Allestree naturalist, Steve Plant has made an interesting discovery in Allestree Park, though he has only just realised it, after going through some photographs he took in 2015.

In August, 2015, he photographed a small wasp, feeding on hogweed flowers, in a field at the north-east extemeity of Allestree Park, which he has now identified as Tiphia femorata, 

The female of this species of wasp locates the nest chambers of certain species of dung beetles. She then digs down and opens the bottom of each chamber to sting and temporarily paralyse a beetle larva and lays an egg on it. The larva recovers after about 20 to 40 minutes, allowing it to continue feeding on grass roots, then the wasp egg hatches and over a period of about three weeks the wasp larva consumes the beetle larva. Initially the wasp larva sucks the blood of the host, finally entering it and eating the internal organs, then the wasp larva turns into a pupa within the chamber.

On the National Biological Network Atlas there is one record of this species from Cheshire, five from north Nott’s, including four close together in the Mansfield, Shirebrook and Worksop area and one from north of Newark. All other records are from much further south than Derby. The adult wasps appear to have a short flight period, so are likely to be under-recorded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LEFT: Tiphia femorata, feeding on hogweed flowers, photographed by Steve Plant in Allestree Park, August 2015

RIGHT: One of the dung beetle species, parasitized by the wasp, Aphodius rufipes, photographed in his garden in Allestree by Bill Grange