''Anoplius nigerrimus'' is a species of spider wasp, or pompilid, and is the type species of the genus ''

Anoplius ''Anoplius'' is a genus of spider wasps in the family Pompilidae, called the blue-black spider wasps. The genus includes the following species: *'' Anoplius aethiops'' (Cresson 1865) *'' Anoplius americanus'' (Beauvois) *'' Anoplius amethystinu ...

''.

Description and identification

They are mostly black and the females are 6–8 mm long while males measure 5–8 mm. This species may be distinguished from the related '' A. caviventris'' and '' A. concinnus'' by the triangular rather than quadrilateral third submarginal cell of the forewing and the shorter setae, or hairs, on the thorax and abdomen.

Distribution

''A. nigerrimus'' is a Holarctic species found from Northern and Central Europe eastwards across Asia to the Pacific Coast and in North America from the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. It is widespread in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Habitat

Unlike other species of the genus ''

,'' ''A. nigerrimus'' does not show a preference for damp habitats and occurs in drier habitats such as grassland and scrub, the males are frequently encountered running over short vegetation.

Biology

The flight period in Great Britain is May to September, although in northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

adults have been collected in May, June and July. Prey collected by ''A. nigerrimus'' include spiders from the families Lycosidae, Gnaphosidae and Pisauridae. ''A nigerrimus'' builds nests under stones, in cavities in stone walls, in hollow plant stems, in deserted burrows of ants, bees or wasps, and in empty snail shells. It can also dig a burrow and build cells in friable soil. One nest of four cells was found under a stone on moorland at an altitude of 400 m in

Glen Tilt Glen Tilt (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Teilt) is a glen in the extreme north of Perthshire, Scotland. Beginning at the confines of Aberdeenshire, it follows a South-westerly direction excepting for the last 4 miles, when it runs due south to Blair ...

, near Blair Atholl,

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

. Flowers visited include

umbellifers Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants ...

such as

wild carrot ''Daucus carota'', whose common names include wild carrot, European wild carrot, bird's nest, bishop's lace, and Queen Anne's lace (North America), is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Old World ...

and '' Heracleum sphondylium''. The eulophid wasp, ''

Tetrastichus pompilicola ''Tetrastichus'' is a genus of hymenopteran insects of the family Eulophidae. ''Tetrastichus planipennisi'' is a parasitoid of the emerald ash borer, a wood boring insect native to Asia which is an invasive species in North America. ''T. plani ...

'' has been reared from larvae of ''A. nigerrimus'' in

References

Hymenoptera of Europe Pompilinae Insects described in 1763 Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli {{apocrita-stub