Bee for Identification

[tigger]

Is this a worker honeybee? Apis mellifera. It just didn't look quite right... I feel a bit foolish for asking.

Photographed feeding on Ragwort in my Dorset garden today.

Thanks. Jane

[tigger]

Anyone?

[Jason Green]

It could be a Colletes, try C. floralis?

[tigger]

Isn't C. floralis only found in Scotland? I'm right down the country on the Dorset Coast.

If it is a Colletes, I was thinking more along the lines of maybe C. succinctus, but I'm not sure if the stripes on the abdomen are right, or the hairs around the thorax.

Thanks. Jane

[Jason Green]

Oh, I said I was no expert in bees! Sorry

[tigger]

Hey, no problem. All suggestions welcome!

Thanks. Jane

[eucera]

This could be Andrena denticulata - a late flying species associated with yellow-flowered Asteraceae. Not easy though and I can not be confident about this.

It is unusual to find C. succinctus visiting anything other than heather, although, as you know, it can happen sometimes. A you suggest, C. floralis is a complete impossibility. It flies much earlier than this and in England, is restricted to the Cumbrian coastal sand dune systems. It is the one species of bee that is far commoner in Ireland than in Britain

[tigger]

Thanks Eucera. Looks like this one will have to go down as a "not sure"... all good practice though!

Jane