Orchesella quinquefasciata is mentioned in checklists from a few scattered localities but there are no specimens in the NHML slide collection. Peter Shaw has sent me specimens collected from a Yew wood at Kingley Vale near Chichester (Fig. 1) which comply with the description of Orchesella quinquefasciata (i.e. five broken longitudinal stripes of pigment on the body). However, the abdominal pattern matches that of the illustration of Orchesella villosa subspecies atrofrontalis in Stach's (1960) monograph (Plate XIII, Fig. 3), although the head and antennae are less pigmented in the Kingley Vale specimens.
     In my view, there is insufficient evidence to accept British specimens of 'Orchesella quinquefasciata' as other than varieties of Orchesella villosa, unless distinguishing characters other than pigmentation can be found.

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Fig. 1 (above): Preserved specimens of Orchesella 'quinquefasciata' of 4.5 mm in length collected from a Yew wood at Kingley Vale, Chichester by Peter Shaw..