A Mediterranean spider-eating wasp has been found in Britain for the first time and it is breeding in a quarry.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds worked with site owners Lafarge Aggregates in Sandy, Bedfordshire, to create a habitat for rare insects.
The creature was found after the firm agreed to fund a site survey to see if the restoration work was successful.
The wasp called episyron gallicum hunts for prey on the ground and paralyses victims such as spiders with its sting.
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Then the wasp seals the spider in a tunnel with an egg laid on it.
When the larva hatches, it uses the arachnid as a source of fresh food.
The wasp is normally a Mediterranean species and the nearest it has been to Britain before now is central France.
Peter Bradley, site manager at the RSPB reserve, said: 'It's entirely new to this country.
"It is a species of specialist wasp that lives in dry and loose sand. I'm pretty sure it's living there and breeding.
"The idea here was that we create a structure that naturally creates new areas of loose sand.
"This is a way of managing quarry restoration that is exceptionally good for interesting wildlife. It's obviously worked very well here," he said.
The survey turned up a huge variety of unusual bugs on the restored parts of the quarry site.
Among the discoveries from the survey were an endangered robberfly, which was previously confined to the Brecks area of Norfolk and Suffolk, a ground-nesting, weevil-hunting wasp and several kinds of rare bees.
Gavin Broad, a zoologist with the Biological Records Centre, said climate change may have combined with work done at the quarry to create good conditions for the colonist.
"A lot of insects are constantly getting blown about all over the place and will often end up in unsuitable places, but as soon as the weather is right they will stay on," he said.
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