Renter: Existing cavities. Nests in existing cavities (eg beetle emergence holes).
There are very few rearing records, but in Britain it has been obtained from dead stems of Rumex (F. Smith, 1855) and Pastinaca sativa (material in UMZC).
On the continent, it has been found nesting in the stems of herbaceous plants (Janvier, 1972a); Rubus, and galls on Eryngium campestre (Koster, 1986), and dead Salvia stems (Celary & Wisniowski, 2003). Lefeber (1994) reports nests found in loess soils in the Netherlands.
Ornosa & Ortiz-Sánchez, (2004) state there are nest records from stems of Scolymus hispanicus, Dipsacus sylvestris and Rumex sp.