Species: Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
Family: Mining bees (ANDRENIDAE)
Category: Insects (Other)
Location: Widespread
A. Insects (Other)
More extensive information on insects can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Mining bees (ANDRENIDAE)
Mining bees are solitary, ground-nesting bees that have been on earth for more than 30 million years. The Andrenidae family consists of around1,300 species.
C. Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
This large mining bee has distinctive foxy-brown hair on its thorax and luxuriant black and silver hair on its legs. It is found fairly frequently in southern Britain, although it has not been spotted in the Cemetery before. It nests in turf and lawns that have short to medium-length grasses and has one brood a year between April to June. Andrena nitida derives much but not all of its food from Dandelions.
[Although the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society (BWARS) does not recognize the English common name for this species, it is used by Steven Falk in his Field Guide to the Bees of Britain and Ireland, so we have adopted that usage here.]
Images
Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
This large mining bee has distinctive foxy-brown hair on its thorax and luxuriant black and silver hair on its legs. This individual is a male.
Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
This large mining bee has distinctive foxy-brown hair on its thorax and luxuriant black and silver hair on its legs.
Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
Andrena nitida is a mining bee that nests in turf and lawns that have short to medium-length grasses.
