I'm trying to identify an insect I found and someone at the Wild About Britain forum suggested I try here as it looks like a wasp.
Whilst collecting a few ants to ID I bought home an "ant" which is clearly not an ant. It is shiny black and 3.5mm long. It has a black body which resembles a slightly elongated ant but without any petiole. It has no obvious sting or ovipositor. Its legs are long and orange. The front legs have rather broad dark tibia which look like muscly thighs! All of the tibiae and Femura are broad and rounded. The antennae are straight and simple with 9 or 10 segments. It is wingless. The head is dominated by huge bulbous eyes. It has biting mouthparts which are not particularly large. The mandibles are rather longer than they are deep. It was found on dry sandy soil in full sun in Northamptonshire.
The ants I did find nearby were Lasius flavus and L niger but the only association with ants was that it rather looked like one.
I have attached a couple of rather poor photos of it - the best I could do on a 3.5mm specimen I'm afraid.
Many thanks
Ian
