Confirmation of Andrena haemorrhoa please

[watsthat]

Help would be very much appreciated with this bee found on 8th May last year. I seem to struggle with bees but my scientific technique leaves alot to be desired. However; after digging through my very basic insect guides I have come to the conclusion that it is Andrena haemorrhoa.
Any comments welcome

Cheers

Pete

[eucera]

This could be Andrena haemorrhoa but it is impossible to be certain from this picture. There are quite a lot of May-flying Andrenas.

Quite how this poor insect has been lumbered with the vernacular name "Early Mining-bee" is beyond me. It is one of the later emerging Spring species. The earliest Andrena to emerge is usually the appropriately names Andrena praecox

[watsthat]

Thanks for that Eucera. Its back to the drawing board then. Lets face it there`s an awful lot of insects out there, so why do I insist on trying to identify every one

Cheers

Pete

[eucera]

In many cases, A. haemorrhoa females are identifiable from pics (have a look at the pics at bwars at BWARS Home Page).

Bees are a tricksy bunch and only a relatively few species can be determined from pics... and they will require the pics to show exactly the right bits!

Good hunting, Stuart