This medium-sized Nomada has an overall pattern of yellow and dark brown stripes on the abdomen, with the first tergite a clear reddish brown. It can be most easily found flying over large nesting aggregations of its host bee, Andrena flavipes.

In recent years it has become apparent that the bee known as B. lucorum (Linnaeus, 1761) is in fact a species complex, containing two other species - B. magnus and B. cryptarum. Separation of the three species is very difficult, so that definitive records for any of the three species are rare. 

Lasius emarginatus is a fairly common warmth-loving ant found in much of Europe including the Channel Isles but only recently discovered in mainland Britian. It looks similar to the common black ant L. niger (Linnaeus) except for its distinctive orange/red alitrunk contrasting with its dark brown head and gaster. It could, possibly be confused with L. brunneus (Latreille), which is also bi-coloured, but it is a much bolder species. Unlike the furtive L. brunneus, L. emarginatus can be found running around on open ground. Under the microscope the antennal… Read more

Strongylognathus testaceus is a very rare ant parasitic on Tetramorium caespitum (Linnaeus). It is thought to be a degenerate slave-maker. Workers are yellowish brown, have pronounced occipital emargination and toothless sickle shaped mandibles.

It has been shown by Menke & Pulawski (2000) that the species listed as Sphex rufocinctus in publications since 1975 (e.g. Lomholdt, 1984; Dolfuss, 1991; Bitsch et al., 1997), and which is recorded from the Channel Islands, should be known as funerarius Gussakowskij. This species is only known from the Channel Islands and, as such, does not appear in either Richards (1980) or Falk (1991). This summary of its ecology is drawn from continental literature.