Mining bee for id please

[Rambling Rob]

Hello,

The scabious on a local hedgebank was very popular with these mining (?) bees this afternoon - some collecting masses of pollen.

Is there enough detail in the photos to suggest which bee this is?

Rather windy conditions so photos not as sharp as they could be.















Thanks for looking, Rob

[JRsbugs]

Looks like you have male and female Andrena chrysoceles.

Janet

[Rambling Rob]

Thank you Janet - I have not noticed this species before. Rob

[Jason Green]

Evening Rob,

Agree with probably the chrysosceles area, but would rather see the base of the hind tibia a little closer.

Take care,

Jason

[JRsbugs]

I haven't seen it either Rob, but the male's face I believe is a dead give away!

Jason, please tell why you would need to see the base of the hind tibia for this species? I would think the yellow plate on the male's face, and the white bands with thick orange hairs on the tail end of the female would suffice?

Atlas Hymenoptera : Galerie

[eucera]

I would suggest Andrena hattorfiana. Really nice find. Male A. hattorfiana also have a white clypeus

[eucera]

If you have a good population of them, for goodness sake keep an eye open for its very rare cuckoo bee, Nomada armata ;-)

[Rambling Rob]

Thanks all for looking into the id of this bee.

Stuart, I hope to return to that spot in the next day or two for some clearer photos and hang about in the hope of seeing A. hattorfiana's cuckoo.

Thanks again, Rob

[JRsbugs]

Wow, they are very similar! I was going to ask how to tell the difference, but found they feed almost entirely on Knautia arvensis.

Downland bees

To make things more difficult there's also a red form!

David Element's Wildlife Web Page Hymenoptera 3 - Mining Bees

There's a pic of a male A. hattorfiana in Nico's flickr set,

Andrena hattorfiana | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I'm looking for other ways to separate the two. I had noticed that Andrena chrysoceles female has orange hind tibia and tarsi, this bee looks to be a little darker on the edges on the hind view but it's difficult to tell.

[eucera]

Size is critical. A. hattorfiana is one of the largest of all British Andrena (similar to A. nitida). A. chrysosceles is a whole order of size smaller.