Lathbury's Nomad Bee

Lathbury's Nomad Bees are small (7 to 9 mm forewing length), with black, yellow and reddish-brown markings.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Nomada lathburiana
Family: 
Bumble and Honey Bees
Family Latin name: 
APIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

These Nomad bees are small (7 to 9 mm forewing length), with black, yellow and reddish-brown markings. They fly from April to June and can be found throughout Britain, although more so in the south. In Victorian times, these insects were considered to be rare. They are not seen in Scotland and were first seen in Ireland in 2022.

Lathbury's Nomad Bees visit blossoming shrubs, dandelions and Germander Speedwell, but they are - as with all nomad bees - parasitic on two species of bee, Andrena cineraria and Andrena vaga.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
Lathbury's Nomad Bees are small (7 to 9 mm forewing length), with black, yellow and reddish-brown markings. This individual was photographed in the cemetery at the end of April.
Lathbury's Nomad Bees are small (7 to 9 mm forewing length), with black, yellow and reddish-brown markings. This individual was photographed in the cemetery at the end of April.

Details

Species family information

The Nomad genus of bees consists of small, relatively hairless bees that often resemble small wasps. They are between 4 and 9 millimetres in length. All Nomad bees steal from other species of bees. Females enter the host's nest burrow to lay eggs before any cells have been sealed up. When its grub hatches from the egg, it will devour the host egg or grub with its large jaws before feeding on the food store that the host parent had provisioned the cells with. There are 34 species of British Nomad bees. Differentiating one from another requires considerable magnification - and knowledge.

The Nomada genus belongs to the Apidiae family of bees, commonly known as Bumblebees and Honey Bees.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!