Cleptoparasitic: Hosts; A cleptoparasite of both Anthophora and Megachile species; possibly also Anthidium. F. Smith (1845) reared the species from “cocoons” of Anthophora bimaculata and G.M. Spooner (pers. comm.) has observed specimens investigating the nesting burrows of this species at several sites in Dorset. A number of individuals were reared from nests of Anthophora furcata and a Megachile species present in a log (Richards, 1949). It has also been reared from a nest of Megachile centuncularis (Richards, 1950). R.C.L. Perkins (1923) and Hallett (1928) list M. circumcincta as a host; G.M. Spooner (pers. comm.) has observed specimens flying with M. circumcincta at Dawlish Warren, south Devon. Chambers (1949) thought it was most probably a cleptoparasite of M. ligniseca.
Van der Zanden (1982) quotes Anthidium manicatum as a host in the Netherlands. Banaszak & Romasenko (1998); Stanisavljević (2000) and Peeters, Raemakers & Smit (1999) additionally cite Anthophora plagiata, A. quadrimaculata, A. bimaculata, A. borealis, A. fulvitarsis and A. furcata [as Clisodon furcatus]. Many of the above records require confirmation.