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The spider wasp, Agenioideus apicalis (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae) new to Britain, and a second British record of Agenioideus sericeus
Abstract and Figures
The spider wasp, Agenioideus apicalis (Vander Linden), is reported as new to Britain based on one specimen collected in the garden of the Natural History Museum, London. Morphological characters are given, and illustrated, to establish its identity and a key is provided to distinguish it from other British Pompilidae. Notes are provided on bionomics and its status in Britain. Two previously reported putative British specimens of A. apicalis collected in the mid-19th century were re-examined and their provenance is shown to be doubtful, and most likely of southern European origin, based on evidence of labelling, historical evidence of provenance and the known distribution of A. apicalis elsewhere in Europe. A second British specimen of Agenioideus sericeus (Vander Linden) is reported.
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... Over its 25-year history, the Wildlife Garden has proven to be an ideal 'living laboratory' and recording in the Garden has demonstrated the importance of small urban spaces for biodiversity. Amongst the 3,290 species known from the Garden are first records for Britain, such as the spider wasp Agenioideus apicalis (Notton 2018), and other scarce or unusual species, such as the Tree Snipefly Chryopilus laetus and the Yellow-loosestrife Bee Macropis europaea. Yet there is more to be discovered, both through traditional survey techniques and novel scientific methods, as demonstrated by the Barkfly surveys and Urban Nature Project (UNP) science articles in this edition. ...
... The Urban Nature Project (UNP) is developing scientific tools and skills urgently needed to monitor, understand and protect urban nature. As this series of papers demonstrate the NHM Wildlife Garden has a unique and valuable history of detailed biological recording (Ware et al. 2016;2017;2018). The UNP biological and environmental monitoring programme seeks to safeguard this legacy while developing new methods that allow us to better understand the biodiversity of the Garden and urban nature more widely. ...
The purpose of this article is to present a summary of the species recorded since the
last report (Sivell et al. 2019) and to provide an update on changes to some of the
recording and monitoring methods used. In the period covered by this report, 34 new
species have been added to the Wildlife Garden list. The number of taxa known from
the Garden, after undetermined records and duplicates are removed, is now 3,290.
2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the Wildlife Garden. On 10 July 1995, the Wildlife
Garden opened its doors to the public “as a place to put habitat creation and wildlife
conservation into practice, where Museum visitors could learn about UK wildlife and
where naturalists, students and Museum scientists could carry out research”. Over its
25-year history, the Wildlife Garden has proven to be an ideal ‘living laboratory’ and
recording in the Garden has demonstrated the importance of small urban spaces for
biodiversity. Amongst the 3,290 species known from the Garden are first records for
Britain, such as the spider wasp Agenioideus apicalis (Notton 2018), and other scarce or
unusual species, such as the Tree Snipefly Chryopilus laetus and the Yellow-loosestrife
Bee Macropis europaea. Yet there is more to be discovered, both through traditional
survey techniques and novel scientific methods, as demonstrated by the Barkfly surveys
and Urban Nature Project (UNP) science articles in this edition. The species list is
testament to the efforts of the many staff and volunteers who have contributed to the
success of the Wildlife Garden, including many members and readers of the LNHS.
Thank you to all who have been involved.
Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted the 2020 recording
season. On 17 March 2020, the Museum closed its doors to the public for the first time
since World War Two. In unprecedented circumstances Museum staff were required to
work from home, all planned events and activities cancelled (including a special 25th
anniversary recording day) and the volunteering programme put on hold. Despite
innovative uses of technology (for example, volunteer e-teabreaks by video and online
amphibian survey training run by the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity), no
recording has taken place in the Wildlife Garden since March.
... Three Pompilidae -spider waspsare added of which the star is Agenioideus apicalis, a species new to Britain and so far only known in Britain from the Wildlife Garden (Notton 2018) where it was found dining on nectar from Wild Carrot Daucus carota flowers. ...
The purpose of the current report is to present a summary of the species recorded between July 2017 and July 2018, focussing mainly on groups included in Ware et al. (2016)...
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