Species Account for Nitela lucens
Nitela lucens Gayubo & Felton, 2000
a digger wasp
Aculeata: Crabronidae
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Taxonomic group: bees and wasps (Aculeata) - County data
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Status: RDB K
Essex RDB: Listed
Saproxylic species
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The species (as Nitela spinolae) is listed as Rare (RDB3) in Shirt (1987) and Insufficiently Known (RDBK) by Falk (1991). It has been found in south and south-east England, including Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent and is more widely distributed than its congener N. borealis. It has been found in gardens and waste land areas between mid-May and early September. Females have been captured carrying psocid nymphs (Psocoptera) as prey and the species has been found nesting in small holes in old walls, and in abandoned insect burrows in dead wood (Allen & Roberts 2002). A single individual was collected new to Essex on a window inside a garage at P.R. Harvey's home in Grays (TQ625793) on 1st September 1998. References
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