This Tachinid was new to the UK in 1998 and has since become widely
scattered records across the southern-half of the UK, with the NBN Atlas
showing records reaching as far north as the Humber Estuary. Sturmia
bella is a parasitoid of a number of Nymphalid butterflies and has
been blamed as possibly causing a decline in Small Tortoiseshell numbers
a few years ago, but this is only speculation and Small Tortoiseshell
numbers in Nottinghamshire have increased since.
Nottinghamshire's first record came from Wollaton Park ten years later
in 2008 (recorder unknown) with no
other records until recorded at Toton in 2019
(Lygo, B.) and twice at Netherfield Lagoons in 2020, when
photographed by Peter Smith. Grateful thanks go to Peter, for providing
his photographs to illustrate the species. |
