This species is almost certainly extinct in mainland Britain, with most records from more than 100 years ago. It is placed within its own sub-family, Dinetinae, it being the sole species of this genus in Europe.

BWARS has not yet produced an account for this species. We anticipate completing the process of producing accounts for all British and Irish species by around 2014. Meanwhile, on this page you can find at least a provisional distribution map, any images BWARS has procured for the species and a list of known synonyms (names previously applied to this species). The work of mapping aculeate hymenoptera, plus describing their life histories, is the major activity that BWARS undertakes. Should you have an interest in recording and studying aculeates, you may like to consider joining BWARS and… Read more

Following on from the general comments about the difficulty in recognising the species within Pemphredon on physical characters, which is detailed in the account for  P. lethifer, the name P. rugifer is similarly bedevilled with supposedly different entities (including one incarnation of P. lethifer!). Within the span of modern recording Richards, 1980, provides two names, P. wesmaeli and P. mortifer for the fauna of the British Isles and Ireland, these being separated by a supposed northern and southern distribution-… Read more

The genus Pemphredon has been the subject of much taxonomic debate regarding the aggregation or splitting of species pairs. This particular species has been subjected to more grammatical than taxonomic uncertainty, with Richards (1980) and Bitsch et al. (2001) referring to it as inornata Say, whilst Lomholdt (1984) opts for inornatus Say.

This is the sole British representative of the subgenus Pemphredon, a group which has had a little more taxonomic stability than the other subgenera (Cemonus and Ceratophorus).

Three species of Oxybelus occur in the British Isles. These wasps are superficially very similar to one another (in some localities - e.g. the Gower, West Glamorgan - they may all fly together). They are rather small, active wasps (body length 5-9 mm) with the body predominantly black with some or all of the abdominal terga marked with a pair of pale yellow or white spots. The female of O. argentatus is perhaps the most attractive of the three, its abdomen clothed with rather dense, decumbent, silvery hairs.

A scarce and little known species in Britain, only recently added to the British list (Guichard 2002). It is very similar to the common P. gracilis and great care must be taken with determination as the characters are subtle. Ecological differences between the two species have been reported by Westrich & Schmidt (1983), who found that P. gracilis was foraging for aphids… Read more

The males of this species have a striking appearance, with a greatly elongated head constricted behind the eyes to form a distinct, almost stalk-like, ‘neck’. The male’s fore metatarsus is also distinctive, being drawn out into a quadrate shield-shaped process. Females are less distinctive, closely resembling females of Ectemnius, although the gastral terga are more strongly punctate.

Previously known as  T. ambiguum and then briefly as T. madeirense. Workers of this species look superficially like the common black garden ant Lasius niger, but can be distinguished in the field by their behaviour when disturbed. On warm days the small black workers (2.6-4.2 mm) dart around very quickly and aggressively with their gasters slightly raised. Under magnification they completely lack the standing body and appendage hairs of L. niger, the petiole node is also inconspicuous and overhung by the first gastral segment also workers and gynes… Read more