Bee (Nomada goodeniana)

tr33lo · #1 (**permalink**) 14-09-2008, 11:26 AM

Please could someone tell me what these bees eat?

Thanks in advance
Jon

eucera · #2 (**permalink**) 14-09-2008, 05:39 PM

Nomada bees are cleptoparasites. The adults are free-living and feed on nectar, the larvae consume the pollen provision of the host bee (in the case of N. goodeniana several large Andrena species).

tr33lo · #3 (**permalink**) 14-09-2008, 07:05 PM

ok thanks, does that mean that this one (if i identified it correctly) is taking this fly home for the larvae?

Thanks in advance
Jon

JonSadler · #4 (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 05:56 PM

That looks like a digger wasp to me....but this is not my group.

Regards
Jon

tr33lo · #5 (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 06:42 PM

well that could explain alot! im probably the worlds worst insect identifier

eucera · #6 (**permalink**) 15-09-2008, 08:14 PM

Bees are just wasps with a vegetarian habit.. and adaptations to allow them to collect pollen.

The pic you have is of a female Mellinus arvensis, a common crabronid wasp, and one of the latest flying species of solitary wasp in the country. This is the only species of the genus still present in the UK. Its congener, M. crabroneus, has been extinct as a British insect for about 50 years