The third modern British record of Brachymeria tibialis (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), reared from Zygaena filipendulae (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae)

We wish to place on record the rearing of a single female specimen of Brachymeria tibialis (Walker) on 13 July 2009 from a cocoon of Zygaena filipendulae (L.) collected on 5 June 2009 by one of us (RC) at Denbies Landbarn, Surrey, TQ 135499, a National Trust chalk downland site. This is the third recent specimen of this large and conspicuous chalcidoid noted in southern England (Jones, 2008; Beavis, 2009), and the first British rearing record. The specimen was determined by MRS and is deposited in the National Museums of Scotland. Askew & Shaw (2001) give morphological grounds for suspecting that two sibling species might be confused under the name B. tibialis in the Western Palaearctic, one associated with Zygaena species and the other more generalised. The presence of an evidently well-distributed British population provides entomologists living in southern England with a good opportunity to investigate this possibility through experimental rearings, by exposing a suitable selection of Lepidoptera prepupae and pupae to adult females reared from Zygaena species. We are indebted to the National Trust for permission to collect these insects at Denbies Landbarn and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Environmental Change Integrating Fund for support.