One of several red and black Dioxys species in Europe. Compared to Dioxys moestus or D. cinctus, this one tends to have more extensive red colouration on the abdomen, extending from tergite 1 to tergite 4 or 5. The legs are also reddish and it has denser, more squamous grey hairs on the head and thorax. Its host is Hoplitis annulata in Iberia and Heriades crenulatus in Cyprus.
Distribution: A Mediterranean species, occuring in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Israel.
Flight Period: Data is limited, but it appears to be univoltine between April – June.
Habitat: Found in dry, flower-rich areas such as maquis, sunny woodland edges, steppic grassland and rocky grassland where its host species occur in abundance. Can be most apparent around tracksides and bare clay banks where its host is nesting.
Flowers Visited: Unknown.
Personal Records: I have observed this species once, which was in the Sierra de Almijara mountains in southern Spain. Here a female was active around a nesting aggregation of Hoplitis annulata in a bare, open area adjacent to pine and oak woodland and maquis.