Hedychrum rutilans Dahlbom, 1854

Length 4–10 mm.

The species is usually easy to differentiate from other Hedychrum species by the coppery red colour on the head dorsum, pronotum, mesoscutum and mesoscutellum. Also the pubescence is paler brown than in other species. The ventral part of the head, metanotum, propodeum, mesopleuron and legs are contrastingly blue or blue-green. Sometimes the coppery red colour of the head and/or mesosoma is partially replaced by golden green or blue colour, especially in the male. The mesotibia of the male has a shallow depression on its inner surface, reaching half of the tibial length. The female does not have an apicomedial tubercle on S3.

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania. Relatively common.

Trans-Palearctic: Europe, northern Africa, Turkey, southwestern Russia, Siberia (Linsenmaier 1959, 1997, Kimsey and Bohart 1991).

Be aware that the records present in the GBIF map may be misleading for some countries due to unrevised data sets or missing information.

Habitat: sparsely vegetated sandy areas, dry meadows. Adults often visit flowers of Apiaceae and Asteraceae (Kusdas 1956, Kunz 1994, Rosa 2004, our own obs.).

Flight period: early July to late August.

Host: Philanthus triangulum (Fabricius) (Crabronidae) (Ferton 1910, Trautmann 1927, Morgan 1984, Veenendaal 1987). The female does not always enter the host nest for ovipositing, but may oviposit on the prey (Apis mellifera Linnaeus) while it is being transported to the nest by the host (Veenendaal 1987, Baumgarten 1995).