Crabro annulus (DAHLBOM,1838); Crossocerus yezo TSUNEKI,1960
click to enlarge
Richards (1980) noted a widespread distribution from southern England to southern Scotland, plus south Wales and Ireland. This distribution probably remains true, but with very few Scottish and Irish records.
This species has a disjunct distribution globally, being present across central and northern Europe (as far east as Kazakhstan) and then Japan (Bitsch & Leclercq, 1993).
This species is not regarded as scarce or threatened.
Encountered in sunny spots where suitable nest sites are available, such as margins of woods, hedgerows, scrubby heaths, parks and gardens.
Richards (1980) gives the rather restricted period June to July, although elsewhere in Europe a rather longer period of activity is indicated, e.g. May to August (Dolfuss, 1991).
Generally, small flies (Diptera) and some psyllids (Hemiptera) (Richards, 1980), although Lomholdt (1984) suggests that the utilisation of psyllids is unusual.
Nests are linear, constructed within pith-filled stems of a number of trees and shrubs. Richards (1980) suggests that ash is frequently used, but additionally lists elder, sumach and wayfaring-tree. Other species utilised include snowberry and lilac (Lomholdt, 1984), barberry, birch, buddleia, bramble, willow and others (Bitsch & Leclercq, 1993). The number of cells varies greatly, from one to 18, with males tending to dominate the progeny of larger nests.
No data available.
No data available.
2018