AN incredibly rare wasp which has only been spotted in the UK three times in 100 years was discovered by a woman on her daily dog walk.

Cathryn Dhonau was walking her pet dog Chance near Duck Brook in St Peter's when she discovered a type of ichneumon wasp.

Ichneumon wasps are very difficult to identify but Cathryn struck lucky – she stumbled on one that was identifiable from the single photograph she took on her camera phone.

National Ichneumonidae expert Jaswinder Boparai confirmed the wasp as Agrothereutes abbreviates.

Many of these wasps do not have a common name as they are not often seen and very little is known about them.

The national database shows that there are just ten other records in the UK for Agrothereutes abbreviates.

Worcester News:

Eight of these are from before 1920 and, of the three modern records, this is the first time it has been recorded in Worcestershire.

But Cathryn, from Diglis, very nearly missed the chance of finding the wasp after initially walking past it.

She said: "I was taking the dog for a walk along Duck Brook in St Peters - he'd stopped for a sniff and I noticed a little red bug on the pavement.

"Thinking little of it initially, I just carried on walking, but a niggling curiosity got the better of me and I carefully retraced my steps for a closer look.

“Being a photographer with close-up work a particular interest, I do love and notice the unusual - this was a creature I had certainly never come across before.

"Unfortunately that day, I only had my phone to hand, so before it disappeared into the grass I managed to get a quick photograph using the macro function on the phone."

At home, she did some online research but could not identify it.

She sent the picture to her insect-buff friend Julia Saunders who came back with the now-confirmed Agrothereutes abbreviates.

“More Googling ensued and it became apparent that it was rarely seen in the UK.

"I reported my finding to Worcestershire Wildlife Trust who've since confirmed this is only the third reported sighting in the UK in 100 years and a first for Worcestershire, which is quite exciting."

Cathryn submitted a photo of the ichneumon wasp to the wildlife sightings form at worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/wildlife-sightings. 

Wendy Carter, communications manager for Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, said the records are really important to help them understand how Worcestershire’s wildlife is doing in general.

"But it’s great to see what else is out there and it’s always really exciting for someone to find a species of wildlife that’s never been seen in the county before.

"Has this wasp just arrived in Worcestershire or has it been here all along and no-one’s spotted it?

"The natural world is full of surprises – like Cathryn, we just have to take time to notice what’s going on right under our noses.”

Fact File

The wasp is one of more than 5,000 species of parasitoid wasps in the UK.

It is a member of the Ichneumonidae, which itself is a group of around 32 subfamilies that contain around 2500 species of parasitoid wasps.

Depending on the species, parasitoid wasps lay their eggs on or into their hosts – the host provides all the food that the hatched larvae needs to develop into an adult.

Hosts can include butterfly and moth caterpillars, spiders, sawfly larvae and other insects.