Ichnemon Wasp 'Crytea sanguinator'

As soon as I saw this wasp land on an old Oak tree I knew I hadn't seen one before. Given what I later found out about its rarity, that was hardly surprising. However, it was slightly frustrating I couldn't either get closer or get an angle where the light was less glaring.

Fortunately, it was possble to identify it as one of only two species of the genus Crytea to be found in the UK with this species at just 16 NBN records, more common than Crytea erythraea, with just 4.

The two are very similar, the main visible identifiers being the colours of tergite , which on C. erythraea is black, whereas that of C. sanguinator is red, and the rear coxae, which are red on C. erythraea and black on Crytea sanguinator, visible here.

While little information is available on this wasp's ecology, it's known to emerge around April time on the continent where it's more common, and is usually found in meadows or grassland. Here it tends to stay close to the ground in vegetation, looking for larvae of its host species, which includes moths from the families 'Depressariinae' (Flat-bodied moths) & 'Noctuidae' (Owlet moths).