Leptothorax acervorum is the only species remaining in Leptothorax after the other four British species were moved to Temnothorax (Bolton 2003). L. acervorum are small myrmicine ants with distinct propodeal spines and three-segmented antennal clubs. L. acervorum are larger than the British Temnothorax species and can be distinguished by an 11-segmented antenna in the females (12 in males); the Temnothorax species have one extra funicular segment.
This is one of twelve British ant species in the genus Myrmica. Individual workers of M. lobicornis tend to be more robust, rugose and darker reddish brown than other commonly encountered Myrmica; they can occasionally appear almost black although there is significant variation in colour. The available keys provide fairly clear characters for accurate determination of this species; the most pronounced feature is the conspicuous vertical flange at the bend of the antennal scape. Myrmica lobicornis is one of the least aggressive species of Myrmica… Read more
To add family or subfamily texts to the taxon hierarchy, select Content management > Create content > Higher taxon from the admin menu at the top of the page. Set the page Title to the name of the taxon you are creating. In the Taxonomic hierarchy section, select the taxonomic levels down to and including the family or subfamily you are creating. Put the description you want to show in the Description box then save the page.
If you need to edit an existing description,… Read more
To find a species account to proof read or edit, use the Species Accounts menu option at the top of the page then navigate through the taxonomy to find the species you want to work on. Click on the species name to access the species account page.
When you are logged in as site editor rather than as a normal user, you have an additional option, just under the species name, to select the View or Edit pages for the account. Click on the Edit tab to open the editing facility. At the top of the page there are input boxes for the species name and author which you can… Read more
One of the largest British halictine bees with a body length often over 10 mm. It is a distinctive bee with strong white pubescent bands on the apices of the abdominal segments and yellow-orange legs in both sexes.
The female of this mining bee is one of the few Andrena species which can be instantly recognised in the field as it is clothed dorsally with long, dense, bright reddish hairs. For this reason it is frequently observed by householders when it excavates its nesting burrows in garden lawns. The male, however, is more sombre, being clad in sparser reddish-brown hairs, thereby resembling the males of many other species in the genus.
Identification keys and general biology are given in Spooner (1954), Morgan (1984), Falk (1991) and Kunz (1994).
Kimsey and Bohart (1990) treat O. puncticollis as a variety of O. aeneus (Fabricius), as do some other authorities. The specimens from Yorkshire, named as O. aeneus, could therefore be considered as showing characters intermediate between O. aeneus and O. puncticollis. Similarly, Shaw's (1998) Scottish specimen named O. puncticollis, could also be an intermediate form. However, specimens recorded from south of… Read more
A small, ground nesting red and black solitary wasp. Identification keys are given in Richards (1980) (as Psen lutarius), Lomholdt (1984) (as Mimesa lutaria) and Yeo & Corbet (1995) (as Psen lutarius).
The first British specimen of this wasp was collected in 1950, although it was not correctly determined as such until 1975. The females comprise the largest specimens of this genus in Britain.
