Wasp/Hornet photo for id please.

[spokedistort]

I was out taking photos of bees in a flowerbed at my local park today when I noticed this large yellow and black striped insect crawling along the ground. I thought it was a Cricket at first glance as the light made it look a uniform dark colour but then noticed the distinct black and yellow bands. I think it's too big to be a wasp so I suspect it may be a hornet. Any clarification as to a specific id much appreciated, thanks in advance.

[Matt Smith]

Not a hornet - wrong colour - for a hornet think Brown and yellow. This looks like Mellinius arvensis to me, though I would prefer to see a side on shot.

[spokedistort]

Thanks for your reply, a google image search shows results that look very similar to this, so I'd say your spot on with the Field digger wasp (Mellinius arvensis).

Reading up about this type of wasp does throw up one factor that doesn't seem to fit, which is that they are apparently usually found on sandy ground and I think the soil in the area I got this shot is more of a clay type. There were lots of bees, hover flies and such like around in that area though, so I'm guessing it just turned up there looking for an easy meal.

[JRsbugs]

Legs are wrong for Mellinus arvensis, look at Ectemnius sexcinctus.

[JRsbugs]

Some photos..

Ectemnius sexcinctus - www.galerie-insecte.org

[Matt Smith]

It may well be an Ectemnius, but to be positive about Ectemnius sexcinctus you would need to check the colour of the abdominal sternites.

[spokedistort]

Is Ectemnius sexcinctus likely to be found as far north as Glasgow? I could only find one web page that mentions it's range and it said it's only been seen as far north as Yorkshire. Cornish Red Data Book

[JRsbugs]

Look at the maps on Bwars, there are records near Glasgow but I don't know how old they are. The NBN Gateway doesn't show a lot of the records, I have many insects not shown in my area including some rare ones.

Distribution Maps

Ectemnius cavifrons is another big one which is up there, look at this site for more.

I found an online key but it's in Dutch, you can translate with live translate with the right mouse click on highlighted words but yours isn't showing enough detail.

sectie hymenoptera: graafwespen

[eucera]

Of course, the BWARS data visible on the NBN gateway does depend on folks sending their records in! Also, there is always a time delay between submission of records, and an updated dataset being uploaded to NBN. There is no way the Gateway can quiz the BWARS online database directly