odynerus simillimus Morawitz, F., 1867, rediscovered in Essex
NICHOLSON, C. (1928) Notes on the solitary bees and wasps of Essex. Essex Naturalist 22 (2): 81-95.
RICHARDS, O. W. (1980) Scolioidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea. Handbooks for the Identification of
British Insects. Royal Entomological Society.
SHIRT, D.B. (1987) British Red Data Books: 2. Insects. Nature Conservancy Council.
A new Essex record of the Yellow Loosestrife Bee Macropis europaea Warncke, 1973
PETER HARVEY AND DAN HACKETT*
32 Lodge Lane, Grays, Essex RM16 2YP
*3 Bryanstone Road, Crouch End, London N8 STN
Macropis europaea (see plate 3) is a Nationally Scarce bee, which is closely associated with the
flowers of Yellow Loosestrife Lysimachia vulgaris. Falk (1991) lists the bec as Notable A, in other
words a species believed to occur within the range of sixteen to thirty 10km squares nationally.
Nicholson (1928) states that the plant grows commonly in some parts of the county, but that the bee
has not so far been recorded for Essex. This appears to have remained the situation until Colin Plant
captured a male on the 14th August 1984 near Orsett Fen (TQ6281), subsequently determined by
George Else. Macropis was then found by the first author at a second county site on the 2nd August
1996 (Cranham Marsh TQ5685), flying around Yellow Loosestrife on the reserve (Harvey 1996).
The UK distribution was mapped on a 10 km square basis by the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording
Society (Edwards 1998). There do not seem to be any records of the bec in Hertfordshire or Middlesex,
but there are a few in Surrey (Dave Baldock, pers. comm). The species is very probably very rare in
the London area, due to its dependence on L. vulgaris, noted as decidedly uncommon and declining
in the London area by Burton (1983, map 1077).
On 25 July 2000 the second author collected two males and one female of Macropis at Walthamstow
Marsh (TQ3587) in the Watsonian recording vice county of South Essex. The female was part of catch
of insects swept from the marsh north of the railway line which bisects the site. Here there is a good
sized patch of L. vulgaris, but the two males were caught south of the railway. Males may forage on a
variety of nectar sources and are likely to fly widely in search of females. However the location of nests
for the bees on the marsh is unknown and it will be important to try and establish their whereabouts. The
study of the insect fauna of the marsh, commissioned by the Lee Valley Regional Park is intended to
inform the management plans, principally to get mowing regimes correct and look at whether more
water retention in the future would improve the conditions for the fauna and flora.
Female bees collect pollen and a special floral oil from the flowers. The species is single brooded,
with adults recorded between July and September, the flight period being synchronized with the
flowering of Lysimachia vulgaris. It has also been reported collecting pollen from Rhamnus, but
this would seem to be very unusual and requires confirmation (Falk 1991). Andrew Halstead (RHS
Wisley) has observed this bee at L. punctatum around his pond (Dave Baldock, pers. comm.), and
there are records of this species at nectar sources other than Lysimachia, so in common with some
other bees, it may forage for pollen and nectar separately at times.
The bee is thought to use the floral oils to line its cells with a greenish-yellow wax-like waterproof
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Essex Naturalist (New Series) 18 (2001)